Punch Brothers perform at Stanford's Dinkelspiel Auditorium tonight; the San Francisco Chronicle says the band performs "with a sense of adventure that's hard to resist." This closes out the band's run of shows in California that included Wednesday's show at LA's El Rey Theater with Jon Brion, at which, says the Los Angeles Times, Punch Brothers "flexed the kind of instrumental chops that even a non-player can admire." They head next to the East Coast to join T Bone Burnett's Speaking Clock Revue benefit for music and arts education programming in public schools.

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby's week of events in New York City culminates with an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight. That follows a free event at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square—conversation, performance, and signing of their new album, Lonely Avenue—that leads Daily Candy's Weekend Guide of things to do in the city. You can listen to Folds and Hornby's guest spot on WNYC's Soundcheck from yesterday here.

Rhys Chatham, whose Lincoln Center Out of Doors performance of A Crimson Grail was released last month on Nonesuch, returns to New York and to the cutting-edge cultural space he once curated: The Kitchen. Chatham and artist Angie Eng perform the a multimedia piece, Echodes, there Friday and Saturday. Time Out New York recommends it as Top Live Show and calls A Crimson Grail "gorgeous." Hear selections from A Crimson Grail in a short film at nonesuch.com/media.

Sara Watkins will be on the big screen as a guest on A Prairie Home Companion as the show is broadcast live in movie theaters across North America Thursday, October 21. A high-definition video feed of a special Thursday night performance from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, will be sent via satellite to movie theaters live at 7 PM CT. Also on the show will be Old Crow Medicine Show, Joe Ely, and Andra Suchy.

There's just one more day to submit your remix of Philip Selway's "Beyond Reason," off his solo debut album, Familial. Final submissions are due at Indaba Music by 5 PM EDT on Thursday. Once all the submissions are in, it's time to start voting. From October 14 to 28, fans and a panel of judges, including Selway, will review the submissions. Indaba will announce the jury’s choices of Grand Prize Winner and two Runners-Up on November 11, as well as the public’s choice of 15 Honorable Mentions.

Steve Reich, Nonesuch Records, and Indaba Music have launched a search for collaborators to remix the third movement of Reich's new piece 2x5, which Gramophone recently described as his "smartest, most sonically nourishing record for years." For four weeks beginning today, remixers can visit Indaba to create their own version of the movement. From November 9 to 23, fans and a panel of judges, including Reich, will review the submissions. Indaba will announce the jury’s choices on December 7, as well as the public’s top ten.

Punch Brothers are back in California, headlining at LA's El Rey Theater with Jon Brion, the producer of their album Antifogmatic, opening. LAist spoke with fiddler Gabe Witcher and says: "Punch Brothers' music is the sound of synapses firing. The band's mix of unpredictability and virtuosity means there's always something new to uncover in their original pieces." Mother Jones spoke with Chris Thile and says: "What the Punch Brothers are doing musically blows the pants off most of their contemporaries."

Ben Folds and Nick Hornby are in New York City this week for a few special events to celebrate their new album, Lonely Avenue, including appearances at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe and Union Square Barnes & Noble, plus a spot on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The Financial Times gives Lonely Avenue four stars, saying of Folds/Hornby, "Both are excellent: witty, sophisticated lyrics about love and loss set to a range of styles." And, finally, Folds and fellow Chatroulette sensation Merton offer a joint public service announcement you can watch here.

AfroCubism is out in the UK today on World Circuit; it's out in North America November 2 on Nonesuch. The Guardian sees the album as "a joyfully ebullient meeting point between traditional Malian music and the kind of Cuban rhythms the Buena Vista Social Club brought to the wider world," and gives it four stars, saying these musicians "have recorded an elegant, gently exquisite album." The Observer calls it "A delight." The Financial Times gives AfroCubism four stars as well; MusicOMH gives it five stars, citing the "wonderful results."

De Profundis, the new album from Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, receives five stars from Audiophile Audition. It's a program "of such sheer delight and exquisite beauty that I felt emotionally ravished when it was over," raves the reviewer. "One of the best collections of its kind that I have ever heard." The album is a Pick of the Week on WNYC's Soundcheck and CD of the Week from KBAQ, which says the music creates "a deep feeling of hope."

Natalie Merchant's latest album, Leave Your Sleep, has been endorsed by the organizers of National Poetry Day in the UK, which is being celebrated today in schools, libraries, and bookshops across the country. On the album, Merchant sets the work of both well-known and obscure British and American poets to music. She kicks off a Northeast US tour tomorrow, performing with full symphony orchestras.

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park was teeming with hundreds of thousands of music fans this past weekend for the 10th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. Among the artists contributing to what Rolling Stone called an "eclectic and vital" event were T Bone Burnett, Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Randy Newman, and Emmylou Harris. You can see several photos from their performances at nonesuch.com/media.