The Low Anthem played its first-ever West Coast show this past weekend at Chop Suey in Seattle, meeting up with Blind Pilot on Monday to start a three-week tour together. While in Seattle, the trio stopped by KEXP to perform a four-song session; tune in tonight at 9 PM PST to hear it. Leading to this Friday's show in LA, Jeff Prystowsky spoke with LAist, which describes the new album as "chocked full of intelligent lyrics inspired by America's past and present laid gently on top of harmonies that make your heart ache."

I Am Love, the film to which John Adams has contributed his first-ever score, has been nominated for a Hollywood World Award for best international film; the Los Angeles Times says the score "adds a staggering emotional punch" to the film. The Times review of Sunday's LA Master Chorale performance of Klinghoffer Choruses calls Adams "an American icon" and the opera's music as "some of the most haunting Adams has written." The composer delivers the Tanner Lectures on Human Values next week at Yale.

Natalie Merchant will give her first UK performance in over seven years at Conway Hall in London November 16, showcasing material from her forthcoming Nonesuch debut. The previous Friday, Natalie will join the London Jazz Festival Orchestra at the Barbican for the London Jazz Festival's Opening Night; a week later, she'll perform at the Crossing Border festival in The Hague. This Friday, UK fans can catch Natalie on a special episode of BBC Two's Newsnight.

Alarm Will Sound celebrated the recent release of its Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, with an album release and listening party at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge last night. Alan Pierson, the group's artistic director, and Gavin Chuck, its managing director, spoke with BBC's The Strand about the new album, which, says the BBC, "even includes a few tracks that it was thought impossible for human beings to play."

Wilco closes out the US leg of its fall tour tonight in the second of two consecutive shows in its hometown, at the University of Illinois Chicago Pavilion, with fellow locals Tortoise opening. The Chicago Sun-Times review of Sunday's set calls them "visionaries"; the Chicago Tribune says Wilco has "evolved into something of a mini-orchestra." The National Post says Wilco's shows in Toronto last week "solidified its position as one of the greatest that ever DID get signed."

Bill Frisell takes his 858 Quartet to Southern France to start a three-week European tour tomorrow night. JamBase says his recent Nonesuch release, Disfarmer, "should please any fan of such Frisell classics as 1997’s Nashville and 1999’s outstanding Good Dog, Happy Man." The songs, inspired by the haunting work of early 20th-century American photographer Mike Disfarmer, "perfectly capture the era and the region in all of its sepia-toned beauty."

Alarm Will Sound throws album release party in NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play close to home ... Christina Courtin heads south ... Philip Glass heads weekend of piano and dance at Chicago museum ... Bill Frisell Trio plays The Kennedy Center ... Emmylou Harris tours with Buddy Miller ... Low Anthem headlines in the Northwest ... Brad Mehldau Trio launches tour from London ... Punch Brothers play Carnegie Hall ... Joshua Redman Trio traverses Europe ... Allen Toussaint travels to two jazz fests ... Sara Watkins joins John Prine in Canada ... Wilco winds via Chicago ... and more ...

Youssou N'Dour is in New York City tonight as an honoree, along with President Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson, of The Black Ball, a benefit event for Keep a Child Alive to support children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and India; he is set to perform as well. Youssou was in the city last night for a Q&A at a screening of the film I Bring What I Love. He is due to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at London's Africa Music Awards on Saturday.

The Low Anthem has spent the better part of the days since the release of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin this spring on the road, performing at clubs and concert halls across the United States and Europe. The trio makes a quick stop at home in Providence tonight, before touring with Blind Pilot, for a unique show at The Avon, a historic old movie house.

Allen Toussaint and Amadou & Mariam are featured guests on the American broadcast of the famed UK performance show Later ... with Jools Holland. The episode, which previously aired in the UK, is being shown for the first time in the US tonight on the cable arts channel Ovation TV, at 9 PM. And tune in next month to catch The Carolina Chocolate Drops on the show November 5.

 

Punch Brothers returns to Carnegie Hall for its first performance in Stern Auditorium this Friday, following the 2007 premiere of The Blind Leaving the Blind in Carnegie's Zankel Hall, the work later featured on the band's Nonesuch debut, Punch. To celebrate, Nonesuch is offering two free tickets to the show, plus a copy of the album Punch. Winners will also receive free entry into the concert's after party, courtesy of the makers of the forthcoming film about the Punch Brothers, How to Grow a Band.

Wilco's TransCanada tour doesn't take place till February 2010, but Toronto fans get a preview with two sold-out sets at Massey Hall tonight and Thursday, which John Stirratt previews in Canada's National Post. In A.V. Club Chicago, Jeff Tweedy responds to anonymous comments, both good and bad, left on sites around the web, ranging from his own hair care to fan expectations.