John Adams gives the first of two Tanner Lectures on Human Values this afternoon at Yale University this afternoon, with the second to follow tomorrow afternoon. "Perhaps the most celebrated living American composer," writes the New Haven Advocate, "John Adams is nearly as adept with the English language as he is with musical notation." What's more, "Adams has created some of the most essential classical music of our age."

Earbox.com has long been the go-to source for information on the works of composer John Adams and has now received a makeover, including the addition of a blog from the composer. The first few posts have already caught the attention of The New Yorker's Alex Ross, who writes, "Few artists are as engagingly forthright in their interviews and writings. Adams has now started up a blog on his home site, with the promising name Hell Mouth."

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."

Wilco and The Low Anthem have made the shortlist of nominees for the Uncut Music Award and are now two of just eight artists up for what Uncut has dubbed the year's "most inspiring and rewarding musical experience." The music video for The Low Anthem's "Charlie Darwin" can now be seen here at Nonesuch.com. Stereogum described it as an "affecting visual counterpart to Ben Knox Miller's fragile falsetto."

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."

Byrne concludes bike panel tour ... Alarm Will Sound plays Adams in Hamburg ... Courtin concludes Elizabeth & the Catapult tour ... Frisell's 858 Quartet is in Italy and Innsbruck ... Glass gives Dallas debut of Dracula Live! ... Harris, Buddy Miller move Midwest ... Kronos premieres new work at benefit event ... Low Anthem tours West with Blind Pilot ... Mehldau Trio plays Skopje Jazz Fest ... Portuondo has rare show in LA ... Joshua Redman has several sets at NY's Jazz Standard ... Sondheim talks about his career ... Toussaint reopens the Roosevelt Hotel ... Upshaw makes Strathmore debut ... Watkins heads South ... and more ...

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."

Stephen Sondheim continues his series of on-stage conversations about his life and career, following last year's inaugural event with Frank Rich in San Francisco, which the San Francisco Chronicle called "a dazzling evening." Sondheim spoke with that paper and the Houston Chronicle in advance of coming events in those areas, and says humbly: "You keep writing what you like and you hope other people will like it."

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."

Foundation Passerelle, the organization founded by Rokia Traoré to help her fellow Malians prepare for careers in music, has been awarded the first-ever Roskilde Festival World Music Award. Rokia will accept the 30,000 euro award, on the foundation's behalf, from the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen at the Womex world music conference on November 1. She had already been scheduled to attend this year's Womex to speak about the foundation.

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."

When John Adams's City Noir received its world premiere early this month in the gala Opening Night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under its new music director Gustavo Dudamel, it was met with rave reviews and an adulatory audience response. The performance, which was paired with Mahler's First Symphony, airs tonight on PBS's Great Performances. On his new blog, Adams praises Dudamel as "the genuine article."