Punch Brothers have announced several shows in Japan and Australia for this August, starting with a three-night residency at Blue Note Tokyo August 3–5, followed by a tour of Australia: in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne. Tickets are on sale now. The new dates follow the band's US spring tour, which begins in a double bill with Dave Rawlings Machine in Charleston on April 29 and includes sets at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and much more.

Nonesuch Records releases the Brad Mehldau Trio’s Blues and Ballads, the trio’s first new release since 2012’s Where Do You Start, on June 3, 2016. Blues and Ballads comprises interpretations of songs by other composers, this time with the focus on blues and ballads implied by the album’s title, including works by Cole Porter, Charlie Parker, Lennon & McCartney, and Jon Brion. Blues and Ballads is available to pre-order with an instant download of the album track "Little Person," which you can preview here.

Louis Andriessen's monumental work De Materie receives its North American stage premiere with performances at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC tonight through March 30. The production, directed by Heiner Goebbels, is performed by International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by conductor Peter Rundel, along with ChorWerk Ruhr. The Los Angeles Times has called De Materie "the Dutch opera that the world at large had long been waiting for." The Park Avenue Armory presents a number of related events this week, including a set for two pianos with Andriessen and Jason Moran on Wednesday and an Artist Talk with the creators on Saturday.

Natalie Merchant, currently touring Europe, stopped by BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show yesterday morning to perform "Where I Go," from her new album, Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings. She is "one of the most distinctive singer songwriters of the last 30 years," says Marr. See why in the performance here. The Daily Telegraph, in its four-star review of her show at London's Royal Albert Hall last week, says, "As her spellbound audience swayed, it felt that we were in the presence of a rare breed: an artist who has never compromised, but instead evolved with integrity, thought and meaning." The Guardian says: "Merchant’s lush acoustic, orchestral set is dramatic, intimate and impressive to witness." The tour continues in Europe this week and culminates at NYC's Beacon Theatre next week.

Rokia Traoré has been named a Regional Goodwill Ambassador for West and Central Africa for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. "It is an honor to take on this role at such a vital time for refugees," said Traoré, who has been working with UNHCR since 2013 to raise awareness about the forcibly displaced, particularly in Africa. To mark her appointment as Goodwill Ambassador, Traoré has released a special video of the title track from her new album Né So, which means "Home" in her native Bambara language. It is dedicated to Malian refugees as well as those displaced around the world. You can watch it here.

Nonesuch releases a pair of new albums from guitarist, composer, and bandleader Pat Metheny on May 6, 2016. Metheny is well-known as a musical collaborator, and both records feature friends and colleagues with whom he has worked for years. The Unity Sessions is taken from a filmed performance with Pat Metheny Unity Group that was recently released on DVD, and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny joins the guitarist with a trio led by longtime Pat Metheny Group trumpeter Cuong Vu. Pre-orders of each include an instant download of a track from its album.

Kronos Quartet, Punch Brothers, Chris Thile, Sam Amidon play Cincinnati's MusicNOW Festival … Seattle Symphony performs John Adams's Scheherazade.2 … Laurie Anderson brings new piece to Minnesota … Timo Andres is in Albany … Jon Brion performs Punch-Drunk Love at Brooklyn screening … Jeremy Denk plays Seattle, San Francisco … Rhiannon Giddens is in Australia … Lake Street Dive plays Philadelphia, Richmond … Clint Mansell performs his film scores in LA … Natalie Merchant tours Europe … Robert Plant concludes tour in Texas … Joshua Redman Trio, Rokia Traoré tour Europe too … and more …

Laurie Anderson was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night. She discussed and shared a clip from her new film, Heart of a Dog, and gave a special live performance from her Concert for Dogs before a lucky group of canines. You can watch it here. The film, for which Nonesuch released the soundtrack, is available to download on iTunes and VUDU through March 29 and will receive its broadcast premiere on HBO on April 25.

Lake Street Dive, currently performing sold-out shows on its Side Pony tour, has announced several new dates in June. The band has also unveiled the music video for the title track to the new album. The video, directed by Greg Kaplan, was filmed live at the famed Electric Lady Studios in New York City. You can watch it and see all of the currently announced shows here.

The Arcs celebrated the release of Yours, Dreamily, their debut album, with a sold-out show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC in September. You can now watch a video of their performance of the album track "Put a Flower in Your Pocket" from the show, in which they're joined by special guests Mariachi Flor de Toloache, here. The band kicks off a spring tour of North America in April.

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters' taping of the Austin City Limits show will stream live on March 21. Plant returns to the ACL stage for the first time in more than a decade, and fans around the world can tune in to the show’s YouTube Channel to watch the entire performance as it happens live from The Moody Theater in Austin. The taping will be the final performance of Plant and the band's current "Southern Journey" tour of the American South. The broadcast version will air on PBS as part of the series' upcoming Season 42, which launches this fall.

Nonesuch releases a live double album from Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil—Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música: Multishow Live—on April 8, 2016. This recording documents a historic reunion from the legendary Brazilian singers, songwriters, and guitarists. Recorded during a concert in Brazil in 2015, the album celebrates a lifelong friendship over the half-century careers of two artists who have broken cultural, social, and political barriers through music. They tour the US in April, with stops in LA, Oakland, Miami, and Brooklyn. Album pre-orders include an instant download of a new song, available for the first time on this recording.