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."

Homeland, Laurie Anderson's first studio album in ten years, is due out on Nonesuch June 15 and is now available for pre-order at nonesuch.com. In a Nonesuch Store exclusive, the first 250 orders of Homeland include a limited-edition 12" vinyl single of the album track "Only an Expert," signed by Anderson. She recently spoke with the BBC World Service program The Strand, which calls her "one of the great artistic experimenters."

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.

The Black Keys marked Record Store Day 2010 with the release of a 12" vinyl single featuring two tracks off their forthcoming album, Brothers. The single is now available here in the Nonesuch Store. On Side A is the Danger Mouse-produced "Tighten Up," which Rolling Stone gives four stars, saying the band has "never sounded tighter or funkier." On the flip side is "Howlin' for You," with backing vocals by Blakroc's Nicole Wray.

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."

Laurie Anderson, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris make Record Store Day appearances ... Louis Andriessen curates at Carnegie Hall ... The Black Keys play CMU and FLA ... Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz curate at The Stone ... The Low Anthem plays Brooklyn ... Pat Metheny tours the Southwest ... Punch Brothers conquer California ... Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau duo in New York state ... Rokia Traoré rounds out US tour ... Caetano Veloso hits SFJAZZ ... Sarah Watkins celebrates Earth Day in Nashville ... Glenn Kotche celebrates Burt Bacharach in Osaka ... and more ...

Sara Watkins will join Garrison Keillor and the cast of public radio's A Prairie Home Companion on a coast-to-coast concert tour this August and September that will take on the everlasting theme of romantic love, fittingly dubbed the Summer Love Tour. The tour kicks off August 10 at the Interlochen Arts Festival and runs through a mid-September closer in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Stephen Sondheim and the cast of A Little Night Music, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angela Lansbury, and Alexander Hanson, signed copies of the new cast album in New York City last week for more than 250 lucky fans upon the album's release. The day's events have been documented in a new video, now at nonesuch.com/media. The composer presented Lansbury with the Signature Theatre's Stephen Sondheim Award in DC on Monday.