I Love a Love Song!, the second album from Rachael & Vilray—Lake Street Dive singer/songwriter Rachael Price and composer, singer, and guitarist Vilray—is due January 13. It features eleven new songs written by Vilray plus the 1930s classic "Goodnight My Love" written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. The album was produced, engineered, and mixed by Dan Knobler and features arrangements from Jacob Zimmerman. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an exclusive autographed print in one of four colors selected at random. A new song, “Is a Good Man Real?,” debuts today; you can watch a video for it, filmed in the studio, here.

Hurray for the Riff, aka Alynda Segarra, has released a cover of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” as part of an Amazon Original series of covers of songs by the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees available only on Amazon Music. “What can you do with a classic song like this but dive in and explore the depths?” Segarra says. “My whole life I watched Annie Lennox sing it and she was so strong—superhero to me, with her suit and cropped hair. I vowed, as a kid, to one day be that unshakeable. But life happens to us all. So, I sing it today from a tender place, weary from the brutality of our world but not broken. As Annie told us all—hold your head up, keep your head up.” 

The Black Keys stopped by The Kelly Clarkson Show to perform “It Ain’t Over,” from their album Dropout Boogie. You can watch it here. The band has been nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Rock Album for Dropout Boogie and Best Rock Performance for the album track "Wild Child.” Dan Auerbach is up for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. 

Steve Reich’s 1988 piece Different Trains is the subject of this week's episode of BBC Radio 3's The Listening Service. Host Tom Service shares music from Kronos Quartet's 1988 Nonesuch recording of the piece, which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition, and talks with author/journalist Jonathan Freedland about creating such art that addresses the Holocaust. You can hear the episode here.

The first studio recording of Tyondai Braxton's Telekinesis—an eighty-seven-piece work for electric guitars, orchestra, choir and electronics—is out now on New Amsterdam / Nonesuch Records. The album features the Metropolis Ensemble conducted by Andrew Cyr, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus conducted by Dianne Berkun Menaker, and chamber choir The Crossing conducted by Donald Nally performing what the Guardian calls "a superpower-themed symphony … a titanic composition." Braxton cites the Japanese manga classic Akira as a thematic guide, with its story of a young boy's discovery of his telekinetic powers and his inability to control it, leading to his own destruction. The Times exclaims: "It's remarkable."

Laurie Anderson was the musical guest on the latest edition WNYC's Get Lit with All of It, the book club series with All of It host Alison Stewart. She joined Stewart at the New York Public Library last month, along with a friend, author A.M. Homes, who spoke about her new book, The Unfolding. Anderson performed an improvised piece based on the book and spoke with Stewart about her own work. For her second performance, Anderson incorporated a recording of her late husband Lou Reed, the ninth anniversary of whose death coincided with the event. You can hear the performances and conversation and watch the complete event here.

Kronos Quartet will tour Australia for the final time in March 2023, in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The KRONOS Five Decades Tour—the eighth Australian tour for the ensemble produced by Arts Projects Australia—will take in Perth Festival, Arts Centre Melbourne, Tasmania’s Ten Days On The Island, WOMADelaide, and Adelaide Festival, culminating at the Sydney Opera House on March 14. Kronos will perform music spanning brand new works and signature pieces from composers around the world.

Chris Thile stopped by the BBC Radio 4 studios to perform some Bach and music from his 2021 solo album, Laysongs, on Front Row and talk with presenter Luke Jones about the album and more. You can hear their conversation here. Thile kicks off a tour of the UK and Ireland with Sam Amidon on Wednesday, with shows in Bristol, Coventry, London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Dublin.

Gabriel Kahane, who heads to Europe and the UK this month for a London Jazz Festival set at the Southbank Centre and two nights in Copenhagen with the Danish String Quartet, has just announced a return to the Continent next March. The tour begins at the Philharmonie de Luxembourg on March 2, followed by a night at the Elbphilhrmonie in Hamburg and shows in Cologne, Lyon, Paris, Cenon, and Chateauroux. 

Tigran Hamasyan kicks off a North American tour with music from his new album of American standards, StandArt, at The Opera House in Brooklyn on Wednesday, followed by shows in Bentonville, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Ottawa, and Toronto. "Out of all the so-called jazz standard repertoire, there are a number of compositions that really have a special place in my heart,” he says in a new video about the making of the album. "It was a true blessing to record this project with Matt Brewer with Justin Brown as the trio and have guest appearances of Ambrose Akinmusire, Mark Turner, and Joshua Redman."

Hurray for the Riff Raff, who is currently touring North America as special guest of Bright Eyes, will join First Aid Kit on their West Coast tour in May 2023. The shows kick off at the Fox Theater in Oakland on May 15, followed by the Hollywood Palladium and stops in Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, and Vancouver, culminating at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on May 24.

Rhiannon Giddens is on the latest episode of BBC World Service’s Music Life with fellow musicians Alela Diane, Mariee Siou, and Uwade. They discuss the spark that goes off when songwriting goes well, how moments of personal growth and transition affect their music, thinking of taxes while performing, and more. You can hear their conversation here.