Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep is out now. It was featured on NPR's Morning Edition, and Merchant performed songs from it on ABC's Good Morning America. The BBC says that the album's many musical styles are unified by the "sheer ravishing beauty of the arrangements, combined with the tasteful, organic aesthetic." The Irish Times gives it a perfect five stars, saying Merchant "has delivered something special."

Afrobeat drumming legend Tony Allen makes his World Circuit / Nonesuch debut with Secret Agent, out today. The album is "pure Afrobeat," says the Boston Globe, "the liquid grooves, the conscious themes, the horn arrangements, and Allen’s complicated drumming." Slant gives four-and-a-half stars to this "vital, insistently probing work," calling it "joyful, colorful, uplifting music [that] finds the best in all its influences, leaving us with a daring assemblage of styles that's impossible to adequately define."

Here Lies Love, the David Byrne / Fatboy Slim album on the life of Imelda Marcos, was released last week; this evening, Byrne will sign copies at the MoMA Store in New York. The New York Times's Jon Pareles adds the album to his Playlist, citing "the limber, catchy music" and its "irrepressible pop choruses." Time says the album puts "a winning twist on the 'album musical' tradition." The New York Post calls the collaboration "a fine marriage."

The soundtrack to Revolutionary Road, featuring a score by Thomas Newman that the Irish Times called "quintessential Newman—smart, moving and cool," has been nominated for Soundtrack of the Year in the 2010 Classical BRIT Awards. The 11th annual Awards ceremony will take place at the Royal Albert Hall in London on May 13 and will be broadcast in the UK on ITV1.

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of indie record stores across the US and around the world, returns this Saturday, April 17. Nonesuch artists will be well represented this year, with in-store performances and/or new vinyl from Laurie Anderson, The Black Keys, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris, and Wilco.

Leave Your Sleep, Natalie Merchant's first studio recording in seven years, is out this week. Merchant kicks off a US tour with two shows in New York City and an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America. Her performance at the TED Conference is now online. The Sun gives five stars to the "breathtaking" new album. The Daily Telegraph gives four stars to the "gentle, lush, and magnificent" work. The Daily Express gives it four stars too, calling it "a real achievement." The Star-Ledger cites "the warm glow in her voice and the casual virtuosity of the wide-ranging music." Paste calls it "effortlessly elegant."

I Bring What I Love, the documentary film that follows Youssou N'Dour upon the Nonesuch release of his Grammy-winning album Egypt, is now available to own on DVD in the US via Oscilloscope Laboratories, loaded with over 70 minutes of special features. The film's soundtrack is out on Nonesuch. I Bring What I Love opened on 20 screens across France.

Caetano Veloso does DC ... Laurie Anderson plays four nights in Sweden ... the Assads go back to their roots ... The Black Keys headline Yuri's Night Bay Area ... Bill Frisell has four nights at Yoshi's Oakland ... Richard Goode plays Detroit ... Kronos is in residence at Duke ... The Low Anthem is in Toronto ... Brad Mehldau Trio too ... Pat Metheny plays three shows in Florida ... Punch Brothers make music in Montana ... Rokia Traoré begins US tour ... Wilco ends one ... and more ...

I Am Love, the new film from Luca Guadagnino, starring Tilda Swinton and featuring a score by John Adams, receives its theatrical release across the UK and Ireland today. The Irish Times says the film "has to be seen to be believed." I Am Love opens in the US in June and recently screened at Lincoln Center. The New York Times called it "a cinematic tour de force"; Time Out New York gives it five stars: "See it by any means necessary."

Rokia Traoré kicks off a four-week spring tour of the United States and the UK this weekend with a Saturday night set at the Stewart Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina. She will spend the next week playing up and down the East Coast of the US, followed by a UK leg starting later this month. For the UK dates, Traoré will be joined by Mercury Prize-nominated British trio Sweet Billy Pilgrim.

Caetano Veloso’s new album, zii e zie, was released last week on Nonesuch Records. Now comes the start of a six-city US tour, which kicks off at New York City's Terminal 5 tonight. NPR affiliate WNYC has chosen tonight's show for its Gig Alert, offering a free download of the album track "Sem Cais." In a series of video interviews on nonesuch.com, Veloso describes the music on the album as transamba, or “samba transcending itself.”

With just a few days to go before the April 13 North American release of Tony Allen's World Circuit / Nonesuch debut album, Secret Agent, The Fader is offering a free download of the track "Ijo," the dub version from reggae star Dennis Bovell. The Fader predicts that the soon-to-be-released album is "gonna be a killer at the BBQs this summer."