Laurie Anderson's Heart of a Dog has won the International Cinephile Society Award for Best Documentary. The film, which is currently playing at theaters across the US, will receive its HBO premiere on April 25 and will be screened at the Big Ears Festival and the Brighton Festival this spring. It has been nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary, winners of which will be announced this Saturday, February 27.

Sam Amidon performed four songs for Seattle public radio station KEXP at last year's Pickathon festival in Oregon. In addition to the previously released "Down the Line," you can watch the complete four-song set with that song and "Your Lone Journey," both from his latest album, Lily-O, as well as two earlier songs here. Amidon performs at a live eTown taping with Bill Frisell in Boulder on Tuesday and joins Regina Carter at Royce Hall in LA on Friday. He continues to tour the country in the coming months with Glenn Kotche, Punch Brothers, and more.

Lake Street Dive celebrated the release of their new album, Side Pony, as the guests on NPR's World Cafe yesterday. The group discussed and performed four songs from the album: "I Don't Care About You," "So Long," "Call Off Your Dogs," and the title track. "Very happy that our guests today, Lake Street Dive, have a new album," says host David Dye. "The new album is called Side Pony, which is a song on the album talking about following your own way even or especially if that means rocking a pony tail that is on the side." Hear it here.

Lake Street Dive's Nonesuch Records debut album, Side Pony, produced by recent Grammy winner Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell), is out now. The band is on NPR's World Cafe today and will lead a Twitter Q&A today at 1 PM ET. Their tour begins next week, and tickets for newly announced dates, including Radio City Music Hall, go on sale today. Rolling Stone calls Side Pony "irresistible." Glamour says: "This band is going to own the universe this year." The San Diego Reader says: "Side Pony sides are the band's best yet." The Boston Globe declares: "Another auspicious marker on the timeline of Lake Street Dive's nascent world domination."

Lianne La Havas spoke with PBS NewsHour about her Jamaican and Greek roots and the visit to her mother's family in Jamaica that inspired her album Blood . "It was really moving, emotional for lots of reasons, just because my family are from there, but I had never seen it before," she tells NewsHour. "And it was nice to go there and feel connected to a place. That was a feeling I never felt before." You can watch the piece, which also includes live performance clips, here.

Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) has announced the ten composers—five women and five men—who participating in Year Two of Kronos's Fifty for the Future project in the 2016/17 concert season, including Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass. They join the Year One artists, like label mate Rhiannon Giddens, in creating new works, which Kronos will then premiere around the world. Companion materials for each piece, including scores, will be made available online at no charge. In addition to Anderson and Glass, the Year Two composers include Raven Chacon, Guillermo Galindo, Aleksander Kościów, Nicole Lizée, Anna Meredith, Kala Ramnath, Karin Rehnqvist, and Trey Spruance.

Lianne La Havas was the musical guest on The Late, Late Show with James Corden last night on CBS, performing the song "Green & Gold," from her new album Blood and her new EP, Blood Solo. You can watch the performance here.

Rokia Traoré has unveiled the official music video for "Ilé," a song from her newly released album Né So. The video was directed by Romain Carciofo. You can watch it here. The Times says of Né So: "Traoré has made the album of her career."

Rhiannon Giddens's debut solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, has been named Album of the Year at the inaugural International Folk Music Awards. The winner was announced at the awards ceremony held last night at the 28th Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City. Giddens is joined by cellist Leyla McCalla and singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman for a week of US concerts titled Swimming in Dark Waters: Other Voices of the American Experience starting at Oberlin Conservatory this Saturday.

The full program for the 50th Brighton Festival (May 7–29, 2016) in England has been unveiled, with Laurie Anderson as Guest Director. Anderson's own events include the UK premiere of her Music for Dogs, a screening of her film Heart of a Dog, an exclusive new performance monologue about place and places called Slideshow; and Song Conversation, a freewheeling walk through sonic spaces with pianist Nik Bärtsch and guitarist Eivind Aarset. The festival also brings the UK premiere of Lou Reed Drones, an installation of her late husband's guitars and amps in feedback mode.

Rokia Traoré performed two songs from her new album, Né So, on the French TV show Le Grand Journal last night: "Ilé" and "Obiké." You can watch here. She was also a guest on the French show Le Grand 8 on Monday, performing "Mayé" from the new album. Traoré tours several cities across France starting in Paris on Thursday, February 25, followed by stops in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Geneva. She heads to the US in late March for shows in NYC, DC, and Savannah.

Rokia Traoré spoke with NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday about her new album, Né So (Home). Speaking about the civil war in her home country of Mali and the impact music can have in shining a light on the world's ills and offering hope as well, Traoré says: "That simply changes your life, and you're no longer naive in your way of seeing and thinking. Everything changes. And Mali is still what it is. You know, music there is so important, and culture is an important part of our life, of our social life. And in such a situation, I think that culture is even more important." You can hear the conversation here. Traoré will perform live on Le Grand Journal in France tonight.