Pat Metheny's new album, What's It All About, receives four-and-a-half stars from Audiophile Audition. "What makes his latest CD special is that he makes familiar popular songs that most listeners will recognize come alive," raves Audiophile Audition. "[T]he acoustics here are stunning ... This CD has Grammy written all over it." The BBC says Metheny's guitar "provides a sumptuous setting" for the songs on the album. The Lexington Herald Leader says it makes for "some glorious new summer music."

Björk gave the world premiere of her Biophilia live show last night, launching the Manchester International Festival. The New York Times says: "The new songs juxtapose hovering textures of choir and organ with sparse pointillism and sudden eruptions of breakbeat drumming, all set against Björk’s idiosyncratic melodies." The Guardian gives the concert four stars: "Bjork's voice still sounded gloriously childlike and otherworldly, a voice from what at times literally felt like a parallel dimension." The Times of London gives four stars as well: "For all the gadgetry and theatricality of this show, the elemental voice at its core was still the most remarkable instrument." The Manchester Evening News calls it "extraordinary."

Caetano Veloso has been named the Guest Director of the 2011 Telluride Film Festival. Veloso has been invited to select a series of films to present at the festival, now in its 38th year, to be held over Labor Day weekend. Among the festival's past guest directors are Stephen Sondheim, Laurie Anderson, and Peter Sellars, who recommended Veloso as guest director. In keeping with Telluride Film Festival tradition, Veloso’s film selections, along with the rest of the Telluride lineup, will be kept secret until the festival's Opening Day, September 2.

The Cincinnati Opera performs John Adams's opera A Flowering Tree tonight and Saturday, reuniting the world-premiere cast featured on the Nonesuch recording of the opera: soprano Jessica Rivera, tenor Russell Thomas, and bass-baritone Eric Owens. The Cincinnati Enquirer says "Adams takes a striking new path" with A Flowering Tree, "combining an exotic story of magical transformation and love with ravishing music ... lyrical, lush and dreamlike." Watch a preview of the production and go backstage in videos here.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle are featured on a new stamp released by the Canada Post today. The stamp is the latest in a series honoring outstanding Canadian singer-songwriters and performers who have won accolades in Canada and abroad. American Songwriter gives the three-disc McGarrigle set Tell My Sister four stars. SPIN rates it a nine out of ten, citing the sisters' "eccentric genius." Uncut credits their "sublime voices, combined in the effortless harmonies that only siblings seem able to provide."

Laurie Anderson gives a free performance with bassist/producer Bill Laswell at Castle Clinton in NYC's Battery Park tonight as part of the River to River Festival. "Many musicians might bill a performance as a chance to 'build on new ideas and forms,'" says the Wall Street Journal, "but few could make as good on the prospect as Laurie Anderson and Bill Laswell." The New York Times describes the performers as "unusually fearless; expect something high-concept and possibly explosive."

Björk today announces Biophilia, her most ambitious and interdisciplinary project to date, with the release of the lead single, "Crystalline," on iTunes. Biophilia is a multimedia project, comprising a studio album, apps, a new website, custom-made musical instruments, live shows, and educational workshops. The Biophilia live show will have its world premiere tomorrow as part of the Manchester International Festival, where Björk is in residence for a three-week run.

The Black Keys kicked off their trans-Canadian summer tour with sold-out shows in Vancouver and Calgary. There are several more sold-out Canadian dates to follow in the coming weeks, plus a few select shows in the US. Band mates Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are "in top shape," says the Vancouver Sun of Monday's tour launch. "The Black Keys are a better band than they've ever been ... Auerbach and Carney just nailed it." Vancouver's Straight calls it "a blistering, glorious motherf*cker of a set."

Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and her fellow stars of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) production of the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier, are coming to Broadway following the A.R.T. run in Cambridge and McDonald's own US fall concert tour. The Broadway production will open at the Richard Rodgers Theater on January 12, with previews beginning on December 17.

The Low Anthem is featured on the cover of the inaugural issue of Paste magazine's new weekly digital, multimedia mPlayer, which includes a cover story on the band, exclusive photos, a download of "Boeing 737" off the band's new album, Smart Flesh, and a short documentary video shot at the band's album release concert at the Rhode Island pasta sauce factory in which the album was recorded. The Independent says the band was "kicking up a storm" at Glastonbury this weekend, "enjoying themselves to an almost fevered extent ... Playing to this audience seems to be as special as being in it."

Jessica Lea Mayfield kicks off her extensive US summer tour with a free set in Chicago's Grant Park this evening for Taste of Chicago. The tour will take Mayfield across the States, including several shows out West with the Avett Brothers, a performance with Punch Brothers, sets at Bumbershoot and the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and a concert supporting John Prine. Metromix names her one of the 25 hottest artists under 25, saying her new album, Tell Me, is "like Loretta Lynn fronting the Bad Seeds."

The Black Keys kick off their trans-Canadian summer tour with a sold-out show outside Vancouver tonight and several more sold-out Canadian dates to follow, plus a few select shows in the States. “Canada loves The Black Keys,” exclaims the Vancouver Sun. Dan Auerbach tells the Toronto Sun: “I’m really excited. We’ve got sort of a big set up, bigger than we’ve ever had.” Following their recent MuchMusic Video Awards performance, the Vancouver Sun proclaimed their set the best of the night, calling the band a “refreshing change of pace.” Check out the video of how tonight's tour poster was made.