Steve Reich has been named the Artist in Residence at the 2014 Big Ears Festival, which will be held in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, March 28–30, 2014. The composer will be in attendance, as Ensemble Signal will perform his groundbreaking 1976 piece Music for 18 Musicians, along with his new Radio Rewrite, inspired by two songs from Radiohead. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood will perform Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, and So Percussion will perform his 1971 classic Drumming. Weekend passes go on sale this Friday, December 6, at noon.

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, has received the award for Best Feature at the Gotham Awards. A new featurette called "Finding Llewyn Davis," looks at how Oscar Isaac earned the title role. You can watch it here, along with a film clip of Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, and Stark Sands performing "Five Hundred Miles" here. "Folk music is essential to the film—and not only as its soundtrack," writes the Wall Street Journal's Jim Fusilli. "It’s clear from Inside Llewyn Davis that the Coen brothers listen to music with a writer’s ear for story." The Village Voice gives the film five stars, saying it "might be the best Coen brothers movie yet," and calls Isaac's voice "luminous as the moon."

Audra McDonald performs in the televised broadcast of Rockefeller Center’s 81st Christmas Tree lighting celebration, tonight on NBC at 8 PM ET. The holiday special will also include performances from Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, The Rockettes, and more. On Thursday, McDonald performs in NBC’s live production of The Sound of Music, portraying Mother Abbess opposite Carrie Underwood as Maria, Stephen Moyer as Captain von Trapp, Laura Benanti as Elsa Schrader, and Christian Borle as Max Dettweiler.

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, opens in select theaters this Friday, December 6. You can watch a new featurette on the music and making of the film here, as well as an excerpt from the film with the song "Please Mr. Kennedy." New York's David Edelstein calls the film "transcendentally soundtracked." The New Yorker's Anthony Lane writes: "If you love the Coens, or follow folk music, or hold fast to this period of history and that patch of New York, then the film can hardly help striking a chord." The New York Times's Janet Maslin exclaims: "Inside Llewyn Davis has the best T Bone Burnett soundtrack since the Coens’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

With less than a month to go before 2013 comes to a close, music magazines have begun to weigh in on the best in music this year. Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, and Uncut have all published their lists of the Best Albums of the Year, and included among them are a number of Nonesuch releases: the latest from Emmylou Harris and Rokia Traoré and the label debut albums from Sam Amidon, Devendra Banhart, Bombino, and Iron & Wine.

Happy Cyber Monday! The savings continue as the Nonesuch Store sixth anniversary sale, which began last week, rolls into Cyber Monday and beyond, with all currently available CDs, LPs, and DVDs here at nonesuch.com (pre-orders excluded) 34% off the standard retail price. That's an extra savings of about 20% off the everyday low prices listed on the site; the sale discount will be show at checkout. As always, almost every album includes high-quality MP3s at checkout. 

"Taurobolium," the closing track to Devendra's Banhart's recently released Nonesuch Records debut album, Mala, has inspired animator and director Galen Pehrson to create a new, animated short film titled Mondo Taurobolium. The film's lead characters, Mondo and Gale, are portrayed by Banhart and Rose McGowan, respectively. Mondo Taurobolium premiered on Nowness, which also features an interview with the director about the process for creating the animated piece. Watch it here.

On the acclaimed Mermaid Avenue albums, Billy Bragg and Wilco put music to lyrics by folk legend Woody Guthrie for which he had not written music or made recordings. Nonesuch Records has now reissued the first two volumes on vinyl and release, for the first time on vinyl, a third volume comprising 17 previously unreleased recordings made during the original sessions, which was first released in the 2012 three-CD-plus-DVD set Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions. Each volume is pressed on 2-LP, 180-gram vinyl at Pallas MFG in Diepholz, Germany. 

In December 2007, the Nonesuch Store opened at nonesuch.com with just a couple of new releases. Now, six years later, the store has grown to include hundreds of new and classic Nonesuch albums. To celebrate this sixth anniversary, all currently available CDs, LPs, and DVDs on the site (pre-orders excluded) are now 34% off the standard retail price. That's an extra savings of about 20% off the everyday prices listed on hundreds of CDs, dozens of recordings on vinyl, and some unforgettable DVDs.

Last year, for the first time since 1980, guitarist Pat Metheny recorded with a band that highlighted tenor saxophone. Unity Band, which went on to win Metheny his 20th Grammy Award, featured Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, longtime collaborator Antonio Sanchez on drums, and Ben Williams on bass. Now, Metheny has added another musician, multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi, and christened the ensemble Pat Metheny Unity Group. The Group’s first record, Kin (←→), will be released by Nonesuch on February 4, 2014, and is available to pre-order with an exclusive print autographed by Metheny. The Pat Metheny Unity Group will tour North America starting February 3 and Europe in the spring.

Nonesuch Records releases the debut album from the electric duo of Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana, Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, on February 25, 2014. The two have been performing for several years, including a brief US tour this fall, with Mehldau playing Fender Rhodes and synthesizers and Guiliana on drums and effects, as they are on the record. Mehliana comprises 12 original tunes—six written by the duo and six written by Mehldau—and was engineered and mixed by Greg Koller (Jon Brion, Kanye West). The vinyl edition of the album is due March 18. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an instant download of the album track “Hungry Ghost.”

London-based singer/songwriter Olivia Chaney has signed a worldwide deal with Nonesuch Records. The deal coincides with the announcement of the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, for which Chaney has received two nominations—the Horizon Award for best emerging artist, and Best Original Song for “Swimming in the Longest River.” Chaney will release her debut album in 2014. Further details about the album and its release will be announced shortly, as will upcoming tour dates.