Devendra Banhart talks with Alison Mosshart (The Kills, The Dead Weather) on the latest episode of Talkhouse Podcast. "It's a great record," says the show of Banhart's new album, Ma, "a fantastic record." You can listen to Banhart and Mosshart's conversation about their latest projects, a shared love of skateboarding, and more here. The new Pitchfork review of Ma says: "Banhart steps fully into these songs with a vitality that recalls his beginnings. ... Puckish and tender, Banhart seems again delighted to be here, too."

The Guardian has published a number of lists of the Best Culture of the 21st Century (So Far). Several Nonesuch artists and recordings have made the lists, including works by Rokia Traoré, John Adams, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and more. Also on the lists are films for which Nonesuch released soundtracks by Jonny Greenwood, Clint Mansell, and more.

Devendra Banhart's new album, Ma, is out now. He has also released a new video for his Carole King-inspired album track, “Taking a Page,” filmed by The Bardos during his recent trip to Nepal; you can watch it here. This is "sublimely understated, border-blurring folk rock," the Los Angeles Times says of the album. "There is a truth and authenticity to the songs via their warmth and generosity," says MOJO . "These are vignettes of lived experiences. Groovy and moving, in all the right directions." "Banhart's singular world remains as intoxicating as ever on the earthly, analogue-sounding Ma," says Q. "It feels as if all of human life is here."

k.d. lang concluded her tour of the UK and Ireland, part of her ongoing world tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of her acclaimed album Ingénue, appearing on BBC Radio 4's Front Row and earning critical acclaim across the tour. "k.d. lang is so good that she is in a class of her own," exclaimed the Daily Telegraph. "Wow. Just wow. Most other singers should just give up now." The Mail on Sunday says that in 1992, Ingénue "seemed like an elegant set of timeless songs about unrequited love. Today it stands as a monument on the road to equal rights." "lang is a peerless communicator of feeling and emotion," says musicOMH, " a class act and one of the greatest singers currently at work in any genre." The Arts Desk says: "Her voice has withstood the years magnificently, and its purity and power soared."

Yola's debut solo album, Walk Through Fire, produced by Dan Auerbach, is out now on Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound label. The album "showcases Yola's otherworldly vocals and compelling songwriting," says NPR. "It's the work of an artist sure to stun audiences for years to come." "[S]he arrives an instant, incandescent vocal star," exclaims the Sunday Times. "Rich with vibrato and echoing Dusty in Memphis, her singing elevates a sequence of immaculately upholstered songs to greatness ... Walk Through Fire introduces an artist who is unmistakably the real deal." "Can't. Stop. Listening," says the Sunday Telegraph. "A star in the making, for sure."

NPR's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2018 includes David Byrne's "I Dance Like This," from his new album, American Utopia ("Byrne's best solo release in years, and its touring incarnation might just have been the most original stage show of 2018," says Bob Boilen), Gabriel Kahane's "November," from his Nonesuch debut album, Book of Travelers ("a poignant reflection on the ties that still bind us, politics be damned," says Nate Chinen), and Gerald Finley's performance of "Batter My Heart" from John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic ("haunting, tautly gorgeous aria," says Anastasia Tsioulcas).

The acclaimed trio Mountain Man's first album in eight years, Magic Ship, is out now. The record includes eleven originals plus interpretations of songs by Ted Lucas and Michael Hurley, and a traditional hymn—"intimate, close-harmony songs that tap into an ageless essence of traditional ballads and lullabies as they contemplate companionship, family, love and death," says the New York Times. Nonesuch Store CD and vinyl orders include an exclusive signed print while supplies last; bundle options include an exclusive tote bag. The trio will be at Rough Trade in Brooklyn on September 24 and will tour the US this fall.

Caetano Veloso and David Byrne caught up backstage at Byrne's American Utopia concert on Friday, and Veloso took in the concert from the crowd. He shared his beautiful response to the show on his Instagram, roughly translated from the Portuguese here. "The David Byrne (American Utopia) show is incredible," says Veloso. "It is one of the most beautiful rock or pop concerts ever made and is unlike any other." Read what else he has to say here.

Composer, pianist, and singer Gabriel Kahane's Nonesuch Records debut album, Book of Travelers, is out now. It comprises his musical travelogue about the looping railway journey across the US he embarked upon the day after the 2016 election. He left behind his cell phone and other internet-connected devices, spending the next two weeks with dozens of strangers whose stories are woven into the cycle. "[An] articulate, musically far-reaching travelogue," says Uncut. "Exquisitely crafted songs … Musically fascinating and hauntingly empathetic." Kahane begins a tour on September 7, when the album is out on vinyl.

David Byrne's American Utopia tour made its way to the UK for a week of sold-out shows, all met with rave reviews, starting with the NME's declaration: "The American Utopia tour may just be the best live show of all time." "An unforgettably unique, imaginative, and kaleidoscopically entrancing spectacle of music, dance, and theatre," exclaims the Telegraph. "This was something special." "One of the most mind-blowingly meticulous and awe-inspiring productions you could ever hope to see," says the Independent. "Perfection." "Daringly ambitious and full of joy," says the Evening Standard. "Mass exposure to his glorious, life-affirming American Utopia show alone would make the world a better place," says the Scotsman. "An extraordinary, ecstatic show."

Joshua Redman is joined by drummer Brian Blade, bassist Scott Colley, and cornetist Ron Miles for Still Dreaming, an album inspired by his father Dewey Redman's band Old and New Dreams, out now. That band had an all-star lineup of Ornette Coleman collaborators: Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell. "Consistently riveting," says the Washington Post. "It all makes for a jazz adventure that begs for repeated listening," says the Lexington Herald-Leader. "The more you tune in, the more you hear the present day curators of a sublime jazz legacy forging its music into something unmistakably new."

Brad Mehldau Trio's new album, Seymour Reads the Constitution! , is out now. The pianist and his longtime trio—drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier—perform three Mehldau originals combined with interpretations of pop songs (Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson), jazz tunes (Elmo Hope, Sam Rivers), and the American songbook (Frederick Loewe). "This is sumptuous, collective improvisation of the highest order," exclaims The Arts Desk's five-star review. "It's so good, it sounds effortless ... Gorgeous."