The Brad Mehldau Trio returns with Ode, out this week in the UK and this coming Tuesday in North America. Ode earns five-stars from the Daily Telegraph, which says it "shows his inventive powers are as fresh as ever," and the Financial Times, which calls it "benchmark piano-trio jazz." The BBC raves: "All three players are articulating a ceaseless stream of fresh ideas throughout this electrically energised session." MusicOMH calls it "an often scintillating and always joyful listen from beginning to end." Early US reviews agree. The New York Times finds "resonant lyricism, floating locomotion, a harmonic approach that brings depth to simple structures and sleekness to the more complex ones." The Chicago Tribune hears Mehldau "in prime form as composer, improviser and bandleader."

The new album featuring works by Krzysztof Penderecki paired with those they inspired by Jonny Greenwood is out now. MusicOMH says: "The four pieces here make an album that carries a powerful impact, as well as recognising the obvious talents of both composers in writing for the string orchestra." The music will be performed at London's Barbican Hall on March 22 by the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, the artists on the recording, with Penderecki conducting his pieces and Marek Moś conducting Greenwood's, as on the album.

In 2004, Caetano Veloso curated a week of special concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall and invited his longtime friend and collaborator David Byrne to join him for the show heard on the new album Caetano Veloso and David Byrne: Live at Carnegie Hall, out now. The album earns four stars from Glide, the Guardian, and the Observer, which calls it "an entrancing showcase of their respective talents ... and even on disc a sense of joy and spontaneity is palpable." The Herald Scotland says the album "leaves the listener grinning from ear to ear." The New York Daily News includes it among the best new albums. The Seattle Times calls the concert "an absolute jewel."

The Black Keys' North American arena tour brought the band to NYC last night for a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, the band's first-ever headlining show at the venue. They head next to Canada for shows in Montreal tonight and Toronto tomorrow. "The Black Keys are rock stars, and their traditional rock sound electrified Madison Square Garden on Monday night," exclaims the AP, which calls the show "exhilarating, bluesy and loud." Rolling Stone says: "[T]he songs from El Camino cast a spell over the packed arena as Auerbach wound their hooks into broad, euphoric payoffs."

Punch Brothers celebrated the release of their new album last month with a special show at NYC's Rockwood Music Hall. Their performance of the song "Movement and Location" from that night has premiered in a video on The New Yorker's site; watch it here. Salon's Seth Mnookin calls the song "a propulsive masterpiece that sets the tone, both musically and thematically, for what’s to come" on the album. "Punch Brothers have achieved a kind of mind-meld that’s only possible when preternaturally talented musicians spend hours pushing themselves, and each other, to explore their passion and creativity." 

The Black Keys kicked off the first leg of their months-long North American arena tour with performances in Cincinnati, Detroit, and Columbus and hit the East Coast this week. Friday night's tour opener was "90 minutes of their patented hard-chopping blues," reports MTV. Playing arenas is "an amazing accomplishment for a group that has put in more than their share of road work and had the kind of slow-and-steady climb that rarely happens in this era of rocket-straight-to-the-top pop stars or grind-'em-out club bands." The Columbus Dispatch reports from Sunday's show: "The tunes were loud, the musicianship tight but relaxed and the vibe just right."

Punch Brothers are currently on tour in North America, performing in the Pacific Northwest this week. Prior to heading out on tour, the band spent some time with The New Yorker’s Alec Wilkinson for a "Talk of the Town" piece published in this week’s magazine. Punch Brothers was recently in Minneapolis and stopped by MPR's The Current to perform a few songs and discuss their new album, which PopMatters calls "an essential document and a mesmerizing step forward." Listen to the show and watch their performance of "Movement and Location" in The Current studios here.

Randy Newman continues his tour of Europe with stops in Germany this week, following several shows in the UK and Ireland last week that brought rave reviews, not least five-star reviews of his London show from the Guardian and the Independent. "Newman’s songs express a set of values and concerns that touch on the work of other greats—Toms Waits and Lehrer both spring to mind, likewise Stephen Sondheim—but he remains essentially uncategorisable," says the Independent. "On occasions the experience—a packed auditorium, an artist alone on stage with his piano—was akin to a Schubert recital, so exquisite and so deft was Newman’s rendering of human experience." The Times insists "that Newman's work as a songwriter and social commentator is quite simply peerless."

Carolina Chocolate Drops’ new album, Leaving Eden, is out today. Rolling Stone, in a four-star review, says that the album “grows handsome fruit from a nation's tangled roots,” calling the record “a lesson in 21st-century American folk.” The  Los Angeles Times notes that “band spends much of this very fresh-sounding album aligning itself with traditional values.” USA Today notes that the group “may take their cues from 1920s string- and jug-band music, but they're simply a great band.”

Randy Newman launched his month-long European tour last week with the first date in Gateshead, England; the tour continued over the weekend at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland. Friday’s show was covered in a four-star review by the Daily Telegraph, which called it “a moving and powerful experience.” In another four-star review, the Scotsman refers to Newman as “an artist whose songs and subjects remain ageless,“ and the Herald's review refers to Newman's work as "miniature symphonies of wit and wisdoms." Newman plays Royal Festival Hall in London on Tuesday evening, and continues on to Ireland and Germany.

Punch Brothers celebrate the release of their new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, with a performance of "New York City" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Paste calls it "phenomenal." On this, their "unquestionably finest" album yet, "the multi-talented quintet wisely continue doing what they do best: crafting off-kilter, classically-tinged pop songs that sound like absolutely no other band on the planet ... [E]very track is a small wonder of some sort," says Paste. "They may have just crafted a masterpiece of their own." The Wrap and Reuters call it "terrific." Rolling Stone says: “The acoustic framework dazzles—wild virtuosity used for more than just virtuosity.”

Punch Brothers' new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, is out now. To mark the occasion, the album is streaming in full via Spinner and MSN Music. MSN gives the album four stars and says: "This forward-thinking string band plies fresh ideas with traditional instruments, yielding a fusion as quirky yet accessible—and uniquely American—as Talking Heads." The A.V. Club gives the album an A-, saying their songs exist "both out of time and in the moment thanks to its youthful, gung-ho approach to timeless sounds."