Steve Reich's Double Sextet was given its New York premiere last Thursday at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall by eighth blackbird. The New York Times says that the "vigorous" new piece "begins with Mr. Reich's signature chugging rhythms but quickly moves a fair distance, as intricate rhythmic counterpoint and thickening harmonies displace the repetitive opening figure." Following its West Coast premiere last Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times said it creates "the kind of explosion of fractured rhythms that never ceases to amaze the ear."

New York's Other Music presented Toumani Diabate in a rare in-store solo lecture-demonstration earlier this year for the Live at Other Music series, to celebrate the release of his new album, The Mande Variations, and now offers up two videos from the event. "When we’re lucky enough to host a musician with the singular vision and dedication of Malian griot and kora prodigy Toumani Diabate," says Other Music's Josh Madell, "it makes us all take pause."

This past weekend, Chicago Opera Theater began India Blooms in Chicago, its monthlong festival of Indian culture in preparation for the May 14 Midwest premiere of John Adams's latest opera, A Flowering Tree. The work features a libretto by Adams and his longtime collaborator Peter Sellars, adapted from an ancient southern Indian folktale and poetry translated by the late A. K. Ramanujan, a scholar at the University of Chicago. The composer will conduct the May 14 Chicago premiere and the succeeding performance, on May 17; three more performances will follow; all will take place at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park.

The Brad Mehldau Trio's two-disc Live album receives three and a half stars from the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It is way cool to follow the flights of pianist Brad Mehldau and his trio on this live two-disc recording," says the Inquirer. "Mehldau proves he can weave a groove as well as anyone. It's satisfying to hear him pick intense lines in some remote corner of a long tune or pile on one note repeatedly, because his rhythmic drive is so strong."

k.d. lang continues her Australian Watershed tour with three shows in Melbourne this week. Following a recent set in Perth, Perth Now said that despite the autumn chill, there was a warm reception all around at this "magnificent" set. "Long live the queen," the paper declared, saying k.d. "is charm personified ... When she soared through the chorus of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' it was like you were hearing the song for the very first time."

Don't forget to stop by your local independently owned record store tomorrow to check out all that's going on for Record Store Day. The Black Keys, fresh off last night's spot on the Late Show with David Letterman, will be DJing at New York City's Other Music. Also spinning during the day will be Tapes 'N' Tapes, Dead Meadow, Grizzly Bear, Deerhunter, and Interpol.

The Black Keys rocked out on the Late Show with David Letterman last night, leading Stereogum to remind readers that it "gave props to Attack & Release" even before the record's release at the beginning of the month. The site gives props this time around to the "plow through the anvil-slamming, scuzz-blues riffage of 'I Got Mine'" the band brought to the show last night. JamBase, in an interview with producer Danger Mouse, calls the album "an incredible piece of work."

Nicholas Payton's Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, set for release this Tuesday, receives four stars from The Guardian, which contends that listeners who think they know what to expect from the New Orleans trumpeter "might be very surprised" by his latest work. Into the Blue "is full of inspired ballad-rhapsodising, unhurried uptempo improvisations that pulsate with feints and twists, and original compositions and reshaped modern urban and Latin grooves that reveal an incisive creative intelligence."

Don't forget to tune in to the Late Show with David Letterman tonight to see The Black Keys perform "I Got Mine" off their new album, Attack & Release. The Late Show starts at 11:30 PM ET.

"Delightful, and close to flawless." That's how the Sydney Morning Herald describes k.d. lang's performance Wednesday at Sydney's State Theatre. The Australian concurs, writing: "In concert, k.d. lang comes so close to perfection that it's hard not to dissolve into gushing cliches." This week, as k.d.'s new album, Watershed, reached No. 1 in Australia, she and her band have been touring the country.