On January 8, 2011, The Black Keys will kick off the new season of NBC’s Saturday Night Live with host Jim Carrey. This appearance comes after a monumentally successful 2010 for the duo, whose acclaimed release Brothers, recently received six Grammy nominations. Additionally the album was named iTunes’ Album of the Year and Rolling Stone’s No. 2 Album of the Year. The record also tops American Songwriter’s year-end list and is featured on round-ups at NPR, Time magazine, and Magnet, among many others. The duo is also currently featured on the cover of Spin magazine’s Best of 2010 issue as Artist of the Year.

Smart Flesh, The Low Anthem's forthcoming Nonesuch release, due out February 22, is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. The album is available on CD and vinyl, and in a special deluxe edition that includes the album on CD plus a bonus disc of additional music and comes in a letterpress, numbered edition printed in the band's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. The first 250 pre-orders of Smart Flesh in the Nonesuch Store also include a letterpress printed poster, signed by the band. All pre-orders include an instant download of the album's opening track, "Ghost Woman Blues."

Ali and Toumani, featuring kora master Toumani Diabaté and the late guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré, was released at the start of the year to great critical acclaim, with Pitchfork describing it as "uncommonly beautiful" and NPR calling it "breathtaking." At the year's end, the accolades continue, with the album making year's-best lists and being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album. In celebration, we're offering a free download of the album track "Sabu Yerkoy" here.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops' Genuine Negro Jig has landed at No. 4 on the Top 10 album list from San Jose Mercury News, which also includes Eminem, Kanye West, and Big Boi. No Depression says: "The dramatic success of this young trio over the past year is well-deserved (including their Grammy nomination)." In honor of that Grammy nod and all the year-end accolades, we're offering a free download of the Genuine Negro Jig track "Trouble in Your Mind." Enjoy!

AfroCubism has been named to the No. 1 spot on AOL Spinner's list of the Best World Music Albums of 2010, with the site exclaiming: "Clearly, the world music album of the year." Though the album's release comes a decade and a half after its inception, "not only was it worth the wait, but it probably exceeded the potential of the past with an infusion of some vibrant new talent from West Africa." Spinner also names The Black Keys' Brothers among the 30 Best Albums of 2010.

Ben Folds brought his Lonely Avenue tour to NYC on Tuesday for a sold-out show at the Beacon. The tour continues late next month, including two just-announced shows in Missouri and Oklahoma. The Village Voice describes the songs of Lonely Avenue as "stupendously likable." Nick Hornby, Folds's writing partner, made the USA Today's Pop Candy's 100 People of 2010. Folds appeared on the Today show to talk about the album at The Sing-Off; you can watch the segment here.

AfroCubism has made the list of the Top 5 World Music Releases of 2010 according to WNYC's Soundcheck. Anastasia Tsioulcas, who assembled the list, spoke with the show's host John Schaefer, about her picks, on today's episode. Schaefer describes the album as an "amazing conglomeration of two traditions," to which Tsioulcas concurs: "Absolutely."

Congratulations to Jac Holzman, the founder of Nonesuch Records and its former parent company Elektra Records, who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 and receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award. “We are pleased to welcome these artists and executives into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” said Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation President and CEO Joel Peresman. “They truly represent the variety of people that have defined and continue to influence music and the business of Rock and Roll.”

True Grit, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, has been nominated for 11 Critics' Choice Movie Awards, including Best Score for Carter Burwell, Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. True Grit is set to open the esteemed Berlin International Film Festival in February and opens in the theaters across North America on December 22. I Am Love, with music by John Adams, was nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. 

The Black Keys have been named an Artist of the Year by SPIN magazine! "The Black Keys are closing out a year that saw their sixth album, Brothers—a dark, swampy, R&B-inspired stomper—become an indisputable hit," says SPIN in the cover story on the band. Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach discuss the making of the album and the unprecedented response the band received upon the album's release. "We had no idea what to expect," says Auerbach. "All we knew was that we felt we had made the best record we could and were pretty excited about that." SPIN has also named Brothers to the magazine's list of the 40 Best Albums of 2010 and "Tighten Up" to its list of the 20 Best Songs of 2010.

The Black Keys' Brothers lands at No. 2 on NPR's All Songs Considered listeners' picks of The Best Music of 2010. Also on the list are Carolina Chocolate Drops' Genuine Negro Jig and Ben Folds and Nick Hornby's Lonely Avenue. All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton says of Brothers: "I think this is their fattest, richest, most sonically diverse album that they've done." Philip Selway's Familial has made the NPR All Songs Considered list for Best Album Covers of 2010. Carolina Chocolate Drops' Genuine Negro Jig is No. 4 on the Americana Music Association's Top 100 Albums of the Year.

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed will curate a month of programming at New York's The Stone this February. Their curatorial skills are well known to anyone who attended Sydney's Vivid LIVE festival or who read of its much beloved Music for Dogs concert. The Stone events include a special Valentine's Day duo by Anderson and Reed, a duo performance from Anderson and Fred Frith, and weekly Open Houses. "And," says Brooklyn Vegan, "the rest of the month isn't so bad either." You can download Anderson's Grammy-nominated song "Flow," off Homeland, here.