Björk's Biophilia is out in just over a week. In an early review, the BBC calls it "an amazing, inventive and wholly unique eighth album from an artist without peer." Stereogum says: "She brought it, once again." Crave exclaims: "Biophilia is simply a phenomenal album ... Björk represents the best idea of what a pop star truly is." Clash Music says: "An absolutely remarkable artist, for whom the terms ‘genius’ and ‘unique’ are not journalistic hyperbole but simple fact, Björk is taking music to a place where we should all gladly follow."

Pat Metheny's US tour with bassist Larry Grenadier continues this weekend with sold-out shows in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Ann Arbor. The Kansas City Star, reviewing last night's show, raves: "The idyllic concept of angels plucking on harps in heaven is overdue for an overhaul. One possible update is the image of Pat Metheny bent over a guitar ... Metheny creates extraordinarily celestial sounds, with last night's show "exceptionally rapturous even by his standards." Metheny discusses his new album, What's It All About, on today's episode of PRI's Here & Now.

With the Carolina Chocolate Drops taking a couple weeks away from the road, what better time to revisit the group's performance at the Newport Folk Festival this summer? While at Newport's Fort Adams State Park for the festival, proving to be among the "Newport favorites" of NPR's Ann Powers, the band took some time to perform three songs for Paste magazine. All three are now available in the latest issue of Paste's multimedia online mPlayer.

Audra McDonald, who has wowed Boston-area audiences and critics alike as Bess in the A.R.T. production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess this month, launches her own North American fall concert tour this weekend. The two-month tour includes stops at Boston's Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, and The Kennedy Center, among others. Update: Tomorrow's Kimmel Center performance has been rescheduled to November 30. McDonald and Porgy and Bess head to Broadway in December. She discussed the play and the tour on NPR's Tell Me More.

Ry Cooder appeared on the latest episode of BBC Radio 2's Mike Harding show to discuss his latest album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, which Harding describes as "totally brilliant." BoingBoing places the album "in the tradition of the great titles of Woody Guthrie and Haywire Harry McClintlock ... As you'd expect from Cooder, the songs are musically tight and eminently singable and danceable."

Fatoumata Diawara, whose debut EP, Kanou, was released in North America this week, was a guest on Later ... with Jools Holland on BBC Two in the UK. On Tuesday's half-hour show, she performed her song "Clandestin," another live version of which is featured on the EP. You can watch the Later performance here. Fans in the UK can see Diawara perform again on this week's hour-long Later show Friday night.

Laurie Anderson's new exhibition Forty-Nine Days in the Bardo has opened at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. The exhibition uses the structure of a diary and The Tibetan Book of the Dead—also known as The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo—to explore the themes of love and death, the many levels of dreaming, and illusion. This two-floor exhibition include texts as well as drawings, sculptures, projections, and sound and are made from materials including mud, foil, iron, chalk, and ashes. Anderson will perform at the museum on October 13.

Jessica Lea Mayfield is set to support Ryan Adams on his North American tour this December. The tour starts in Philadelphia on December 2 and runs through December 13 in Minneapolis, with stops in Baltimore, New York City, Boston, Toronto, and Chicago. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 30, at 10 AM. Mayfield recently added new headlining tour dates in November and opens for John Prine, the Avett Brothers, and Drive-By Truckers along the way.

Fatoumata Diawara makes her North American recording debut with today's release of the digital EP Kanou. Inspired by Wassoulou tradition, jazz, and blues, Diawara has created her own unique contemporary folk sound, giving a distinctly African spin to the concept of the female singer-songwriter. "Like her mentor [Oumou] Sangaré," says the Financial Times, "Diawara combines feminist social conscience with effortless melodic charm." The Kanou digital EP includes four tracks plus the video for the song "Bissa." Watch the video here.

Punch Brothers are set to support legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon on his tour of the United States this November. The nearly three-week tour starts in New Orleans on Friday, November 4, and runs through Wednesday, November 23, in Akron, Ohio. Punch Brothers open for Ray LaMontagne in New York City's Central Park tonight and in Pittsburgh tomorrow night before heading to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park this weekend.

Björk continues to unveil Biophilia with the release of the video for "Moon," the latest single off the forthcoming album, due out October 11. The video was directed, produced, and art directed by Björk, Inez and Vinoodh, M/M Paris, and James Merry. Watch the video here. "Moon” is available now as a single and as a special feature of the Biophilia App. Both are available exclusively at iTunes and the App Store.

Ry Cooder spoke with BBC Radio 4's Today about his new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down; the interview was broadcast in the US on PRI's The Takeaway. The Philadelphia Inquirer gives the album a perfect four stars, likening it to "the scrappy populism of Woody Guthrie ... set to an incredibly rich melting pot of folk, blues, country, rock, and norteno." The Chicago Sun-Times too calls him "a modern-day Woody Guthrie." Canada's North Shore News says: "Brilliant stuff."