k.d. lang joins fellow Canadians Feist, Diana Krall, and (by marriage) Elvis Costello in presenting at Canada's Juno Awards this Sunday. k.d. has also been nominated as both the Artist of the Year and Producer of the Year for her 2008 Nonesuch release, Watershed. Also this weekend, k.d.'s North American tour takes her to California and Nevada. Her recent Portland, Oregon, performance led The Oregonian to exclaim: "There are a lot of good singers out there. kd lang is a great one." London's National Portrait Gallery might agree, having named k.d. among the Gay Icons in its exhibit of that name, opening this summer, which also includes David Hockney, Harvey Milk, Walt Whitman, Tchaikovsky, and Nelson Mandela.

Dan Auerbach performed three songs off his Nonesuch solo debut, Keep It Hid—"Trouble Weighs a Ton," "When the Night Comes," and "Goin' Home"—in his appearance on today's episode of NPR's World Café. He also spoke with the show's host, David Dye, about the new record, on which, says Dye, Dan has "expanded stylistically ... its songs conceal a melancholy and introspective side ... Driven by reverb and riffs, Auerbach's solo work sounds authentic, blunt and powerful." In other news, Justin Timberlake has made it known he's a fan of The Black Keys. "I really love their Attack and Release," he says. "I thought that was a really great record."

Sara Watkins, whose self-titled solo debut album is due out from Nonesuch on April 5, is the subject of a feature article in the Charlotte Observer. She's set to play two shows in North Carolina opening for John Prine this weekend: at Charlotte's Ovens Auditorium tomorrow night and Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville the following night. The Observer says that on the new album, Sara "continues to explore different genres from torchy, playful western swing (Jimmie Rodgers' 'Any Old Time') to pop-rock (Davíd Garza's 'Too Much') to the aching chamber folk (Jon Brion's 'Same Mistake')." Three additional songs from the album are now streaming on Nonesuch Radio.

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali was released in the States yesterday, and the complete album is streaming today on spinner.com. On the new record, says Vanity Fair , "traditional African beats and melodies underly everything from electronic synth-pop to hip-hop tracks featuring Somali rapper K’Naan." The Root calls the couple "global pop’s band to watch—M.I.A. be damned—as heirs to the storied West African musical throne and as embodiments of the worldly, cosmopolitan flair that defines 21st century hipness ... Before it’s done, the album moves through hip-hop, R&B, rock, traditional Malian and more—often simultaneously." It's all mixed "with an accessible poppy feel," says The Root, "and the result is just plain cool."

Dan Auerbach "broadens his style" on Keep It Hid, says NPR's Fresh Air, "to include folk, country and even psychedelic elements." Rock critic Ken Tucker says that, while the solo disc offers Auerbach space to change things up from the full-throttle sound of The Black Keys—the album being "all about creating intimacy"—that's not to say Dan has shied away from his blues-rock roots. Even so, Tucker says it's easy "to appreciate the floating, airy atmosphere of Keep It Hid." Rolling Stone's Smoking Section calls the album "unbelievably awesome ... We can’t stop playing it, top to bottom."

Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali makes its US debut with its Nonesuch release today. Details cites "the mind-blowing" Damon Albarn–produced opening track as "a soulful and modern masterpiece"; Time Out New York calls it the album's "jewel in its crown." Blurt describes the album as one of "pure sensual joy, a raft of infectious-rhythmed, ebulliently performed funk-rock-desert-electro-dance songs ... in a music so generous, so inclusive and celebratory that you cannot help feeling a wave of optimism." And in difficult times, "It's just what you need ... really ... Welcome to Mali is for the good times, even in bad times."

Joshua Redman and one of two trios featured on his recent Nonesuch release, Compass, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson, played a three-night residency at Ronnie Scott's club in London through last weekend. The Guardian gives the sets four stars, describing Redman as "a compelling builder of extended stories, and his pacing is masterly." The Trio gave the audience, which "howled their appreciation," "a demonstration of peerless sax mastery and group empathy." The Financial Times gives four stars as well, asserting: "Redman’s trio deliver an intense and fiery chamber jazz ... The fractured breaks, snatches of improv and twists and turns seemed as spontaneous as the applause they immediately won."

Wilco's forthcoming as-yet-untitled Nonesuch release is featured in Rolling Stone's Spring Music Preview, a look "inside 45 of the Year's Biggest Albums." The magazine talks to Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline about the recording process for the new record. "After the live, urgent feel of 2007's Sky Blue Sky," says Rolling Stone, "Wilco is exploring more studio experimentation ... anchored once again by Tweedy's sly, insightful and often heartbreaking lyrics." The article suggests, "An early preview of the disc gives off a strong country vibe, with lots of pedal steel and acoustic guitar."

Amadou & Mariam's latest album, Welcome to Mali, is set for US release on Nonesuch tomorrow. The duo is the subject of a number of feature-length articles about changing perceptions in the West of African musics beyond "world music." The New York Times places them "among the world’s most renowned African musical acts" and says the new album is "less an abandonment of the group’s culture than an updating of it." The Los Angeles Times cites the success of Amadou & Mariam, who "helped define the current African shift," and of Youssou N'Dour, Oumou Sangare, and Rokia Traoré, as examples that "the American cliché of African music is falling apart—or, really, exploding." Detroit Free-Press gives Welcome to Mali four stars, calling it "a spirited invitation to dance away those recession-induced blues and welcome spring ... This is a feel-good album. Don't miss it."

Ashes of American Flags, the film presenting Wilco live in concert during their 2008 tour, is due out in the Nonesuch Store and in limited release on April 18, and is now available for pre-order. Culled from concerts in Tulsa, New Orleans, Mobile, Nashville, and DC, the film, produced and directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, captures the energy, poignancy, and musicality of a Wilco concert and tour. Orders placed in the Nonesuch Store before April 28, the date of the film's wide release, include a free video download of the band's live performance of "Monday" from the film, available beginning the 18th. The winner for Best Cinematography at the Big Sky Film Festival, the film has been selected to play at a number of upcoming film festivals and special screenings to coincide with its DVD release.

Afro-Cuban All Stars spread their energetic sound through the Midwest ... ENO production of Adams's Doctor Atomic comes to a close; Graz, Giessen, and San Fran ballets dance on to Adams ... Dan Auerbach plays two more "raw and rumbling" sets at SxSW ... Isabel Bayrakdarian performs Gomidas songs at Art Song Festival benefit ... David Byrne brings Eno/Byrne songs to Sweden ... Toumani Diabaté plays Yoshi's with Béla Fleck ... Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz tour North Carolina ... Philip Glass revisits Tibetan refugee project with Foday Musa Suso ... Richard Goode performs Beethoven's "Emperor" with Saint Louis ... k.d. lang plays Pacific Northwest ... Brad Mehldau goes Dutch in solo set ... Joshua Redman Trio takes over Ronnie Scott's London ... Spokane Symphony takes Reich, Marshall music to The Knitting Factory ... Sara Watkins joins brother Sean at Largo ... and more ...

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love, the film documenting the creation of Youssou's 2004 Grammy-winning album, Egypt, recently completed its theatrical run in the Netherlands and will open in theaters in Belgium on March 25. The film, already the winner of a number of international film festival awards, from the Middle East to Brazil, made its US premiere earlier this week at the South by Southwest Film Festival, where it is an Official Selection; the final SxSW festival screening will take place Saturday night. In the next few months, the film will premiere at many film festivals in both the US and Europe.