Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep was released last week to a number of milestones, including the No. 17 slot on the Billboard pop chart and No. 1 on the folk chart. Merchant continues to tour this weekend, including a live-audience taping of NPR's eTown. Utah's The Spectrum calls the album "a rich collection of music and poetry," on which "there's not a bad apple ... For an album this big that's quite an accomplishment." The Cleveland Scene recommends the complete album, declaring it "well worth the investment."

Legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen's recently released World Circuit / Nonesuch debut album, Secret Agent, finds Allen "continuing his late career high," says Pitchfork, "never more confident." The Boston Herald gives it an A, calling it "the real thing." Time Out New York says Allen is "sounding at once gracious and cool," and Dusted says the album "bears witness to his development of Afrobeat beyond the shadow of Fela Kuti."

Wilco begins a two-week tour of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia with a set at the Big Cat in Osaka tonight. All five shows in Australia feature an opening set from Liam Finn. The latest tour begins less than two weeks after what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the "slam-bang finish" of the band's fully sold-out US tour in Pittsburgh.

Tune in to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to catch Natalie Merchant perform the song "Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience" off her new album, Leave Your Sleep, tonight on NBC. She is in Los Angeles for two sold-out shows on her current US tour. There's an interview with Merchant in MusicOMH, which calls Leave Your Sleep "a phenomenally ambitious and creative project." The St. Petersburg Times calls it "fun, educating and enlightening."

The Low Anthem is back on its home turf tonight to perform a special free set at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, with suggested donations going to benefit United Way's Rhode Island Flood Recovery Fund. The band's recent performance in Brooklyn led the New York Press to rave: "Tender, introspective and at times genuinely uplifting, it was an enthralling performance."

Here Lies Love, David Byrne's song-cycle collaboration with Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook) "is a fountain of funk and dance music that's entirely accessible, great fun and can easily be enjoyed a song at a time," says the Wall Street Journal in a feature on the album. "Loyal Byrne fans will find its precedent in early '80s Talking Heads' funk works as well as in Mr. Cook's electronic dance hits."

Caetano Veloso closes out his US tour with music from zii e zie at the Fillmore in Miami Beach tonight. He spoke with the Miami New Times , which, after acknowledging comparisons to Dylan and Cohen, recognizes him as "a man as unique as a sunset's flash of green, who sings songs as beautiful as blue moons." Variety says the recent tour stop in LA was a "rock-centric effort" set against "the supple sweetness of Veloso's pristine voice." Sete was there and has footage and feedback from the event.

Pat Metheny and Orchestrion, his latest Nonesuch release and worldwide tour, were the subject of a feature on the latest episode of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. "Seeing the orchestrion in action is like watching Santa's workshop," says NPR, "if Santa was a jazz cat." The tour is in California this week, where the San Diego Union Tribune calls the album "dazzling" and the Santa Barbara Independent calls it "wonderful."

Here Lies Love, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's two-CD song cycle on the life of Imelda Marcos, was featured on NPR's All Things Considered Saturday. Here Byrne is seen signing copies of the album at the MoMA Store in New York. There's also an interview with Guernica magazine about the project. The Charleston Post and Courier says the Byrne/Slim collaboration makes for "the perfect combination."

Natalie Merchant and her recently released Nonesuch debut, Leave Your Sleep, were the subject of a feature article in the Sunday New York Times. Merchant spoke with Times writer Jon Pareles about the project and all that went into making it. The Boston Herald gives the album an A, calling it "a contender for 2010’s best album." The Financial Times gives it five stars. The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Brisbane Times all give four stars to this "staggeringly elaborate project."

Natalie Merchant is in New York City this week to celebrate the release of Leave Your Sleep with a flurry of activity, including a performance on WNYC's Soundcheck today. The Montreal Gazette gives the album a perfect five stars, dubbing it an "instant classic." Blogcritics says: "It's like these melodies and poems had been waiting around all of these years for Natalie Merchant to notice them." fRoots exclaims: "She has triumphed ... Leave Your Sleep is one of those albums that sounds like it just belongs; timeless and classic."

Laurie Anderson is in London for four nights to perform her latest work, Delusion, at the Barbican. The Evening Standard says "Anderson drew us into her dream-like world and fed us stories, poetic anecdotes, observations and meditations" through to the "bold, exciting ending." The Guardian, Times (UK), and Financial Times each give it four stars. She spoke with the BBC about the show and her new album, Homeland, from which will sign copies of a limited-edition vinyl single on Record Store Day, Saturday.