Nonesuch

"The brilliant performances on Voltaic make it clear that Björk isn't just a visionary," NPR exclaims, "but also an artist who inspires those around her to create equal parts music and magic." The project documents and celebrates Björk's ambitious world tour following the 2007 release of Volta. This version contains the thrilling, one-take result of a studio set she made with her touring band—combining Volta tracks with revitalized interpretations of older favorites—available on CD, LP, and MP3.

This 10-disc compilation surveys 40 years of the iconic artist's work: groundbreaking early solo pieces, the revolutionary Einstein on the Beach, film scores, etudes, symphonies, and much more. The elegantly designed "interim report," as critic Tim Page writes in his liner note, traces the evolution of "the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music—simultaneously."

This virtuosic, multi-instrumental trio reclaims and revives a near-forgotten brand of banjo-driven string-band music from North Carolina’s Piedmont region, making it fresh and vital for right now, and doing so with "a contagious, abundant joy," says the Boston Globe. The BBC calls Genuine Negro Jig "magnificent." Nonesuch Store exclusive download: seven live bonus tracks.

The New York Times praised Kremer's 2006 Mostly Mozart performance of the complete Mozart violin concertos with the Kremerata Baltica for his "ability to make a work, however familiar, entirely his own.” On this two-disc set of the concertos, recorded at the Salzburg Festival two days later, Kremer "captures the restlessness" of the pieces, says the New Statesman, while the orchestra "plays with tight ensemble and gleamingly honed tone." The Scotsman gives it a perfect five stars and exclaims: "This double album is truly sensational."

Seya (“Joy”), Sangare’s first international release in six years, "combines modernity and tradition with seamless verve," says The Observer (UK). Her vocals, the Daily Telegraph noted, exude “ancestral passion and a thoroughly modern, urban poise.” Sangare is backed by a large, all-star ensemble of Malian and international musicians, including longtime accompanist "Benogo" Brehima Diakité (kamele ngoni); two James Brown veterans, saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis and trombonist Fred Wesley; and Fela Kuti’s legendary musical director, Nigerian drummer Tony Allen.

For her first studio recording in seven years, Natalie Merchant offers the most ambitious project of her celebrated, 25-year major-label career. She brilliantly adapts the works of such poets as Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Robert Graves into a musically kaleidoscopic, two-disc set of new songs, working with folk, jazz, reggae, and R&B players as well as gorgeously arranged chamber ensembles.

The late Michael Disfarmer was an odd, curmudgeonly character in rural Arkansas, who, despite his anti-social character, chose to record the stark images of his fellow townspeople, during the 1940s and '50s, in black-and-white photo portraits. Frisell has set the images to music for this recording, to which the Observer gives four stars, calling it "brilliantly" done; the BBC finds it "quietly impressive ... a patchwork quilt sewn with empathy, warmth and a sense of weary pathos."

Ali and Toumani is the second and last album pairing guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté. Recorded in 2005, with contributions from Cachaíto López on bass, the album is the successor to the Grammy-winning In the Heart of the Moon and is the last recorded by both Touré and López. MusicOMH calls it "a meeting of wonderfully-matched musical minds and skills."

Wilco (the album), the band's seventh studio album, "is all about a great band playing great original music on an album filled with great songs," says NPR. The Independent gives a perfect five stars to the "magnificent" album, which finds Wilco "at the peak of its powers." BBC says the band's latest features "some of their most charming pop rock ensemble playing" and asks, "Best live band? How about plain old best band in the world right now?" 

Christina Courtin makes her Nonesuch debut with an album Time Out New York calls "superb" and "beautifully textured" and the Huffington Post describes as "a wonderful concoction," with "hypnotic music" and "toasty-warm" vocals. The New York Times says her voice “feels uniquely otherworldly, as if it couldn’t possibly be entirely human born.”  Nonesuch Store Exclusive: bonus download "We'll Meet Again."

The Malian couple's second Nonesuch disc features exuberant vocals, propulsive grooves, and guitar licks that embrace blues, rock, and the hypnotic sounds of its homeland. "African pop doesn't get any more effervescent and joyful," declared London's Sunday Mirror; the Observer Music Monthly gives it five stars. Guests include Damon Albarn, Somalian rapper K'Naan, and kora master Toumani Diabaté. Double-LP vinyl release also includes complete album on CD and MP3.