Sam Amidon performed as part of Kansas Smitty's Virtual Jazz Bar in London. He joined clarinetist Giacomo Smith and band to perform a few songs from Amidon's new self-titled album, out this Friday. You can watch the session here. Amidon will celebrate the release of the new album with a livestream concert on Bandcamp this Thursday at 4pm EDT.

Kronos Quartet filmed a socially distanced performance of "Lux Aeterna," from composer Clint Mansell's score to Darren Arronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, to mark the film's 20th anniversary, at Stanford's Bing Concert Hall. You can watch it here. Nonesuch Records will reissue the soundtrack on vinyl December 4.

Rhiannon Giddens is the guest on the inaugural episode of NPR Music's Amplify with Lara Downes, a new bi-weekly series of intimate video conversations "with visionary Black musicians who are shaping the present and future of the art form," says NPR. "Rhiannon is my friend and soul sister, my fellow traveler on the path that leads to the deep center of American music," says Downes. "In this year of staying home and standing still, we reflect together on the long miles we've traveled so far and what we've found on our journeys, envisioning the wide open road ahead." You can watch it here.

Composer Tristan Perich has released a video featuring a selection from his piece Drift Multiply, for 50 violins and 50-channel 1-bit electronics. The video was assembled from footage of three October 2019 performances of the piece conducted by Douglas Perkins in the Netherlands: Onderzeebootloods in Rotterdam (with dance by Lucinda Childs), Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, and De Doelen in Rotterdam, where the forthcoming album of the piece was recorded. You can watch it here.

Rob Mazurek has released two new singles, “Galaxy 1000” and “The Careening Prism Within (Parable 43),” from his forthcoming Exploding Star Orchestra album, Dimensional Stardust, due November 20 on International Anthem / Nonesuch Records. Both songs come with accompanying videos directed by Mikel Patrick Avery, who presents the two new works as Part 2 and Part 3 of the First Kid in Space film series starring his daughter Olivia Avery-Velez; you can watch them both here. Part 1 accompanied the previously released track "A Wrinkle in Time Sets Concentric Circles Reeling."

Yola's debut performance on Austin City Limits premiered on PBS stations across the country this past weekend and can be seen here. Filmed before the pandemic, the session features Yola and her band performing songs from her 2019 Dan Auerbach–produced debut album, Walk Through Fire.

On his Nonesuch Records debut album, Over That Road I’m Bound, out today, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joachim Cooder uses the plain-spoken songs of country-music progenitor and banjo player Uncle Dave Macon as a jumping off point, tinkering with the lyrics and reworking melodies for his chosen instrument: an electric mbira. Cooder culled songs from Macon’s vast catalog and recorded them with his band and special guests: Ry Cooder, Rayna Gellert, Juliette Commagere, Sam Gendel, Glenn Patscha, Amir Yaghmai, Dan Gellert, and Vieux Farka Touré. "Warm, uplifting, and quietly spectacular," says Uncut. "A buoyant and joyful long-player," says Mojo. A new video for the album track "Heartaching Blues" may be seen here.

Sam Gendel’s new album, DRM, is out today on Nonesuch Records. The follow-up to his Nonesuch debut, Satin Doll, released earlier this year, DRM features Gendel’s solo musical experiments with vintage instruments such as a forty-year-old Electro Harmonix DRM32 drum machine, antique synthesizers, and a sixty-year-old nylon-string guitar—accompanied by his voice. The album includes one cover song: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” which Gendel interprets as an instrumental, playing the melody on an old German analogue synthesizer. Also out today are short films, one for each track on the album, directed by Marcella Cytrynowicz; you can watch them here.

Sam Amidon has released his take on Taj Mahal's "Light Rain Blues," the second track from his forthcoming, self-titled album, due October 23 on Nonesuch Records, and an accompanying video, directed by Will Miller. You can watch it here. Amidon performs in concert from Kings Place in London this Saturday, streaming live.

Lake Street Dive has released a new song, "Making Do," and an accompanying video, which you can watch here. "'Making Do' is about the world that future generations are inheriting," says the band. "We are all concerned about what is happening to our planet, so the song explores what arises when we consider both our role in it and our responsibility to address it. Hopefully it comes through as a rallying cry to do the best you can with what you have." The video comprises clips from fans and a cameo by Senator Ed Markey, a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal.

Rhiannon Giddens has teamed with composer Michael Abels (Get Out) and members of the Met Opera Chorus and Nashville Ballet for a new interpretation of her song "Cry No More," which she first wrote and released in the wake of the 2015 Charleston church shooting. Following the murder of Breonna Taylor, Giddens re-recorded the track to emphasize its timeliness with added fervor, as she makes a plea for unity against injustice. You can watch the new video here.

Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joachim Cooder has released "Over That Road I'm Bound to Go," the latest track from his forthcoming Nonesuch debut album, Over That Road I'm Bound, due October 2. You can watch a video here and download the track with pre-orders of the album, along with the previously released tune "Come Along Buddy."