Steve Reich's latest Nonesuch release, WTC 9/11, has made NPR Music's list of its ten Favorite Classical Albums of 2011. "WTC 9/11, played by the Kronos Quartet, is one of the most gripping, intense, intelligent, emotionally honest and artistically successful works to come out of the tragedy," exclaims NPR's Anastasia Tsioulcas. "But I'd also like to turn attention to the wonderful Mallet Quartet that appears on this album ... [and] possesses a quiet beauty that, almost despite its subtleties, demands to be heard."

The Black Keys kicked off release week for their new album, El Camino, with a special performance for some lucky fans at New York's Webster Hall Monday night, webcast live on MTV Hive. The duo "sealed their ten-year ascent," says Rolling Stone, "with a tight and feisty" set, "displaying everything they've learned and mastered over that decade." Watch five songs from the show here.

In January 2012, Kronos Quartet heads to the Barbican in London for an unprecedented week-long residency entitled Awakenings. Kronos performs three concerts in three different venues, gives the world premiere of a major new work by Valentin Silvestrov, collaborates with two London choirs, and engages with young musicians and the public in a series of creative learning events. Integral to Kronos’s work is a series of long-running, in-depth collaborations with many of the world’s foremost composers; these collaborations will take center stage throughout the concerts and events. 

Jessica Lea Mayfield, who is currently touring North America with Ryan Adams, is featured in a Daytrotter session, performing four songs from her album Tell Me. Mayfield's songs "are beautifully sober reminders that we're not always thinking straight and it's not always such a bad thing to do the things that you're not supposed to be doing," says Daytrotter, who which calls Tell Me "a spectacular collection of heartbreak and innocence ... Mayfield writes about these lessons that she's learning in such honest and staggeringly sophisticated ways that it's hard to believe that she's only 22 years old ..."

The Black Keys' new album, El Camino, was released yesterday to great critical acclaim and plenty of celebrating all around. The band was on The Colbert Report last night, performed "Lonely Boy" and a web-exclusive of "Gold on the Ceiling"—all of which you can watch here—and performs on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight. Reuters calls El Camino "stunning." The Washington Post calls the band "exhilarating." MTV includes El Camino on its list of the 20 Best Albums of 2011, calling it "positively brilliant." Stereogum says, "There isn’t a single weak track." Consequence of Sound gives the album four stars and finds it "very nearly the Platonic ideal of rock and roll."

Director Tran Anh Hung’s film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood, featuring a score by Jonny Greenwood, will be released in the US in January. There will be a special early screening at the Japan Society next Wednesday, December 14, along with a Q&A with the director and actress Rinko Kikuchi. Nonesuch is giving away tickets to the event along with signed film posters and copies of the film's soundtrack. Enter to win by Friday, December 9, at 3 PM ET.

The Black Keys' new album, El Camino, is out now. The band celebrates with performances on The Colbert Report tonight and the Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday. "It feels a little funny to gush so outwardly about a record," says the Los Angeles Times in a four-star review. "But sometimes, a CD scratches an itch you didn't even know you had, and El Camino is that record ... Really, the only question is whether, this late in the year, this constitutes the best rock album of 2011 or 2012. It'll probably be both." Rolling Stone says "This is Their Moment," calling El Camino "the best record they've ever made." USA Today, in its four-star review, says the band's "talents coalesce with a fiery brilliance." Paste says that "by the time the record ends, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself immediately wanting to start over again from the beginning." TIME says: "The album is packed so tightly with gems that it’s hard to pick out a favorite track."

Brad Mehldau’s seven-disc box set The Art of the Trio Recordings: 1996–2001 is out now on Nonesuch. The set includes the five original Art of the Trio albums (the fifth volume includes two CDs), released over a prolific four year period from 1997 to 2001; a seventh disc of previously unreleased material from shows at the Village Vanguard completes the box. These recordings feature Mehldau’s longtime trio with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy. All About Jazz says the set helps confirm that "Mehldau will, no doubt, take a well-deserved place ... as one of the most important pianists of any generation."

The Black Keys, whose new album, El Camino, is just one day away, were featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, talking with host Audie Cornish about the new album. The Black Keys were musical guests on Saturday Night Live this weekend, performing two songs off of El Camino: "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling." Watch the performances here. The Evening Standard gives the album four stars, calling it “fiery, raucous and ferocious fun.” "The Black Keys have grown into one of the most exciting rock bands of our time," exclaims the Independent on Sunday. "Too late for those album of the year polls?"

Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch debut album, Grá agus Bás, has made NPR Music's list of its 50 Favorite Albums of 2011. "Dennehy infuses hallowed Irish texts, from the esoteric sean-nós vocal tradition to the plaintive poetry of fellow countryman W.B. Yeats, with a shimmering and kaleidoscopic array of minimalist colorations," says NPR. "The result, masterfully performed by Crash Ensemble under Alan Pierson and featuring vocalists Iarla Ó Lionáird and Dawn Upshaw, is a compelling, meditative walk through time and terrain. It studies an Ireland rooted in reverence for its past, but which also brims with curiosity for its future."

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."