Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, is out tomorrow. The album, which Uncut calls "one of his best albums ever," is available to stream in full till then at Slate. Cooder will celebrate the record's release with two sold-out shows at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall later this week. He spoke with the San Francisco Chronicle about the new album and the back-to-back concerts, at which he'll be joined by a 17-piece band.

It was 10 years ago this week that Laurie Anderson made her Nonesuch Records debut with the release of Life on a String. On the album, Anderson returned to playing violin on record for the first time since her debut album, Big Science, and featured guest turns from Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, and Dr. John, among others. In conjunction with its release in 2011, Nonesuch commissioned filmmaker Steve Lippman, aka FLIP, to create a short film showcasing songs from the album; the film went on to screen as an official selection at film festivals around the world. Watch it again here.

Sara Watkins closes out her months-long tour as a guest band member with the Decemberists outside the band's hometown of Portland, Oregon, at McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheatre's Concerts on the Lawn tonight. But there's not much in the way of down time for Watkins, as she heads straight into her next set of performances on Sunday: with Garrison Keillor and the cast of public radio's A Prairie Home Companion for their cross-country Summer Love Tour.

“Virus,” the latest single from Björk’s forthcoming album, Biophilia, is today’s Top Tune at KCRW in Los Angeles, free to download at kcrw.com. The Biophilia album is already receiving critical acclaim in early reviews from the UK, with Uncut, MOJO, and Q all giving it four stars. Q says: "Biophilia is a wonderful record in the most literal sense: it overflows with wonder." The magazine includes "Virus" on its list of "Q50 Essential Tracks," saying it "harks back to the lavish frost-sparkle beauty of Vespertine."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves, while in Newport for what NPR called a "sizzling set" at the Newport Folk Festival last month, took some time out to perform two songs for Paste—"Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," off their album Sleep with One Eye Open, and another traditional tune, "Darlin' Corey"—now available to watch in the latest issue of Paste's online mPlayer. Thile and Daves are on the road again next month, touring the Midwest, UK, and Ireland, following Thile's current tour with Punch Brothers.

There's just under a week to go before the release of Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, on August 30. Until then, you can listen to the album in its entirety exclusively on Slate. MOJO and Q give the album four stars; Uncut gives it a perfect five, calling it "one of his best albums ever." Cooder is the subject of a feature article in the magazine, which calls the new album "an impassioned portrait of 21st century America and its injustices" in which Cooder is "remade as a modern-day Woody Guthrie, fearless and funny, for like Guthrie he nails his targets with droll humour while empathising with society's underdogs."

Björk will be recognized with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the inaugural AIM Independent Music Awards, taking place this November in London. The award, selected by a judging panel of UK music critics and tastemakers, recognizes an artist who continues to influence and inspire with their work. Says AIM, the UK's Association of Independent Music: "Björk continues to push boundaries with her work and continues to create music that inspires and influences music fans, other artists and the wider music business."

It was 25 years ago this fall that Caetano Veloso's self-titled album was released in the US on Nonesuch Records. That acoustic guitar set launched a relationship that has since brought more than a dozen unforgettable albums, most recently last year's zii e zie, of which the Times of London declared: "The Brazilian master remains in a league of his own." Now, Veloso's Nonesuch catalog is available digitally, in the Nonesuch Store and on iTunes and Amazon. Veloso is Guest Director of the 2011 Telluride Film Festival, which will be held over Labor Day weekend.

Steve Reich's 75th birthday celebrations continue with a free concert in Chicago's Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park tonight. The concert features performances by Chicago's own eighth blackbird and Third Coast Percussion and an all-Reich program comprising what the Chicago Tribune counts among "some of his finest pieces": Double Sextet, Mallet Quartet, and Music for 18 Musicians. Chicagoist calls it "the most anticipated show of the summer." Catch a video preview here.

Composer Steve Reich's music has recently been celebrated with an all-Reich program at the BBC Proms in London, and more praise from the UK arrived this week, with the announcement that Reich's album Double Sextet / 2x5 is on the shortlist for this year's Gramophone Classical Music Awards in the Contemporary category. In a review of last week's Proms, the Observer reported that Reich "received a rock star's welcome at a late-night concert held to honour his 75th birthday later this year," and according to the Guardian, "Steve Reich gets cooler every year, just as his music gets more relevant."

Björk has revealed the cover of Biophilia, her forthcoming album. Björk’s most interdisciplinary project to date, Biophilia comprises a studio album, an app, a new website, custom-made musical instruments, live shows, and educational workshops. She has collaborated with app developers, scientists, writers, inventors, musicians, and instrument makers to create a unique multimedia exploration of the universe and its physical forces—particularly those where music, nature and technology meet. The Guardian calls "Virus," the latest app component, "an an innovative and important app. But crucially, also a fun one."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are collaborating on their first theater piece, which will be performed at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music this November. Keep a Song in Your Soul: The Black Roots of Vaudeville was commissioned by Old Town and explores songs written and performed by African Americans between 1830 and 1930. The band is working with jazz composer-pianist Reginald R. Robinson and the Old Town School's Reggio "The Hoofer" Laughlin on the production. Bandmember Dom Flemons tells the Willamette Week, “There’s so much stuff that people just don’t know about in terms of music ... we want to reach back and grab that stuff and make it live again.”