With AfroCubism due out in just over a month, National Geographic has an exclusive music preview, streaming the album track "Al vaivén de mi carreta." The album and band are the cover story of the October issue of Songlines. "It's a quite superb coming together of Cuban and Malian traditions to create something that sounds excitingly fresh and new," says writer Nigel Williamson. "There was a genuine creative tension between the tightly structured approach of the Cubans and the looser, more improvisational attitude of the Malians. And it's perhaps this tension that makes it such an exciting album."

"The Comet Song," the new song from Björk, is now available exclusively as a digital download from iTunes.  All the artist and record label proceeds from sales of the track sales will be donated to UNICEF to support their efforts to aid children in Pakistan. Björk wrote and performed "The Comet Song" for the new, animated Finnish children's film Moomins and the Comet Chase.

The Punch Brothers' tour is back in full swing and headed to Austin this Friday. The band has added a new tour date back on their home turf at Brooklyn's Southpaw, October 21, as special guests of Dierks Bentley. The performance marks the closing night of Bentley's four-night, four-venue New York City residency. Fans across the country will be able to hear the show as it airs live on Sirius/XM on both The Highway and Bluegrass Junction channels.

Amadou & Mariam make Daily Candy's Labor Day playlist ... The Black Keys launch tour with Kings of Leon ... Punch Brothers play moe.down festival ... Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhys Chatham play free outdoor sets ... Bill Frisell joins Paul Motian Trio in NYC ... Richard Goode travels to Toulouse ... The Low Anthem, Philip Selway play Electric Picnic ... Brad Mehldau debuts at Chicago Jazz Fest ... Joshua Redman tours Asia ... Allen Toussaint does Detroit Jazz Fest ... Sara Watkins plays Prairie Home Companion ... and more ... 

Lonely Avenue, the forthcoming album pairing Ben Folds and Nick Hornby, is featured in Billboard, in which Folds says it was an "instinct to collaborate and make music with people who aren't necessarily musicians" that led to his unique pairing with the English novelist. The Evening Standard says: "They fit beautifully together ... Hornby fans will recognise the tone immediately."

The Black Keys' appearance on NPR's World Cafe airs again today for the show's Best of Summer series. The band hit the road again last night, headlining at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, New York, with The Whigs supporting. Both bands join up with Kings of Leon for a three-week tour starting in Indianapolis tonight, continuing through September 23, after which The Black Keys launch their own fall headlining tour through November.

Tune in to NPR's Fresh Air today to hear highlights from the Carolina Chocolate Drops appearance on the show from earlier this year, following the release of their album Genuine Negro Jig. It's Country Music Week at Fresh Air, with the show revisiting "interviews with country music's legendary songwriters and performers." The band performs a free outdoor concert in Chattanooga, Tennessee, tonight.

Philip Selway's Familial was released earlier this week; People calls it "a dreamy solo debut." The Onion's A.V. Club calls it "a hushed, fragile collection" with some "truly beautiful, affecting tracks" The New York Post says "Selway's songs feature plain-speaking, personal lyrics and whistle-able melodies." Complex calls it "a warm, folk-ish record that’s a definite departure from his group’s previous catalog, while maintaining Radiohead’s standard for quality." Spinner features Selway in a video interview you can watch here.

Tune in to The Late Late show with Craig Ferguson to see Sara Watkins perform "Where Will You Be," off her self-titled Nonesuch debut album tonight on CBS. She, Garrison Keillor, and the cast of A Prairie Home Companion bring their Summer Love Tour home to the Minnesota State Fair for a live radio broadcast of the show on Saturday. Watkins promises a song by Harry Nilsson and one by Randy Newman.

AfroCubism, the collaboration between Cuban and Malian musicians that was meant to take place when the Buena Vista Social Club was born, is due out October 19 and is now up for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with the exclusive bonus track "El Manisero." "What I've heard of Afrocubism so far sounds pretty awesome," says NPR's Robin Hilton on the All Songs Considered blog, which premiered a new behind-the-scenes video today. Watch it here.

Natalie Merchant concludes her summer US tour, featuring music from her album Leave Your Sleep, at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina, tonight. She hits the road again in October for a five-stop tour of the mid-Atlantic states backed by a full orchestra. Glide says the new album shows "once again that Natalie Merchant not only has the chops to be one of the best singer-songwriters of her generation, but rather she is one of the defining ones."

Today marks the North American release of Philip Selway's Familial. The Detroit Free Press says the Radiohead drummer "defies expectations on his solo debut," which "showcases Selway's gentle, tuneful vocals ... Familial is a wonderful surprise." The Globe and Mail gives the album four stars, citing its ""haunting Nick Drake-style of contemporary folk." The Village Voice says "Elliott Smith's influence runs strong." Philadelphia Weekly calls it "a delicate and dreamy record of intimately told folk songs."