Pat Metheny Unity Group launches a tour of Asia at the Sejong Center in Seoul on Sunday. The band then heads to Japan for a three-night run at Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo and stops in Osaka, Nagoya, and Kobe, and to China for a headline set at the JZ Music Festival in Shanghai. The Unity Group then begins a four-city tour of Australia, with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Canberra, culminating at the Sydney Opera House. From there, it’s up to Singapore for a show at the Esplanade Concert Hall. The band kicks off the next leg of its North American tour in November.

Today marks the release of composer Steve Reich’s album Radio Rewrite on Nonesuch Records (October 6 in the UK). The album features the first recording of the 2012 title piece, which references two songs by Radiohead and is performed by Alarm Will Sound led by Alan Pierson; Electric Counterpoint (1987), performed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood; and Piano Counterpoint, a 2011 transcription by Vincent Corver of Reich’s 1973 Six Pianos, performed by pianist Vicky Chow. 

Lily-O, a new album of reimagined folk songs by Sam Amidon is out now (with vinyl to come October 28).The album was produced by Valgeir Sigurðsson and features jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Shahzad Ismaily, and drummer Chris Vatalaro. "As well as being master craftsmen," says fRoots, these musicians "create atmosphere—cinematic, mesmeric and groove-rich." The Guardian gives the album four stars, calling it "a compellingly quiet, intense affair ... subtle and intriguing." The Independent, in its four-star reivew, says Amidon's "ability to imbue traditional songs with an ahistorical immediacy has never been better realized than on Lily-O." Esquire UK calls it "magical." MusicOMH gives four-and-a-half stars to this "gorgeous" album.  

Today marks the release of Nico Muhly’s opera Two Boys—recorded live during the Metropolitan Opera’s 2013 production with conductor David Robertson and director Bartlett Sher—on Nonesuch Records. The opera, with a libretto by award-winning playwright Craig Lucas, is loosely based on true events and follows a lonely detective whose investigation of a seemingly simple crime draws her into a complex web of online intrigue. Alice Coote sings the role of Detective Inspector Anne Strawson and Paul Appleby sings Brian, the 16-year-old boy at the center of her investigations. Two Boys is Muhly’s Nonesuch debut.

The recordings made by Abelardo Barroso with Orquesta Sensación in Havana during the 1950s represent one of the pinnacles of the golden age of Cuban music. Now, on the album Cha Cha Cha, World Circuit, the label behind Buena Vista Social Club, releases a re-mastered selection of 14 of their most irresistible recordings. World Circuit releases the album in North America via Nonesuch Records on November 24; it is available to preorder now in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the album track "La Hija de Juan Simón."

Punch Brothers were the inaugural artists-in-residence at Oberlin Conservatory through Oberlin’s American Roots Residency Fund, established by actor-comedian-alum Ed Helms. Conservatory students from a broad range of disciplines participated in the band's three-part residency on campus in the 2013–14 academic year. Oberlin has now put together a video recounting the residency, showing highlights from throughout the year's workshops and performances and talking with the band and Helms, who says: "I’ve kind of stopped being surprised at the ways in which the Punch Brothers blow my mind." See what the band has to say and watch highlights from the residency here.

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's musical Here Lies Love, currently playing at NYC's Public Theater, opens in previews in London on Tuesday, September 30. The National Theatre is producing the musical, which will be the first production in its Dorfman Theatre. The official Opening Night is October 14. "I’ll be there, on the floor, for most of the rehearsals and previews," says David Byrne. "Probably singing along (to myself—though sometimes I get carried away). I suspect Norm [Cook (Fatboy Slim)] will be there sometimes, as well."

Robert Plant and his band The Sensational Space Shifters gave the culminating concert of the Nonesuch Records at BAM series celebrating the label's 50th anniversary, performing songs from his new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, and several Led Zeppelin favorites. "Robert Plant was just brilliant Sunday night in Brooklyn," says NPR's Bob Boilen, who hosted NPR's live video stream of the event. "Plant and his Sensational Space Shifters played a stunning set of music that did what Robert Plant does best: mixing up American blues, British rock, North African rhythms and even some electronica with that voice, still filled with passion after all these years." Watch it again for a limited time here.

Robert Plant was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night. He joined his host for a chat and a performance of the classic doo-wop tune "Duke of Earl." Plant then joined his band The Sensational Space Shifters for a performance of "Rainbow" and "Turn It Up" (a web exclusive), off the new album lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar. Watch all three performances here. Plant's North American fall tour launch in Port Chester, NY, was a "shrewdly rollicking concert," says the New York Times, mixing songs from the new album and Led Zeppelin favorites. The tour continues with performances at BAM tonight and Sunday for Nonesuch Records at BAM; watch a live stream of Sunday's show via NPR Music.

Nonesuch Records’ 50th anniversary festivities at BAM in Brooklyn conclude with performances from Laurie Anderson, Kronos Quartet, Robert Plant, Olivia Chaney, Caetano Veloso ... Björk's Biophilia Live film opens in NYC ... The Black Keys play two nights in Chicago ... Bombino tours Benelux ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Wisconsin ... Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle are in upstate NY ... Iron and Wine is in Ithaca ... Conor Oberst performs at two Knitting Factories out West ... Rokia Traoré is in LA ... Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer tour Texas ... and more ...

Björk: Biophilia Live, the documentary film capturing the multidimensional concert centered on Björk’s eighth studio album, makes its North American theatrical debut at the IFC Center in New York City today. The film made its European debut at the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, at which Variety praised the film as “a captivating record of an artist in full command of her idiosyncratic powers.” At selected screenings the documentary When Björk Met Attenborough will screen alongside Björk: Biophilia Live.

Robert Plant, who kicks off a North American tour Thursday and performs on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday night, spoke with CBS This Morning earlier this week. "He is known as the 'Golden God,'" says CBS. "And he's not showing signs of stopping ... On his tenth solo album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, Plant weaves world music with blues, bluegrass, and a lifetime of adventure." You can watch the interview here. You can also hear his interview with WNYC's Soundcheck. "Plant has lived a few lives in his five decades of music-making," says WNYC."And, at least occasionally on his latest record ... his voice conveys the sound of a voyager meditating on his many travels."