Q2, the new 24/7 music stream from New York public radio's WQXR dedicated to contemporary classical music, kicks off its first full festival, Maximum Reich: A Celebration of Steve Reich, today. This weeklong immersion into Reich's work will include a presentation of his recorded works, explorations of the influences both on and of Reich, recent videos and exclusive downloads, and interviews and music recordings from the archives of WNYC, the new owner of WQXR.

After its Black Thursday release in the US, BlakRoc is now out in the UK. The Times, Independent, Financial Times, and Guardian all give it four stars; the Independent, quoting a lyric, says: "The Black Keys got so much soul." Back in the US, the New York Times describes its sound as "hard but loose, rooted in sinewy beats by Patrick Carney ... and spooky riffs by Dan Auerbach"; the Washington Post calls it "inspired." It gets an A from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Consequence of Sound says it's "simply incredible."

Punch Brothers will perform twice at New York City's Town Hall this weekend in live performances of MPR's A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. They'll play both tonight and Saturday afternoon, with the latter show to be broadcast live to NPR stations across the country. Coming up, you can catch Punch Brothers' recent CMJ performance at The Living Room on Sirius/XM's The Loft.

Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica's Nonesuch recording of the complete Mozart violin concertos has received the Silver Award at the Record Academy Awards published by Japan's The Record Geijutsu. Australia's ABC Radio National's Breakfast has chosen the recording as Album of the Week, saying, "played true to the style of when they were written, the music sounds fresh and appealing."

BlakRoc, the collaboration between The Black Keys, Damon Dash, and some of the biggest MCs in hip-hop, was released on Friday; NPR marked the event on Morning Edition. The Washington Post describes the Keys' contribution as "a mix of gritty, jazzy and psychedelic beats that ... often resemble those of Wu-Tang Clan." The Wall Street Journal says unlike some earlier efforts to bring rock and hip-hop together, the Keys offer "the credibility needed to attempt such alchemy." The Village Voice says that here, "they actually improve one another." The Observer gives the album four stars.

Bill Frisell performed with his Trio—Kenny Wollesen on drums and Tony Scherr on bass—at the Kennedy Center last month. You can hear the concert online from NPR's JazzSet. In her introduction, host DeeDee Bridgewater describes Frisell as "a superman of contemporary improvisational music and one of the most compelling artists on the scene today."

Bill Frisell unveiled a new piece with Mike Gibbs and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London last Friday. The London Jazz Festival performance will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Afternoon on 3 today. "Each year, the London Jazz Festival marshals orchestral resources for landmark special events," writes the Financial Times in a five-star review. "This year’s centrepiece was a platform for Bill Frisell." The Guardian gives it four stars, saying "the graceful balance of order and open jamming in Gibbs's orchestral score let most of this unique artist's character glow through."

NPR's All Songs Considered has compiled a list of The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings. Among them are three Nonesuch recordings: John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté's In the Heart of the Moon (World Circuit/Nonesuch), and Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. "These are the game-changers," says NPR of the 50, "records that signaled some sort of shift in the way music is made or sounds, or ones that were especially influential or historically significant."

Natalie Merchant's musical sweep through London concludes with a free performance at the Free Word Centre, with songs from her forthcoming Nonesuch debut, Leave Your Sleep. Natalie was featured on BBC Radio 4's Today earlier this week. Her guest turn at Friday's opening night concert of the London Jazz Festival is available via BBC Radio 3, and BBC Radio Scotland has a preview of songs from the album on Global Gathering.

Youssou N'Dour's recent 50th birthday was marked with a cover article from Songlines and a BBC radio documentary. "I'd never heard a voice like it," Peter Gabriel tells the BBC of first hearing Youssou's music, "so smart and emotional at the same time." Youssou is due to perform at an event by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this weekend and will receive the Medal of Honor from Lille, France, during next week's World Forum Lille.

The Low Anthem played its first-ever West Coast show this past weekend at Chop Suey in Seattle, meeting up with Blind Pilot on Monday to start a three-week tour together. While in Seattle, the trio stopped by KEXP to perform a four-song session; tune in tonight at 9 PM PST to hear it. Leading to this Friday's show in LA, Jeff Prystowsky spoke with LAist, which describes the new album as "chocked full of intelligent lyrics inspired by America's past and present laid gently on top of harmonies that make your heart ache."

Alarm Will Sound celebrated the recent release of its Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, with an album release and listening party at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge last night. Alan Pierson, the group's artistic director, and Gavin Chuck, its managing director, spoke with BBC's The Strand about the new album, which, says the BBC, "even includes a few tracks that it was thought impossible for human beings to play."