The Staves' Camilla and Jessica Staveley-Taylor were the musical guest on WNYC's Get Lit with All of It, the book club series with All of It host Alison Stewart, via a virtual gathering from The Greene Space. The featured author on the episode is Lauren Groff, who discusses her latest novel, MATRIX. The Staves performed songs from and spoke with Stewart about their new album, Good Woman; you can watch it here. The Staves will tour North America in early 2022. 

The Magnetic Fields’ City Winery residency, originally scheduled for spring 2020 to celebrate their new album Quickies, begins in their hometown of Boston this weekend. The band will perform songs spanning their 30+ year career, including Quickies and 69 Love Songs, at intimate City Winery venues in seven cities—Boston, New York, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta, Nashville, and Chicago.

Punch Brothers’ interpretation of the Jimmie Rodgers' “Any Old Time,” from their forthcoming album Hell on Church Street, is out now. Hell on Church Street, due January 14, is a reimagining of, and homage to, the late bluegrass great Tony Rice’s landmark solo album Church Street Blues. The record features a collection of 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. Punch Brothers tour North America in support of the album beginning in January.

Ben LaMar Gay shares a new video for “Mestre Candeia’s Denim Hat,” off his upcoming album Open Arms to Open Us, out November 19 on International Anthem / Nonesuch. An homage to improvisatory and rhythmic elements of the Brazilian “Partido Alto” tradition, “Mestre Candeia’s Denim Hat” sees Gay lay a Chicago-style free-jazz synth raga over a swinging, fractured march. The title is a nod to the insight and style of master sambista and partideiro Antônio Candeia Filho. You can watch the video, directed by Andrea Rodea and Erik Mares of the Mexico City based Rhizomes Films, here.

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."