Legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen's recently released World Circuit / Nonesuch debut album, Secret Agent, finds Allen "continuing his late career high," says Pitchfork, "never more confident." The Boston Herald gives it an A, calling it "the real thing." Time Out New York says Allen is "sounding at once gracious and cool," and Dusted says the album "bears witness to his development of Afrobeat beyond the shadow of Fela Kuti."

Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller are on today's episode of NPR's World Cafe, talking with the show's host, David Dye, and performing a few favorite tunes, including "Love Hurts" and "Red Dirt Girl." The episode comes from the 2010 Cayamo Cruise, where Harris, Miller, and a host of great songwriter/performers played for a very lucky crowd at sea for the music festival cum Caribbean cruise earlier this year.

Wilco begins a two-week tour of Japan, New Zealand, and Australia with a set at the Big Cat in Osaka tonight. All five shows in Australia feature an opening set from Liam Finn. The latest tour begins less than two weeks after what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the "slam-bang finish" of the band's fully sold-out US tour in Pittsburgh.

Tune in to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to catch Natalie Merchant perform the song "Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience" off her new album, Leave Your Sleep, tonight on NBC. She is in Los Angeles for two sold-out shows on her current US tour. There's an interview with Merchant in MusicOMH, which calls Leave Your Sleep "a phenomenally ambitious and creative project." The St. Petersburg Times calls it "fun, educating and enlightening."

The Low Anthem is back on its home turf tonight to perform a special free set at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, with suggested donations going to benefit United Way's Rhode Island Flood Recovery Fund. The band's recent performance in Brooklyn led the New York Press to rave: "Tender, introspective and at times genuinely uplifting, it was an enthralling performance."

k.d. lang is due to perform at the 2010 TV Week Logie Awards, the Australian television award. The awards ceremony will take place at Melbourne's Crown Casino on May 2 and will be broadcast on Australia's Nine Network. "I'm honoured to be included in the TV Week Logie Awards because Australia feels like my second home," says lang. Her latest album, Recollection, hit the top of the Australian pop charts.

The world has been celebrating Stephen Sondheim's recent 80th birthday in style all month and will continue to do so with upcoming events at New York City Center and Ravinia. Today, NPR's Fresh Air celebrates by talking with the composer about his great body of work, his musical influences, his writing process, and much more.

Homeland, Laurie Anderson's first studio album in ten years, is due out on Nonesuch June 15 and is now available for pre-order at nonesuch.com. In a Nonesuch Store exclusive, the first 250 orders of Homeland include a limited-edition 12" vinyl single of the album track "Only an Expert," signed by Anderson. She recently spoke with the BBC World Service program The Strand, which calls her "one of the great artistic experimenters."

Here Lies Love, David Byrne's song-cycle collaboration with Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook) "is a fountain of funk and dance music that's entirely accessible, great fun and can easily be enjoyed a song at a time," says the Wall Street Journal in a feature on the album. "Loyal Byrne fans will find its precedent in early '80s Talking Heads' funk works as well as in Mr. Cook's electronic dance hits."

Caetano Veloso closes out his US tour with music from zii e zie at the Fillmore in Miami Beach tonight. He spoke with the Miami New Times , which, after acknowledging comparisons to Dylan and Cohen, recognizes him as "a man as unique as a sunset's flash of green, who sings songs as beautiful as blue moons." Variety says the recent tour stop in LA was a "rock-centric effort" set against "the supple sweetness of Veloso's pristine voice." Sete was there and has footage and feedback from the event.

The Black Keys marked Record Store Day 2010 with the release of a 12" vinyl single featuring two tracks off their forthcoming album, Brothers. The single is now available here in the Nonesuch Store. On Side A is the Danger Mouse-produced "Tighten Up," which Rolling Stone gives four stars, saying the band has "never sounded tighter or funkier." On the flip side is "Howlin' for You," with backing vocals by Blakroc's Nicole Wray.

Pat Metheny and Orchestrion, his latest Nonesuch release and worldwide tour, were the subject of a feature on the latest episode of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. "Seeing the orchestrion in action is like watching Santa's workshop," says NPR, "if Santa was a jazz cat." The tour is in California this week, where the San Diego Union Tribune calls the album "dazzling" and the Santa Barbara Independent calls it "wonderful."