Nonesuch

The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut offers an elegant and original take on Americana, what Paste describes as "gorgeous chamber folk." Its songs are distinguished by hushed, hymn-like, chamber-music arrangements—as well as by the occasional, deliriously free-spirited acoustic rave-up. Mojo calls the Rhode Island–based trio "truly startling songwriters and instrumentalists. Theirs is a gloriously romantic vision of America that sits somewhere between Dylan and Waits."

On this lushly orchestrated disc, winner of the Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music, N’Dour explores his Senegalese Islamic faith. The Washington Post says N’Dour “sets out to prove that Islam can inspire music of surpassing beauty and welcoming gentleness. He succeeds admirably.”

Singer/songwriter/fiddler Sara Watkins, a founding member of Nickel Creek, releases her self-titled debut solo album, produced by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and featuring eight self-penned tunes along with renditions of tracks by Jimmie Rodgers, Jon Brion, Norman Blake, and Tom Waits. LP version includes the album on 12" vinyl, CD, and free MP3 download.

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."

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?" 

This three-disc vinyl release combines the 2008 Day Trip studio album and Tokyo Day Trip: Live EP in a three-pocket deluxe package with all the music on two CDs as well. “The trio format brings out the best in guitar virtuoso Pat Metheny," declared the Boston Herald upon the Day Trip CD release, calling this ensemble "arguably his best yet.”

A "landmark recording of the Beethoven concertos," declares the Financial Times in a five-star review of this three-disc set. Performed with the Budapest Festival Orchestra led by Iván Fischer, it marks Goode's first recording of these masterpieces. “Goode is one of the great pianists of our time," says the Denver Post, "and he might well be without equal when it comes to the music of Beethoven.”

This limited-edition 7" vinyl single features the Wilco (the album) track "You Never Know," with the previously unreleased tune "Unlikely Japan" (an early version of Sky Blue Sky's "Impossible Germany") on the B-side. The release of the single marks the inaugural Vinyl Saturday, a monthly celebration of all things vinyl from the people behind Record Store Day.

Cooder’s trilogy exploring a historic/mythic/surreal California (Chavez Ravine, My Name Is Buddy) culminates with this remarkable 14-song album in which Cooder assumes the gruff yet chummy voice of Kash Buk, a hard-living, car-racing, guitar-playing man with a space-alien sidekick. The deluxe version includes a 95-page novella by Cooder in which, he says, “strange is the norm” and characters hop off the page and onto disc.

Singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré—whose work Time has lauded as "mesmerizing, casting its spell with virtuoso vocals, rich textures and startling diversity"—combines electric guitar with traditional instrumentation on nine self-penned tunes plus the Gershwin classic "The Man I Love." The Guardian gives fives stars to this "intriguing, sophisticated and often intimate set that is quite unlike any of the other great music Mali has produced." The LP version is a European import and includes album on two discs of 180-gram vinyl, MP3s.

The Evening Standard has declared, “Kronos's ears have always been open to extraordinary sounds of the world.” On Floodplain, with original arrangements of traditional music and newly commissioned pieces, the Quartet explores vintage pop from Egypt, folk from Azerbaijan, electronica from a Palestinian music collective, and an ambitious piece from Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov with the contemplative grace of a Górecki masterwork.