The Black Keys will embark on the first leg of their North American tour this March, with shows in arenas like New York’s Madison Square Garden, Boston’s TD Garden, and Chicago’s United Center. The shows are in support of their new album, El Camino, out this Tuesday, December 6. Concert ticket and album packages will be available via the band’s site. The band will perform on Saturday Night Live tomorrow, The Colbert Report on Tuesday, and the Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday. MTV Hive will livestream their album release show at New York’s Webster Hall on Monday.

The Black Keys are featured in a cover story in this Sunday's New York Times Arts & Leisure section and in the Times' Popcast, which look at the band's new album, El Camino, and their rise to fame. A Guardian profile also examines how the band has "become a global pop phenomenon." The Guardian gives El Camino a perfect fives stars: "They sound like a band who think they've made the year's best rock 'n' roll album, probably because that's exactly what they've done."

Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, whose debut EP, Kanou, was released earlier this year, performed one of the songs on the EP, “Clandestin,” for the latest in the Guardian’s series “How I wrote …” Diawara discusses the various influences behind her music including jazz, blues, rock, and her native Wassoulou, and the inspiration for “Clandestin” in particular, before performing the song. Watch the performance here.

Congratulations to all the Nonesuch artists who were nominated for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards: Ry Cooder and Emmylou Harris for Best Americana Album, Pat Metheny for Best New Age Album, Chris Thile & Michael Daves for Best Bluegrass Album, and World Circuit / Nonesuch Records artists AfroCubism for Best World Music Album. You can hear music from all the nominated albums on the new Nonesuch Radio channel "2011 Grammy Nominees."

There's still more than a month to go before 2011 comes to a close, but already the music magazines have begun to weigh in on the year's best music. American Songwriter, Paste, Uncut, Q, and Mojo have all published their lists of the Top 50 Albums of the Year, and included among them are a number of Nonesuch releases: the latest albums from Björk, Ry Cooder, Jessica Lea Mayfield, and The Low Anthem, as well as the soon-to-be-released album from The Black Keys, due out next week.

The Black Keys' new album, El Camino, is due out one week from today, December 6. No need to wait till then to hear music from the album. Click here to listen to five tracks from El Camino: "Lonely Boy," "Gold on the Ceiling," "Little Black Submarines," "Sister," and "Run Right Back." "This is both a supremely confident record and a ridiculously enjoyable one," exclaims Uncut. "El Camino feels like the dawn of greatness." Enjoy some of that greatness today by listening to the five album tracks here.

Punch Brothers have announced a North American tour for February and March of 2012 in support of their forthcoming album. The new run of shows begins with two nights at the Somerville Theatre outside of Boston on February 23 and 24 and includes stops in Burlington, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, and Minneapolis, before heading out West for sets in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Denver. The shows follow a previously announced European tour and Chris Thile's set with Michael Daves as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series.

The Black Keys' new album, El Camino, is out in just one week, and the record has already begun to receive rave reviews. The Independent gives the album a perfect five stars, calling it a "tremendous, hook-laden, all-killer-no-filler collection, by some distance the most powerful, compelling rock album of the year." MOJO also gives the album a perfect five stars, making it an "instant MOJO classic," and names it album of the month. "Magnificent," exclaims Q in its five-star review. "This is unvarnished rock, primal and exhilarating."

Happy Cyber Monday! The savings continue as the Nonesuch Store fourth anniversary sale, which began last week, rolls into Cyber Monday and beyond, with all CDs, LPs, and DVDs here at nonesuch.com 34% off the standard retail price. That's an extra savings of about 20% off the everyday low prices listed on the site; the final reduction will be show at checkout. Sale prices start around $7, with the average title at about $12. As always, almost every album includes high-quality MP3s at checkout.

Brad Mehldau’s Art of the Trio Recordings: 1996–2001 is due out on Nonesuch in just one week, December 6, and is featured in an extensive analysis from All About Jazz. "As an essential document of jazz in the late 1990s," writes All About Jazz's John Kelman, it explains "how Mehldau so quickly became one of his generation's most influential pianists ... [R]eissues like The Art of the Trio: Recordings 1996–2001 make abundantly clear that, when the history book of the latter part of the 20th century/early part of the new millennium is written, Mehldau will, no doubt, take a well-deserved place alongside predecessors such as Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett as one of the most important pianists of any generation."

The Black Keys are celebrating Record Store Day's "Back to Black" Friday with the release of a special limited-edition vinyl 12-inch of their new single, "Lonely Boy" exclusively at indie music retailers. Both the lead track and the B-side, "Run Right Back," are featured on the band's forthcoming album, El Camino, which hits stores on December 6. To get an idea of what to expect on the "Lonely Boy" 12-inch and to see how the vinyl got made, check out a behind-the-scenes video here.

Nonesuch Records wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving in the US and a fruitful Black Friday. Remember: all CDs, LPs, and DVDs in the Nonesuch Store are currently 34% off the standard retail price as part of the store's ongoing anniversary sale. There are also a few special events and concerts in the coming days, including the Black Friday release of a Black Keys vinyl 12"; Björk's performance on Jools Holland; European tour dates from Gidon Kremer, Pat Metheny, and Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau; Punch Brothers' tour closer with Paul Simon; a Steve Reich performance in London; and more.