Steve Reich led a concert of his works at London's Royal Festival Hall last weekend. The Guardian and The Times both give it four stars, the latter calling it "spellbinding." "Three thousand people sat gripped on Saturday night by 11 musical chords elongated over 57 minutes," says The Times. "Nearly half a century has passed since Steve Reich’s first concerts, but the standing ovation after Music for 18 Musicians suggested that his brand of minimalism hasn’t lost its hypnotic allure."

Christina Courtin's hometown tour-closer in Buffalo on Friday saw the return of "a local woman who’s done well," says the Buffalo News. In a performance that alternated between "delicate lures and rocking out," Christina proved her versatility and "crooned and modulated her voice to fit whatever the music of Western civilization can throw at her."

Chris Thile joined the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for a program last Thursday that featured Thile's Mandolin Concerto and works by Bach, Bartók, and Radiohead. The Birmingham News gives the concert four stars, saying the Concerto "spotlighted not only his virtuoso solo playing, but his gift for orchestration and melodic invention in a style that could only be Chris Thile."

The Black Keys were in New Orleans on Friday for a very rainy Voodoo Music Experience. The duo "rewarded the hearty souls who stood in the rain with a ferocious set," says the Times-Picayune. Creative Loafing concurs that "the Keys definitely heated it up for their hour-long set," calling it "the highlight of the day." Dan Auerbach begins a 14-day tour this Thursday.

Steve Reich leads all-Reich program at London's Royal Festival Hall ... Leila Josefowicz, Baltimore Symphony play Adams's Violin Concerto ... Laurie Anderson opens NYU's Halloween Wonder Cabinet ... The Black Keys go Voodoo in New Orleans ... Christina Courtin plays her hometown ... Bill Frisell is in Italy ... The Low Anthem brings tour to Baton Rouge ... Brad Mehldau Trio plays Portugal ... Nicholas Payton, Don Byron, Iva Bittová convene for SFJAZZ Sacred Space ... Sara Watkins closes out tour in Indiana ... and more ...

The Low Anthem continues its cross-country tour with Blind Pilot at The Parish in Austin, Texas, tonight, as news is in that Q magazine has named Oh My God, Charlie Darwin one of the year's Top 50 albums. The Dallas Observer says the album, "quite simply, is a remarkably beautiful record, an album deserving of all the critical kudos." Magnet magazine is offering the band's take on Bob Dylan's "Dignity" as a free download.

Wilco begins its European tour next week in the UK, where Q magazine has just named Wilco (the album) among the year's best, and where Channel 4 is broadcasting Ashes of American Flags, the documentary film about the band's 2008 tour, tonight. Following the final show on Wilco's recent US tour, JamBase said the band was "clearly having a blast." You can read Nels Cline's take on it all in Paste magazine.

Alarm Will Sound's recently released Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, has received a perfect five-star review from Audiophile Audition. "Have no fear," reads the review. "There are no boring or skipable pieces on this CD ... It could shock and throw your friends off, possibly prompting them to say 'What the hell was that?' Then they’ll ask to hear more."

Alarm Will Sound's Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, is out now. The Times gives the new album four stars: "The rhythms here will trip you up as they collide in an eclectic programme of complex music ... All is joyous and raucous."

The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, finds the trio going "beyond what we've come to expect out of most young bands," says JamBase in a profile of the group. The album's opening track, "Charlie Darwin," is "a delightfully haunting number that relishes in its own simplicity, reminding us that there are still good songs being made." The band's performance of the tune is such that it "will make your scalp tingle."

Earlier this year, "Charlie Darwin," the opening track to The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, was named one of the best songs of the year by NPR. Now, the band's moving music and lyrics have been set to beautiful images in a new video by Glenn Taunton and Simon Taffe, which premieres today on Stereogum. "The solemn, solitary pathos in Glenn Taunton's animated video for Low Anthem's 'Charlie Darwin' adds another layer of melancholia to the track," says Stereogum, "offering an affecting visual counterpart to Ben Knox Miller's fragile falsetto."

The music of Bill Frisell's latest release, Disfarmer, was inspired by the work of 20th-century Arkansas photographer Mike Disfarmer. Jazz Times finds the imagery and music to be well matched, the songs "a collective act of the imagination that comes close to deciphering Disfarmer’s mystery." The albums is "one of Frisell’s most accessible," says the magazine, its music both "old and new, rich in common history, and beyond genre."