Steve Reich will make a rare visit to Australia this April for the launch of a new series at the Sydney Opera House called The Composers. From April 26 to 29, the House will stage The Composers: Steve Reich in Residence, featuring a workshop with students from the Flagship Sydney Youth Orchestras, a conversation at Sydney Opera House, and a culminating performance by Synergy Percussion, eighth blackbird, and others.

Kronos Quartet's latest album, Music of Vladimir Martynov, has been named the Album of the Week by Q2 Music, the New York-based online new-music station of WQXR. The album opens with The Beatitudes, which "beams with religious ecstasy and provides an easy gateway to the meatier subjects," says Q2. "Enter with fortitude, but expect euphoria." Kronos Quartet will give the New York premiere of one of the pieces at Carnegie Hall on February 28.

Carolina Chocolate Drops, whose new album, Leaving Eden, is due out February 28, are touring the US and have just added a number of new tour dates to their schedule this spring, including several headlining shows in the Midwest and down South, as well as five shows supporting the Dave Matthews Band in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Ticket presales are available to DMB fans starting this morning.

Punch Brothers celebrate the release of their new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, with a performance of "New York City" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Paste calls it "phenomenal." On this, their "unquestionably finest" album yet, "the multi-talented quintet wisely continue doing what they do best: crafting off-kilter, classically-tinged pop songs that sound like absolutely no other band on the planet ... [E]very track is a small wonder of some sort," says Paste. "They may have just crafted a masterpiece of their own." The Wrap and Reuters call it "terrific." Rolling Stone says: “The acoustic framework dazzles—wild virtuosity used for more than just virtuosity.”

Punch Brothers' new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, is out now. To mark the occasion, the album is streaming in full via Spinner and MSN Music. MSN gives the album four stars and says: "This forward-thinking string band plies fresh ideas with traditional instruments, yielding a fusion as quirky yet accessible—and uniquely American—as Talking Heads." The A.V. Club gives the album an A-, saying their songs exist "both out of time and in the moment thanks to its youthful, gung-ho approach to timeless sounds." 

The Black Keys, fresh on the heels of a winter tour of Europe and in the lead-up to their North American tour, have announced a new run of European dates for this summer. The tour includes several sets at summer festivals—Way Out West, Øya, Flow, Lowlands, and Highfield—as well as headlining shows in Copenhagen and Dublin. The band performed "Lonely Boy" on Canal Plus' Le Grand Journal last night. Watch it here. The Evening Standard, reviewing their recent London show, says: "In our era of airbrushing and auto-tuning, the Ohio duo are a definitive argument for keeping things rugged and real."

Ry Cooder has unveiled a new song: "Going to Tampa." The song, which premiered via The New Yorker's News Desk blog, follows in the spirit of his recent song "Wall Street Part of Town" and his album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, and looks ahead to the Republican National Convention, painting a picture of what could come as only Cooder can. Listen to the song here.

Punch Brothers' new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, is out this week. The band will appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday, performing the album track "New York City." Check out a preview video with the song here. The New York Times includes the album on this week's Playlist, saying the band is focusing on "playful storytelling on this album," noting though "their mind-boggling cover of Radiohead’s 'Kid A.'” The New Yorker features the album in the Listening Booth, describing it as "a mystical alchemy of old-time music and contemporary sensibilities." In the UK, where the band is the subject of a feature article in the Observer, the Daily Telegraph gives the album a perfect five stars.

Björk returned to the New York Hall of Science in Queens last night for the latest performance in her month-long NYC Biophilia residency. Although she was unable to perform last Thursday's show due to health issues, she was back in fine form at last night's concert. In appreciation of her fans’ support, Björk is adding one final show at Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan on March 5. Individuals who purchased tickets for the February 9 show will be offered these tickets first in a pre-sale to begin tomorrow, Tuesday, February 14, at 10 AM. Tickets will be available to the public on Wednesday.

Congratulations to Pat Metheny, who has won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album for his 2011 Nonesuch release, What's It All About. This year's win marks Metheny's 19th Grammy Award. Watch his performance of The Beatles' "And I Love Her" here. Congratulations also go to Judith Sherman, who won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical, for work including two Nonesuch albums: John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony and Steve Reich's WTC 9/11.

Punch Brothers' new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?, is out in just a matter of days, and in the UK, the Guardian, the Sun, Scotland's Daily Express, and Maverick all give it four stars. The album shows "why they are so special," says the Guardian. "This is a remarkable band." The Sun calls it "Nicely off-kilter yet bang on the money." Hear Punch Brothers' Celtic Connections set on World on 3 tonight on BBC Radio 3. Back in the States, the Aspen Times says: "Punch Brothers are exhibiting the sort of freedom that Radiohead brings to the music—a willingness to rethink structure, melody and tradition. They don't break down boundaries, but play as if there were no boundaries to contend with, like music was a clean canvas."

Dr. John, whose new album, Locked Down, is due out April 3, launches a week-long tour of East Asia with two sets at Billboard Live in Osaka, Japan. It's the first of two consecutive nights for Dr. John and his band The Lower 911 at the venue, which will be followed by a three-night, six-set run at Billboard Live in Tokyo and two nights at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Dr. John will lead a three-weekend residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York starting March 29, including three shows with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced the new album.