"The beauty of song is you can spread information, you can make people feel not alone. And you can also create a time capsule for people in the future to know what we’re dealing with now," Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra) tells KCRW's Press Play. You can hear it here. "The Troubadour: How Alynda Segarra, a former train-hopping punk from the Bronx, became one of America’s best songwriters," titles an extensive profile in New York magazine's Vulture on Segarra and their new album, The Past Is Still Alive, written by Jenn Pelly.

"The Staves' songs are sweet and melancholic, often belying the depth of emotion and subtleness of their lyrics," says Monocle on Culture host Robert Bound. "Their music manages to be both gentle and punchy, driven home by their perfect, perfect harmonies." The duo is on the podcast to discuss their new album, All Now, which Bound describes as "sonically rich, full of moments of euphoria," and perform live on the show. You can hear it here. Atwood Magazine's Mitch Mosk calls All Now "the strongest releases of the band’s career ... utterly enchanting—a catchy, cohesive, and many-sided listening experience with endless returns."

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are on Billboard's Behind the Setlist podcast to talk with host Jay Gilbert about their new album, Ohio Players—a title honoring the legendary Dayton, Ohio, funk band of the same name—out next Friday, April 5. They discuss how they were inspired by the rock, R&B, and funk 7" singles they've spun during their Record Hang DJ sets around the world, and working with Noel Gallagher, one of a number of friends and colleagues with whom they worked on the album, including Dan “The Automator” Nakamura, Beck, Greg Kurstin, and others. You can hear their conversation here.

The Staves’ new album, All Now, produced by John Congleton (Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen), is out now, marking their debut album as the duo of Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor, after their sister Emily’s departure. “There was a delayed reaction to trauma and these big changes out of your control,” Jess says of the period after the February 2021 release of their album Good Woman, as the band—like everyone—was forced to sit with their thoughts. Struggling after two years of deep solitude and pain, The Staves did what they know how to do best: they got back to writing with the idea of going back to basics and focusing almost solely on each other and their guitars as a starting point.

Timo Andres’ new album, The Blind Banister, is out now on Nonesuch. The album comprises three works by the composer/pianist: the piano concerto The Blind Banister (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2016), with Andres as soloist, and Upstate Obscura for chamber orchestra and cello, with soloist Inbal Segev—both of which feature Metropolis Ensemble and conductor Andrew Cyr—and the solo piano piece Colorful History, also performed by Andres.

Ringdown, the duo featuring creator-musicians Danni Lee and Caroline Shaw, has released "Two-Step," its first single via Nonesuch Records. With strings, keys, and synth melodies rippling around a crisp beat and Danni Lee’s vocals, “Two-Step” channels the technicolor rush of falling in love. “‘Two-Step’ is about letting go of your inner critic and trusting your own intuition,” says the duo. “It’s about forward momentum toward things that feel good. It’s about trusting that sometimes what may seem like a wrong turn could be the best route you’ve ever taken. Also dancing. It's about dancing.”

Pianist/composer Tigran Hamasyan stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. He chose music by Brad Mehldau Trio, Richard Goode, Pat Metheny & Brad Mehldau, Kronos Quartet, and Fleet Foxes.

"Tamko is a first rate singer-songwriter, parsing interpersonal relationship dynamics with frankness and a dry wit," writes KCRW's Marion Hodges of Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko), who stopped by KCRW to perform six songs from her new album, Sorry I Haven't Called, and one from her 2019 self-titled album. Tamko also spoke with KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic host Novena Carmel about the new album and more. You can watch the performance and conversation here.

Brad Mehldau’s After Bach II and Après Fauré are due May 10 on Nonesuch Records. The Bach album comprises four preludes and one fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the Allemande from the fourth Partita, interspersed with seven compositions or improvisations by Mehldau inspired by the complementary works of Bach—including Mehldau’s Variations on Bach’s Goldberg Theme. On Après Fauré, Mehldau performs four nocturnes, from a thirty-seven-year span of Gabriel Fauré’s career, as well as a reduction of an excerpt from the Adagio movement of his Piano Quartet in G Minor. Here Mehldau’s four compositions that Fauré inspired are presented in a group, bookended by two sections featuring the French composer’s works.

Bolivian-born singer and multimedia performer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Chicago expat jazz drummer Frank Rosaly will release MESTIZX, their debut full-length album as co-composers, arrangers, and musicians, May 3 on International Anthem / Nonesuch Records. Partners in both marriage and art, the Amsterdam-based duo dove deep into the sounds of their respective ancestral roots in Bolivia, Brazil, and Puerto Rico to create this deeply personal meditation on decolonization and the defiant power of ritual and protest.

The 2024 Big Ears Festival is next week, taking place in venues throughout downtown Knoxville, TN, March 21–24, with more than a dozen Nonesuch artists past, present, and future performing as part of the label's 60th anniversary celebrations. In addition to all of the music and film offerings, Big Ears also hosts a number of artist conversations with music journalists Ann Powers and Nate Chinen, including talks with Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Darcy James Argue, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Halvorson, Robin Holcomb, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Brad Mehldau, Davóne Tines, and Yasmin Williams.

Haitian-American singer and composer Nathalie Joachim stopped by WNYC Studios in New York City to talk with New Sounds’ Soundcheck host John Schaefer and perform three songs from her new album, Ki moun ou ye: "Kenbe m," "Kouti yo," and the title track. You can hear the conversation and live set and watch the performances here.