Fatoumata Diawara makes her North American recording debut with today's release of the digital EP Kanou. Inspired by Wassoulou tradition, jazz, and blues, Diawara has created her own unique contemporary folk sound, giving a distinctly African spin to the concept of the female singer-songwriter. "Like her mentor [Oumou] Sangaré," says the Financial Times, "Diawara combines feminist social conscience with effortless melodic charm." The Kanou digital EP includes four tracks plus the video for the song "Bissa." Watch the video here.

Punch Brothers are set to support legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon on his tour of the United States this November. The nearly three-week tour starts in New Orleans on Friday, November 4, and runs through Wednesday, November 23, in Akron, Ohio. Punch Brothers open for Ray LaMontagne in New York City's Central Park tonight and in Pittsburgh tomorrow night before heading to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park this weekend.

Björk continues to unveil Biophilia with the release of the video for "Moon," the latest single off the forthcoming album, due out October 11. The video was directed, produced, and art directed by Björk, Inez and Vinoodh, M/M Paris, and James Merry. Watch the video here. "Moon” is available now as a single and as a special feature of the Biophilia App. Both are available exclusively at iTunes and the App Store.

Ry Cooder spoke with BBC Radio 4's Today about his new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down; the interview was broadcast in the US on PRI's The Takeaway. The Philadelphia Inquirer gives the album a perfect four stars, likening it to "the scrappy populism of Woody Guthrie ... set to an incredibly rich melting pot of folk, blues, country, rock, and norteno." The Chicago Sun-Times too calls him "a modern-day Woody Guthrie." Canada's North Shore News says: "Brilliant stuff."

The Low Anthem, which is currently on a headlining tour of the United States with music from its latest Nonesuch release, Smart Flesh, will support City and Colour on tour of Canada and the northern US in January and February 2012. The tour starts in Portland, Oregon, on January 16 and ends in St. John, New Brunswick, on February 24. The Low Anthem's current tour makes stops this week in Minneapolis, Denver, and Salt Lake City, before hitting San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival this weekend.

The Low Anthem and Jessica Lea Mayfield almost overlap at Nashville's Soundland festival and Cincinnati's MidPoint Music Festival ... Laurie Anderson performs Transitory Life at the Transart Festival ... The Black Keys play Atlanta's Music Midtown fest ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Harrisburg, PA ... Emmylou Harris joins Don Henley in Santa Barbara ... Wanda Jackson headlines SoCal Hellbilly Fest ... James Farm tours the East Coast ... Kronos Quartet conclude BAM run ... k.d. lang is in New England ... Pat Metheny tours California ... Punch Brothers are on NPR's Mountain Stage ... and more ...

Philip Selway will be the guest on WNYC's Soundcheck Friday afternoon. Selway will perform songs from his new digital EP, Running Blind, and his 2010 solo debut album, Familial. Tune in Friday at 2 PM ET on 93.9 FM in New York and at online at wnyc.org. While in NYC, Selway will work in a few gigs with his band, Radiohead, as musical guests on the season opener of Saturday Night Live, featured on The Colbert Report, and performing two shows at Roseland Ballroom.

Randy Newman helped make this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival a success this past weekend. "We still don't know how a 67-year-old turned in our favorite set of this past weekend's Austin City Limits Festival," raves the Houston Press, "but heck if Randy Newman didn't leave us on a musical high ... Newman solo onstage with just his compositions, a smile, and an adoring crowd was one of the most magical things we would see this weekend." Newman stayed on in Austin to record his set for PBS's Austin City Limits, which will air on November 12.

Kronos Quartet gives the NY premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11 for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)'s 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four consecutive nights of performances starting tonight. Congratulations to Kronos fan Ross Burlingame, winner of the Nonesuch ticket giveaway to tonight's show. Kronos Quartet gave a preview of the show when they performed live on WNYC's Soundcheck earlier this week. Listen to the performances and interview here.

Kronos Quartet will give the New York premiere of Awakening: A Musical Meditation on the Anniversary of 9/11, for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)'s 2011 Next Wave Festival, with four consecutive nights of performances this week. Kronos and Nonesuch Records have partnered with BAM to give away a pair of tickets to the Opening Night performance this Wednesday. Enter here for your chance to see the first New York performance. Kronos Quartet performs live on WNYC's Soundcheck today at 2 PM ET.

Steve Reich's new album, WTC 9/11, is out this week. The album includes the title piece, Reich's reflection on the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, performed by Kronos Quartet, as well as Mallet Quartet, performed by Sō Percussion, and Dance Patterns, featuring members of Steve Reich and Musicians. BBC Radio 3's CD Review finds the title piece "startling, emotionally charged and moving." BBC Music says "Reich is as eloquent as ever." The Independent gives the album four stars.

Modern Music, a collaboration between pianists Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli is out this week. The album features pieces written by each of the three musicians as well as works by Reich, Coleman, and Glass, performed by the two pianists in arrangements by Zimmerli. The New York Times says the pianists bring "a high sheen to some choice material." The Financial Times gives the album a perfect five stars. MusicOMH calls it "another fascinating and technically remarkable addition to Mehldau’s body of work." The Guardian, reviewing Mehldau's live show with Chris Thile in London on Friday, says their "musicality and sympathy for each other's emerging ideas made it an unexpected tour de force."