Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble are teaming up with the LA Phil and the LA Master Chorale to present an all-Glass program tonight at the Hollywood Bowl, including "Spaceship," from Einstein on the Beach, described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the most important and groundbreaking American operas in history," and a screening of the film Koyaanisqatsi, set to a new arrangement of Glass's score for the ensemble and orchestra. The Times says: "Glass's film music has helped make him perhaps the best-known classical composer of the last half-century." LA Weekly writes: "His progressions tend to be brilliantly subtle, forming, like gradated layers of color on canvas, some amazing aural paintings."

Kronos Quartet's performance in Brooklyn's Prospect Park last Thursday offered the sort of program for which the group earned once more the label "groundbreaking" in the New York Times review. The program featured works from Kronos's latest album, Floodplain, to which the Toronto Star gives a perfect four stars. "The Kronos Quartet never disappoints," exclaims the Star, "but on their latest disc they are even better than ever ... There isn't a single musical moment left wanting." The Arkansas Democrat-Gazzette gives it an A-, recommending in particular "the remarkable" album closer by Serbian-born composer Aleksandra Vrebalov.

Wilco's US tour behind their latest Nonesuch release, Wilco (the album), is due to wrap up this week, with a European tour slated to begin next month, after a set outside Detroit tonight and the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Minnesota on Thursday. Prior to the concerts, the Detroit Free Press talks to Nels Cline about his "head-spinning guitar pyrotechnics" and the Star Tribune talks to Jeff Tweedy about the new record and what's to come. GQ says of last Saturday's show in upstate New York that "the band has never sounded better." Buffalo News says Sunday's set in nearby Lewiston "was simply awesome ... Wilco is certainly the most interesting US band of its generation."

Sara Watkins celebrated her birthday in style this year: on June 7, the night before her 28th, Sara joined the legendary singer-songwriter Steve Earle and bluegrass masters Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver in a live concert performance at the Chuck Mathena Center in Princetown, West Virginia, for public radio's Mountain Stage. Now you can hear Sara's birthday-eve performance, with brother Sean on guitar, streaming online at npr.org.

Christina Courtin is set to perform at L.A.'s Largo at the Coronet tonight. The Los Angeles Times says of her recently released Nonesuch debut that it "is highly polished but still retains a sense of individuality." LAist says "you can't help but be drawn in by her expressive voice, and the 10 tracks reveal a seasoned artist. This may be her first record, but she's developed a confidence, a writing style and a playfulness that many singer/songwriters don't achieve until later in their careers." Her hometown paper, the Buffalo News says: "Like so many of the best records of its type—Joni Mitchell’s midperiod efforts come to mind, as does Norah Jones’ debut—Christina Courtin works its magic on the listener subversively, and over time."

The Low Anthem continues to tour the US behind their recent Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, returning to their home state of Rhode Island on August 1 to play the inimitable Newport Folk Festival, celebrating its 50th year. "There is nothing typical about Rhode Island Americana group The Low Anthem," writes Audiophile Audition, which gives the new album four stars, citing the "exquisite acoustics,""naturalistic feeling," and "direct and honest" approach of its recording.

Richard Goode enjoys the fruits of his artistic direction at Marlboro Music ... Amadou & Mariam play SoCal with Coldplay ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed perform at the Palace for Manchester Fest ... The Black Keys conquer Colorado ... David Byrne takes a Roman (work) holiday ... Shawn Colvin goes solo, joins Jackson Browne ... Christina Courtin's close to home in NYC ... Bill Frisell joins the McCoy Tyner Quintet in Italy ... The Low Anthem opts for Ottawa Blues Fest ... Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman's trios cross paths at Nice Jazz Fest ... Oumou Sangare closes US tour with Béla Fleck ... Chris Thile premieres mandolin concerto at Interlochen ... Allen Toussaint sees Spain, London ... Rokia Traoré tours UK's Larmer Tree Fest ... Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish light up Elora Fest ... Wilco plays Portland, Maine, upstate New York ... and more ... 

Amadou & Mariam's tour with Coldplay comes to Carson, California, tomorrow night. MTV has named their album Welcome to Mali among the Top 10 albums of the year so far. On the album, "the duo make breathtakingly beautiful, undeniably inspired music," says MTV. "[I]t's music for all seasons and all people." LA Weekly calls it "a wonderfully engaging blur of unexpected influences." The San Diego Union Tribune says that "few who listen will be able to resist." The Dallas Observer sees them likely to transcend the "world music" label, their music "capable of transforming unsuspecting English-speaking audiences into dancing throngs of joy."

Kronos Quartet will give the premiere of "Aheym," a new piece written for the group by the National's Bryce Dessner during a free outdoor concert in Brooklyn's Prospect Park as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! series, tonight at 7:30 PM. Dessner, in an interview with Pitchfork about this piece and the many other projects he's been working on of late, explains: "I've long been a fan of Kronos. I think a lot of people with my kind of background in contemporary music tend to be, because they're just such an important group." Also on tonight's program are works from Kronos's recent Nonesuch release, Floodplain, among others.

Wilco was joined by Feist to sing "You and I" at Monday night's concert at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn and on Tuesday night's performance for the Late Show with David Letterman. Stereogum posts video of the latter and reports: "Jeff [Tweedy] and Feist enjoy a laid back but engaged rapport onstage that matches the dulcet mesh of their voices, one of those rare collaborative dynamics that enhances the song's meaning as much as it raises the song's profile." Billboard says of Monday's concert: "The sight was American rock 'n' roll at its finest, with one of the genre's most powerful live acts at the helm." WFUV's Rita Houston says: "Great show in a great setting on a beautiful night in Coney Island. Magic was all there."

Wilco, fresh off last night's rocking sold-out set at Coney Island's Keyspan Park, is set to perform on Late Show with David Letterman tonight. The group will play "You and I," the Wilco (the album) duet with Leslie Feist, who will join the band for the show, as she did on Coney Island last night. Following last week's concert at Wolf Trap, outside DC, the Washington Post says the band offered "something for everyone ... all delivered in the tightest possible package." France's Télérama gives the album a perfect "four keys." The Daily Telegraph gives four stars to the new album, "a collection of unflaggingly high-quality, Beatles-y tunes ... with a yearning, uplifting summery spirit." The Scotland Herald says, "The whole album is beautifully produced and suffused with a kind of mature smarts ... It's great to have them back, America's best band."

Shawn Colvin's Live album was released late last month on Nonesuch, and, says MusicOMH in its four-star review, "a live album is long overdue ... [T]his career-spanning selection of songs could easily be a wish list for any fan," he states, "but also serves as fine introduction to a singer-songwriter who is frequently mentioned in the same breath as James Taylor, Lucinda Williams and Joni Mitchell." Shawn is set to begin a run of solo dates this week, opening for Jackson Browne on Thursday. She spoke with Popdose, which calls her "one of the leading lights of 'Americana' music and perhaps the most important singer/songwriter—male or female—of the last 20 years."