The Black Keys' ninth studio album, "Let's Rock," will be released June 28, 2019, via Easy Eye Sound / Nonesuch Records. The long-awaited album, the band's first in five years, is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney's early days as a band. "When we're together we are The Black Keys, that's where that real magic is," says Auerbach, "and always has been since we were sixteen." "The record is like an homage to electric guitar," says Carney. "We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to." The second song from the record, "Eagle Birds," debuts today; it follows the previously released single "Lo/Hi." The Black Keys' North American tour begins September 23.

Rhiannon Giddens's new album, there is no Other, recorded with the multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, out next Friday, May 3, is streaming in full till then as an NPR First Listen. NPR's Ann Powers says: "There is no Other continues its explorations of heartfelt exchange and private longing in ways similar to, yet distinct from, her other recent work. Since releasing her solo debut album Tomorrow Is My Turn in 2015, she's been building a new vision of the songlines connecting people and historical events, revisiting slave narratives and civil rights anthems and writing her own songs about what has been forgotten or ignored. .... [On the new album], Giddens brings her powerhouse voice and musical chops into closer quarters."

The three members of Mountain Man—Molly Erin Sarlé, Amelia Meath, and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, all Bennington College alums—will give their alma mater's commencement address on May 31; the event will be livestreamed. "Bennington equipped each of us with the tools necessary to translate vision into reality," says Sauser-Monnig. "When institutional guardrails are gone, the collaborative bonds you form with similarly interested people become the new touchstones of the creative work of living, and ideally support and inspire you in that iterative process. We're looking forward to being present in sending off another class of Bennington students with a conversation on the nature of collaboration."

When Record Store Day took place earlier this month, among its special releases was Emmylou Harris's The Studio Albums, 1980–83, a new vinyl collection featuring classic titles—Roses in the Snow, Evangeline, Cimarron, Last Date, and White Shoes—as well as a bonus 45 RPM single of "That Lovin' Feeling Again” with Roy Orbison b/w "Mr. Sandman." A limited number of the set is now available in the Nonesuch Store.

Lianne La Havas, who was recently named to the Afropunk Festival lineup in Brooklyn this August, has announced three US shows in August ahead of the festival: Terminal West in Atlanta, Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, and Baltimore Soundstage.

Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Orange, performed by Attacca Quartet, is out now on New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records. Orange, which features six of Shaw’s pieces for string quartet, is the first full-length album to exclusively feature works by Shaw. "Completely gorgeous in so many ways," exclaims BBC Radio 3. "It hits you everywhere, all at once." "A love letter to the string quartet," says NPR. "[W]hen you hear all the imaginative sounds on Orange, you know you're listening to the voice of a strong composer."

Singer Mandy Patinkin and pianist/producer Thomas Bartlett's Diary: December 2018, the third in their Diary series of musical installments, is out now on Nonesuch. The digital release’s eleven songs were recorded by the two musicians in Bartlett’s New York studio last December and include two songs written by Patinkin himself plus songs by Paul Simon, Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields), Randy Newman, Biff Rose, Teitur, and John Grant. A thirty-city Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries begins in October 2019; details will be announced this summer.

Nonesuch Records looks forward to returning to The Brooklyn Flea Record Fair for its spring 2019 edition, at East River State Park in Williamsburg, on Saturday, May 18, from 11am to 6pm. The free event includes DJ sets, a beer garden, and a record label and independent record store market, and is situated next to Smorgasburg and its delicious food and drink options. Stop by the Nonesuch table then to say hi and pick up copies of your favorite Nonesuch vinyl releases, limited-edition prints, exclusive vinyl samplers, tote bags, and more.

Stephin Merritt will perform original music he has written to score a screening of Tod Browning's 1925 silent film The Unholy Three, starring Lon Cheney, at The Town Hall in NYC on May 18, 2019. The Magnetic Fields front man will be joined by accordionist and novelist Daniel Handler (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and violist Pinky Weitzman for the one-night-only event. This is Merritt's first live silent-film scoring event on the East Coast, following his successful live score to two other Tod Browning films at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2010 and 2014.

Composer-performer Daniel Wohl's album État will be released May 31, 2019, on New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records. The album features electro-acoustic pieces written by Wohl, and includes guest performances by Poliça's Channy Leaneagh with co-production by Son Lux's Ryan Lott and mmph. État, recorded with members of yMusic and the Calder Quartet, explores new dimensions of production. Pre-order to download the track "Melt" now.

The BBC Proms 2019 season includes Jonny Greenwood, who leads a late-night concert, Prom 70, at Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, September 10. He has curated a program of pieces by Biber and Krzysztof Penderecki, Steve Reich's Pulse, and Greenwood's own works, including the world premiere of his new piece, Horror vacui. Greenwood will perform with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The concert will be broadcast on BBC Four on Friday, September 13. General booking begins on May 11.

Attacca Quartet performed music from Caroline Shaw’s Orange live at The Greene Space in NYC last Friday, ahead of the album’s release this coming Friday. The performance was streamed live via WNYC's New Sounds and can be seen again in full here. Shaw was the featured artist on the first episode in the new series of BBC Radio 3’s Unclassified, showcasing "genre-exploding new music for curious ears, hearts and minds," on Sunday. "I love it ... absolutely gorgeous music," says presenter Elizabeth Alker, who gave the radio premiere plays of two album tracks.