Kronos Quartet begins its four-night residency at San Francisco's Z Space @ Artaud tonight. Each of the four performances offers a different program, featuring Jon Rose's Music from 4 Fences plus works by Terry Riley, a piece by composers from the Kronos: Under 30 Project, and other commissioned works. Plus: Kronos buttons aplenty (pictured). SF Weekly recommends tonight's show as "a rare treat indeed."

The Low Anthem began its months-long North American tour last night at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh last night. The quartet is at Ohio University's Memorial Hall tonight for the first of ten tour dates opening for the Avett Brothers, including shows in upstate New York, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan, before The Low Anthem begins its first headlining tour.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops begin their US tour in Danville, Indiana, this Thursday, playing music from their Nonesuch debut, Genuine Negro Jig, and have now added a number of new dates, including a return to the Black Banjo Gathering, where they first met in 2005. The AP says, "The Carolina Chocolate Drops rise above easy classification ... using the blues as filtered through the unique Piedmont string band movement as a stepping stone to something more," calling Rhiannon Giddens' voice "a revelation, both modern and timeless."

Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté's second and final album together, Ali and Toumani, is out now. The Los Angeles Times calls it "an early contender for the warmest, most life-affirming listen of 2010." The Globe and Mail gives it four stars, hearing a "musical state of grace." The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A, calling it "a thing of gossamer beauty ... haunting, genteel, intricate and magical." The Lexington Herald-Leader says it showcases "the hushed, rootsy spiritualism of two pioneers who fashioned the majestic music of West Africa for the world."

The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2010-11 season, which features the Met premiere of John Adams's Nixon in China. The composer makes his Met debut on the podium conducting the Met premiere of the opera. It also marks the Met directorial of Peter Sellars, who led the 1987 world premiere of Nixon in China at the Houston Grand Opera. James Maddalena returns as Nixon, the role he originated and sang on the Nonesuch recording.

Wilco's Trans-Canada tour, a.k.a. the Tundra Tour, is under way with a performance in Hamilton, Ontario, tonight, and is being marked with the poster at left. The band has also added five tour dates in Germany this September. Last weekend's trio of sold-out sets in the Midwest included Wilco's being named an honorary Duluth band by the city's mayor and a show in Madison that The A.V. Club says confirmed: "This version of Wilco is simply the most reliable working rock band we have today."

Out now is Ali and Toumani, the second and last album pairing Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté. NPR's All Songs Considered calls it "breathtaking." The Philadelphia Inquirer gives it four stars, calling it a "moving, peerlessly beautiful album." The New Jersey Star-Ledger says there is "a timeless depth, a gentle profundity" to it. "It’s irresistible." Dusted calls it "timeless" and "transcendent." Popdose says: "You’ll feel it speak to you on a level few pieces of music ever reach."

Here Lies Love, the David Byrne / Fatboy Slim song cycle about Imelda Marcos, is the subject of a feature in the Sunday Times Magazine (UK). The article examines why its creators and score of vocalists would take on a project about so notorious a figure, finding echoes of "Nixon in China, a work that presented another controversial political figure in an unusually favourable light." BoingBoing recently spoke with Bryne at the TED conference.

Nonesuch Records will release Natalie Merchant’s new album, Leave Your Sleep, on April 12 (April 13 in the US). The album is the culmination of six years of research and collaboration and is, in Merchant’s words, “The most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined.” It is her first studio album since 2003 and her first for Nonesuch. To coincide with the release, she has announced a European tour in May–her first in eight years–including seven dates in the UK.

Randy Newman spends an evening at Royce Hall ... Alarm Will Sound supports Dirty Projectors at the Allen Room ... Laurie Anderson is in Vancouver's Cultural Olympiad ... Colvin keeps close to home in Austin ... Courtin tours with Mike Doughty ... Frisell is in Austria with Iva Bittová ... Glass talks Brainwaves ... Goode joins NDR Symphony in Hamburg ... Magnetic Fields play Portland ... Metheny stops in Spain ... Punch Brothers play the South ... Redman Trio plays outside DC ... Sara Watkins opens for John Prine ... Wilco plays sold-out trifecta ... and more ...

Wilco will stream a live webcast from its sold-out show at Overture Hall in Madison, Wisconsin, Saturday night at 8:30 PM CST. The band is in Duluth, Minnesota, tonight, and East Lansing, Michigan, on Sunday. The Lansing State Journal says, "Fifteen years and seven albums since getting together, Wilco's music still sounds edgy and alive." The documentary Ashes of American Flags is showing at the Screenland Armour in Kansas City, Missouri.

Laurie Anderson unveiled her latest multimedia piece, Delusion, at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre this week as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad. "Delusion ranks with Anderson’s best," says the Georgia Straight. It is, above all, "smart, funny, emotionally engaging, and flat-out beautiful—in short, everything you’d expect from an artist of Anderson’s stature and reputation."