Nonesuch Records releases "Sweaters (Sam Gendel Remix)," the saxophonist’s reinterpretation of the Laurie Anderson track from her landmark 1982 debut album, Big Science, today. On the remix, which Gendel produced and engineered, he plays alto saxophone, contrabass guitar, and wind synthesizer, while incorporating elements of the original recording, including Anderson’s vocals and violin, Rufus Harley's bagpipes, and David Van Tieghem's drums.

"Laurie Anderson Has a Message for Us Humans," Sam Anderson's New York Times Magazine feature on Laurie Anderson in last week's issue of the magazine, is today's episode of The Sunday Read from the Times podcast The Daily. Before reading his article, the writer conveys five questions Laurie Anderson had shared with him, "a sort of test that uses to figure out whether a piece that she's working on is good or not ... 'Is it complicated enough? Is it simple enough? Is it crazy enough? Is it beautiful enough? And finally, Is it stupid enough?' And I thought that was kind of a great criteria for proceeding with life, with whatever you are doing."

The Black Keys have shared a previously unreleased recording of their platinum-selling single "Gold on the Ceiling," from a 2012 BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe session. It's part of the special tenth anniversary edition of the album El Camino, due November 5 on Nonesuch Records. El Camino (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) is available in several formats, including a Super Deluxe edition of five vinyl LPs—with a remastered version of the original album; a previously unreleased Live in Portland, ME concert recording; the BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe session from 2012; a 2011 Electro-Vox session; an extensive photo book; a limited-edition poster and lithograph; and a “new car scent” air freshener—or four CDs minus the poster and air freshener. A three-LP edition, which include the remastered album and the live recording, will also be available. You can watch an unboxing video of the five-LP Super Deluxe version here.

Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price and Mike Calabrese are on the Environmental Defense Fund's Degrees podcast, which has as its theme song the band's 2018 tune "Shame, Shame, Shame." They discuss the challenges of being a green band and the intersection of art and activism, including the climate-change focused song "Making Do," from their latest album, Obviously. "Full disclosure," says host Yesh Pavlik Slenk: "I have producers making sure I stay objective here, because Lake Street Dive is my very favorite band." You can hear their conversation here.

Jeremy Denk will publish a memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine, via Random House on February 22. In the book, Denk traces his implausible artistic journey and sets out to relay the most meaningful lessons he has received, and to repay the debt of all his teachers. “The performer has two tasks,” he writes. “One is to do what’s written in the score—incredibly important—and the other, even more important, is to do everything that’s not.”

Ben LaMar Gay has released “Oh Great Be the Lake," the second single from his upcoming new album Open Arms to Open Us, out November 19 on International Anthem / Nonesuch. The new track is a ballad penned by Gay to his memories of jumping off the rocks into Lake Michigan on Chicago’s Southside; you can watch the video by Chris Strong here. Supported by delicate, minimal flute accents by Rob Frye and wordless backing vocals by Ayanna Woods, Gay croons encouragingly, repeatedly: “Learn how to swim.” This song also birthed the album title, which is taken from the lyrics in the second verse.

Pitchfork, in celebration of its 25th anniversary, has published a list of 'The 200 Most Important Artists of Pitchfork’s First 25 Years,' including Wilco, The Magnetic Fields, Conor Oberst, Fleet Foxes, and Björk.

"A Gradual Dazzle," from Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion's new album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, and the poem it sets, Anne Carson's "Room in Brooklyn," are the subject of the latest episode of the podcast Resounding Verse. You can hear it here. "Caroline Shaw is one of my favorite young composers," says host Stephen Rodgers. The new album "is a series of intimate, haunting, beautiful songs."

Steve Reich will publish Conversations, a new book, via HarperCollins' Hanover Square Press, on March 8, 2022. In the book, the composer speaks with collaborators, fellow composers, musicians, and visual artists influenced by his work—including Nonesuch Records Chairman Emeritus Robert Hurwitz, Jonny Greenwood, Kronos Quartet's David Harrington, Stephen Sondheim, Nico Muhly, Brian Eno, Michael Gordon, and others—to reflect on his prolific career as a composer as well as the music that inspired him and that has been inspired by him. The New York Times calls it "a surprising, enlightening series of conversations that shed new light on the music and career of 'our greatest living composer.'" The New Yorker says: "Through this series of insightful, wide-ranging conversations starting from his student days to the present pandemic, we gain a compelling glimpse into the mind of 'the most original musical thinker of our time.'"

The Staves, currently on tour in the UK, have released a stripped down, alternate version of "Best Friend," a song from their new album, Good Woman; it is the second in their Be Kind series of special singles, following a new version of the album's title track. "We went into the studio with the wonderfully talented Marcus Hamblett (our bandmate and long-time collaborator) with the intention of revisiting some of the songs from Good Woman, to explore some of the more soft and tender parts that are there," the band says. The Staves will bring their tour to North America in early 2022. 

Punch Brothers’ newest album, Hell on Church Street, is due January 14, on Nonesuch Records. It is the band’s reimagining of, and homage to, the late bluegrass great Tony Rice’s landmark solo album Church Street Blues, with songs by Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Monroe, and others. Preorders from the Nonesuch and Punch Brothers stores include a limited-edition print signed by the band while supplies last. An in-the-studio video of the band playing “Church Street Blues” may be seen here. Punch Brothers tour North America in support of the album beginning in January, with show in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston, and many more.

David Byrne and the cast of American Utopia helped open The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back! on CBS last night with a performance of the Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House," a favorite from the Broadway production. You can watch it here. The show had received a special award at the Tony Awards ceremony earlier in the evening. Tickets are on sale now for David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway at the St. James Theatre.