The Black Keys will be hitting the road for the second leg of their North American tour in April, with special guests Arctic Monkeys. The newly announced shows include stops in Austin, St. Louis, Tulsa, Denver, Salt Lake City, Oakland, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee. Fan pre-sale for these dates will begin at 10 AM local time January 10.

The Low Anthem is set to launch its six-week tour supporting City and Colour on his tour of Canada and the northern US starting this Monday, January 16, at Wonder Ballroom in Portland, Oregon. The Low Anthem will also be performing a few select headlining shows. The band recently performed a couple of songs for Sleepover Shows, including "Ghost Woman Blues" off their latest album, Smart Flesh. Watch them here. "If you have not been to a Low Anthem show," says the site, "you owe it to yourself to go."

Amadou & Mariam are set to release Folila, their first studio album since Welcome to Mali, on March 27. The new album, helmed by longtime producer Marc-Antoine Moreau, epitomizes the duo's embrace of collaboration, with contributions by Santigold, TV on the Radio, Nick Zinner, Theophilus London, Bassekou Kouyate, and others. In advance of the full album, Nonesuch will release the track “Dougou Badia,” featuring Santigold, on a four-song digital EP of the same name on January 24; the EP is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

Norwegian Wood, director Tran Anh Hung’s film adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s bestselling novel, featuring a "hypnotic" (Wired) score by guitarist/composer Jonny Greenwood, makes its US theatrical debut today, with showings in New York City and Washington, DC. Additional openings for the film, starring Kenichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi, and Kiko Mizuhara, are scheduled in the coming weeks in Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and more. The soundtrack is out now on Nonesuch Records. Watch the film trailer here.

In partnership with The Creators Project and the New York Hall of Science, Björk is set to bring her live Biophilia show to New York City for a special ten-night residency. Six performances will take place in February at the New York Hall of Science, New York City’s only hands-on science and technology museum, followed by four performances in the round at Roseland Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Friday, January 13 at 10 AM ET. In addition to the live performances, Björk will collaborate with the New York Hall of Science on a three-week-long Biophilia education series.

Carolina Chocolate Drops follow up their critically lauded label debut—2010’s Grammy Award–winning Genuine Negro Jig—with Leaving Eden, due February 28 on Nonesuch Records. The group returns with a record of original compositions, covers, and traditional songs produced by Buddy Miller (Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant, Patty Griffin, Solomon Burke). The album is available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store, where a download of the track “Country Girl” is included and the first 300 CDs will be signed by the band.

The Black Keys closed out 2011 with a bang when their latest album, El Camino, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts and made countless critics' Best of the Year lists. Now, the band kicks off the New Year in a similar fashion, landing their first-ever cover story on Rolling Stone magazine, out this week. The band is also featured on the cover of Relix as guest editors of the magazine. "During the past decade, The Black Keys have slowly emerged as one of the most successful independent-minded bands in the world," says Relix. "Using their love of blues riffs as their base, vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have melded their disparate influences in garage rock, hip-hop and radio-friendly indie into a sound that’s distinctly their own."

Senegalese singer-songwriter-activist Youssou N'Dour, who released five albums on Nonesuch Records over the span of a decade, announced on Monday that he will run for President of Senegal in the country's election next month. "For a long time, men and women have demonstrated their optimism, dreaming of a new Senegal," N'Dour said. "They have, in various ways, called for my candidacy in the February presidential race. I listened. I heard." Watch the announcement here, via the Guardian.

Brad Mehldau joins his Trio—featuring bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard—for a six-night residency at NYC's famed Village Vanguard, starting tonight. "[T]his iteration of his pace-setting trio," says the New York Times, "has evolved into a graceful powerhouse, equally savvy about groove and harmony. There’s still no better place to hear the band than the Village Vanguard, a special room for Mr. Mehldau and for his devoted base." The BBC, reviewing the newly released Art of the Trio Recordings box set, says of Mehldau: "It is his genius, his dash of daring, his exceptional touch, and his ability to conceive a performance lasting over several minutes as a compositional entity that mark him out."

As 2011 draws to a close, and the Nonesuch Journal takes a bit of a hiatus till the start of 2012, it's time to take a look back and remember all the great and diverse music made by Nonesuch artists this year. Many of these artists and their 2011 Nonesuch releases have made music critics' year-end best lists; several were nominated for Grammy Awards. Here is a look back.

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the northern hemisphere. To mark the occasion and to celebrate the holiday season, Björk has released a new holiday version of the "Solstice" app from Biophilia. The song is based on a poem celebrating the Christmas season by poet/author Sjón, comparing the solar system to a Christmas tree. The new Solstice app includes additional features like gameleste sound samples, more festive colors, and, most importantly, the opportunity for fans to create a song and send it to friends as Christmas e-cards.

Punch Brothers release their new album, Who’s Feeling Young Now?, February 14, 2012, on Nonesuch Records. Completed over three weeks at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, the record was produced by Grammy Award winner Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Modest Mouse). The band begins a US tour in support of the new album on February 17. Ten songs from Who’s Feeling Young Now? were written by Punch Brothers, with the band’s friend Josh Ritter co-writing lyrics on two tunes. The album also contains the band’s interpretations of Radiohead’s “Kid A” and the Swedish group Vasen’s “Flippen.” Download the opening track, “Movement and Location," here.