Tony Allen's latest album, Secret Agent, was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. Allen discusses the new album and his storied career in music, not least his partnership with Fela Kuti. "Together, they basically invented an entirely new genre, Afrobeat," says host Rebecca Roberts. The show examines his early influences, what inspires him now, and how his music can run from the political to the purely celebratory.

Tony Allen and his new album, Secret Agent, were recently featured on PRI's The World. Allen discusses his role as "the man who put the beat in Afrobeat," his work with Fela Kuti, and in the many other musical idioms in which he has proven himself to be at home. The Cleveland Plain Dealer gives Secret Agent an A, saying of Allen: "On Secret Agent, his authoritative rhythms propel hypnotic, horn-blasting jams that dare you not to dance."

Following their US tour, Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau have brought their duo set to Europe for the coming week, with performances in Norway, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, France, and Switzerland. Mehldau was featured on BBC Radio 3's Radio 3 Requests, which played the Mehldau Trio's take on Oasis' "Wonderwall" from Live and spoke with Mehldau about his Guest Request Choice for the week.

Afrobeat legend Tony Allen's new album, Secret Agent, has been featured on NPR's All Songs Considered. The album comes from "the man who helped create Afrobeat with Fela Kuti," says NPR's Robin Hilton. "Tony Allen is easily one of the most gifted and influential percussionists of all time. He turns 70 years old this year, and his new solo album shows that he has no intention of slowing down."

Caetano Veloso and his latest Nonesuch release, zii e zie, are the subject of a feature profile on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. Veloso "is consistently one of the most literate and beguiling forces in music," says contributor Jacki Lyden. She describes Veloso's songwriting as "always fresh and original and very unfettered," saying simply of an album track: "It's beautiful."

Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep was released last week to a number of milestones, including the No. 17 slot on the Billboard pop chart and No. 1 on the folk chart. Merchant continues to tour this weekend, including a live-audience taping of NPR's eTown. Utah's The Spectrum calls the album "a rich collection of music and poetry," on which "there's not a bad apple ... For an album this big that's quite an accomplishment." The Cleveland Scene recommends the complete album, declaring it "well worth the investment."

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.

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."

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."

Here Lies Love, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's two-CD song cycle on the life of Imelda Marcos, was featured on NPR's All Things Considered Saturday. Here Byrne is seen signing copies of the album at the MoMA Store in New York. There's also an interview with Guernica magazine about the project. The Charleston Post and Courier says the Byrne/Slim collaboration makes for "the perfect combination."

Natalie Merchant is in New York City this week to celebrate the release of Leave Your Sleep with a flurry of activity, including a performance on WNYC's Soundcheck today. The Montreal Gazette gives the album a perfect five stars, dubbing it an "instant classic." Blogcritics says: "It's like these melodies and poems had been waiting around all of these years for Natalie Merchant to notice them." fRoots exclaims: "She has triumphed ... Leave Your Sleep is one of those albums that sounds like it just belongs; timeless and classic."