The Barbican's 2014 marathon weekend, May 17 and 18, will celebrate Nonesuch Records in the label's 50th anniversary year. Entitled Explorations: The Sound of Nonesuch Records, this curated weekend of events includes five concerts taking place in LSO St Luke's, Guildhall School's new Milton Court Concert Hall, and the Barbican Hall, with performances from Jonny Greenwood, Kronos Quartet, Brad Mehldau, Timo Andres, Sam Amidon, Natalie Merchant, Rhiannon Giddens, Olivia Chaney, and others performing works by Greenwood, Mehldau, Andres, Steve Reich, John Adams, Philip Glass, Frederic Rzewski, Henryk Górecki, Donnacha Dennehy, and more. Satellite events will include Kronos at 40 (May 13) and Jeremy Denk (May 24) with further events to be announced.

The schedules for the Ojai Music Festival, held in Ojai, June 12–15, and Ojai North, presented by Cal Performances at Berkeley, June 19–21, have now been announced. Both festivals feature a broad-ranging program, reflecting the musical mind of this year's Music Director, Jeremy Denk, and including the premiere of a comic opera with libretto by Denk, and multiple performances from Denk and his fellow pianist and Nonesuch artist Timo Andres. Watch Denk discuss some of the Ojai programming here.

Iron and Wine, whose Nonesuch Records debut album, Ghost on Ghost, was named one of the Best New Releases of 2013 by Uncut, kicks off a US tour with a performance in Austin on Saturday to celebrate the first anniversary of KUTX; also performing are Neko Case and Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Iron and Wine's tour continues at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival (also with Case) next week, followed by a benefit for the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago; stops in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; and a six-city tour of Florida. The music continues into the spring with a show in Hawaii and festival sets in Georgia and Delaware.

Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, the debut album from the electric duo of Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana, is due out from Nonesuch Records on February 25, 2014. During a Mehliana show at Largo in LA last fall, the duo performed songs from the album, including "Just Call Me Nige," a video of which you can now watch here. The duo performs at the Highline Ballroom next Wednesday, January 22. Mehliana: Taming the Dragon is available to preorder on CD and vinyl (due March 18) in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the album track “Hungry Ghost.” 

Tools for Peace, a national educational non-profit of which singer-songwriter k.d. lang is a board member, has created "Stop, Breathe & Think," a free app for iPad and iPhone, to guide people of all ages and backgrounds through meditations for mindfulness and compassion. "I would like to believe that through this free app," says lang, “meditation can become a natural part of our everyday lives. It’s simple to use and has the ability to reach far and wide, from children riding buses to school to teenagers just hanging out to business leaders in countries around the world."

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, has expanded to theaters across the United States today. The film is now on over 450 Top 10 lists, and has been hailed as Best Picture of the Year by the New York Times, BBC, Film Comment, Variety, and many others. Inside Llewyn Davis has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, and Best Original Song for "Please Mr. Kennedy," which you can watch in a featurette with music producer T Bone Burnett here.

The Pat Metheny Unity Group, featuring Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, Antonio Sanchez on drums, Ben Williams on bass, and multi-instrumentalist Giulio Carmassi, release their first record, Kin (←→), on February 4. You can watch a preview video about Kin (←→), set to various songs from the album, here, then pre-order the album in the Nonesuch Store for an exclusive print autographed by Metheny. The Pat Metheny Unity Group will tour North America beginning February 3, then tour Europe from April through June; tickets are on sale now.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops, who had announced a US tour for early 2014 last month, have now added several new dates to the tour, with confirmed shows from the end of January through the end of April. The group's lineup includes co-founder Rhiannon Giddens, multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins, and two new musicians, cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett. The tour kicks off at the Charleston Music Hall on January 30, making stops across the Southeast through March, into the Northeast starting in the spring, then back South for MerleFest and more.

Rokia Traoré, as part of her US tour last fall to mark the release of her new album, Beautiful Africa, stopped by the studios of KCRW in Santa Monica to perform on Morning Becomes Eclectic and talk with the show's guest host, Chris Douridas, about the new album and tour. KCRW has posted video of the complete interview and performance, featuring songs from the new album, which you can watch here. NPR calls her "one of Mali's most revered voices."

Mehliana: Taming the Dragon, the debut album from the electric duo of Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana, due February 25 on Nonesuch Records, and Kin (←→), the debut album from the Pat Metheny Unity Group, due February 4, are featured on the latest episode of BBC Radio 2's Jamie Cullum show. The episode looks ahead to the music of 2014 and showcases "some of the most exciting tracks coming out in the next few months in the world of jazz," including "Hungry Ghost" from the Mehliana album and "Kqu" from Kin (←→).

Inside Llewyn Davis has earned top honors as the winner of four awards from the National Society of Film Critics: Best Picture; Best Director, Joel and Ethan Coen; Best Actor, Oscar Isaac; and Best Cinematography, Bruno Delbonnel. All three New York Times film critics' Academy Award nominations wish lists include Inside Llewyn Davis for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. Tune in to see Oscar Isaac on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight.

Rokia Traoré, whose new album, Beautiful Africa, landed on a number of Best of the Year lists, recently spoke with PBS NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about the album. "Rokia Traoré and her music are a mix of African and Western influences and languages," says Brown. "Traoré's new album addresses the problems of Mali and the continent, but also, as its title, Beautiful Africa, suggests, much more." Watch the complete PBS NewsHour piece here.