Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) has announced the launch of a new website for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire, its ongoing multi-year commissioning, performance, education, and legacy initiative. The site provides a gateway to discover, explore, and learn contemporary string quartets composed by twenty-five women (including Laurie Anderson and Rhiannon Giddens) and twenty-five men from around the world. The free digital learning library currently contains thirty scores and parts, recordings, and supplemental learning materials. Launched in 2015 with Lead Partner Carnegie Hall, the initial scores have been downloaded more than 14,000 times in eighty-eight countries and territories worldwide.

The Black Keys return to the stage after a five-year absence with a performance at The Wiltern in Los Angeles for members of their Lonely Boys & Girls Fan Club tonight. The concert kicks off the band's thirty-eight date North American "Let's Rock" tour. Special guests Modest Mouse will provide support, and Shannon & The Clams, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, *repeat repeat, and Jessy Wilson will each open select shows on the tour, too. The band also headlines 2019's Life Is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas this Saturday.

Devendra Banhart talks with Alison Mosshart (The Kills, The Dead Weather) on the latest episode of Talkhouse Podcast. "It's a great record," says the show of Banhart's new album, Ma, "a fantastic record." You can listen to Banhart and Mosshart's conversation about their latest projects, a shared love of skateboarding, and more here. The new Pitchfork review of Ma says: "Banhart steps fully into these songs with a vitality that recalls his beginnings. ... Puckish and tender, Banhart seems again delighted to be here, too."

Rachael & Vilray, whose self-titled debut album is due October 4 on Nonesuch, stopped by New York public radio station WFUV way back in July 2018 to perform live in Studio A. Following last week's release of the album track "Let's Make Love on This Plane" and a video for it as well, we're taking this Throwback Thursday look at their earlier take on the same tune at WFUV. You can watch it below.

Rhiannon Giddens and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi begin a months-long tour with a performance at Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, AL, on Thursday. The tour, featuring music from their album there is no Other, continues with concerts across North America, including Atlanta, Nashville, DC, Cambridge, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, and more, into November. They then head to the UK and Europe and return to the States in February.

The Guardian has published a number of lists of the Best Culture of the 21st Century (So Far). Several Nonesuch artists and recordings have made the lists, including works by Rokia Traoré, John Adams, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and more. Also on the lists are films for which Nonesuch released soundtracks by Jonny Greenwood, Clint Mansell, and more.

Rhiannon Giddens stopped by NPR, joined by multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and bassist Jason Sypher, to perform a Tiny Desk Concert of songs from her new album, there is no Other, and her previous album, Freedom Highway. You can watch it here. "Despite its weightiness, Rhiannon Giddens' music is entertaining, and her voice, the melodies, and her accompaniment are engaging," says host Bob Boilen. "But it is music infused with lessons and deep purpose—something all too rare in popular music in my opinion."

Vagabon has released a Maegan Houang–directed video for "Water Me Down," the latest from her self-titled sophomore album, due October 18 via Nonesuch Records. You can watch it here. Vagabon will share an advance play of the album and chat with Pitchfork's Matthew Schnipper at the Sonos Store in Manhattan on October 9. She tours this fall with headlining shows in NYC, LA, London, Brussels, Berlin, and Paris and a run supporting Angel Olsen. 

Yola announced that her Walk Through Fire World Tour returns to North America in early 2020 for two months of shows. The newly announced run begins in Cambridge on January 7 and includes shows in DC, Philadelphia, Toronto, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, and more. The shows follow a busy autumn of US headline shows and festival sets, a performance with Kacey Musgraves at The Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and a tour of the UK and Europe. Additionally, the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles will host a special conversation and performance with Yola on October 16. 

Devendra Banhart's new album, Ma, is out now. He has also released a new video for his Carole King-inspired album track, “Taking a Page,” filmed by The Bardos during his recent trip to Nepal; you can watch it here. This is "sublimely understated, border-blurring folk rock," the Los Angeles Times says of the album. "There is a truth and authenticity to the songs via their warmth and generosity," says MOJO . "These are vignettes of lived experiences. Groovy and moving, in all the right directions." "Banhart's singular world remains as intoxicating as ever on the earthly, analogue-sounding Ma," says Q. "It feels as if all of human life is here."

Rhiannon Giddens's new album, there is no Other, with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, is now on vinyl. The two-LP vinyl edition includes four additional tracks, expanded liner notes, and new photos from the recording session; a new deluxe digital edition with the new tracks is also available. "This is acoustic roots music at its most glorious," exclaims Uncut, "and Giddens is fast becoming the genre’s brightest star in the firmament." "Wonderful," the Guardian declares. "Giddens is going supernova, and it’s a blistering thing." The Times of London says: "A starkly beautiful album that resonates with an ancient, enduring soulfulness." Giddens and Turrisi begin their fall tour in Alabama next week.

Brad Mehldau's Nonesuch Records debut album, Live in Tokyo, first released on September 14, 2004, makes its vinyl debut fifteen years later today. The vinyl edition, made with Run Out Groove, comprises the original album's eight tracks plus seven tracks previously available only on the Japanese edition. This triple-LP set, pressed on 180-gram vinyl, is available to pre-order now. "Few pianists can match Brad Mehldau when it comes to cross-fertilizing jazz, classical, and rock," said JazzTimes. "The same applies for technique, taste and intellectual curiosity. All of those qualities are on display [here]."