Chris Thile joined the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for a program last Thursday that featured Thile's Mandolin Concerto and works by Bach, Bartók, and Radiohead. The Birmingham News gives the concert four stars, saying the Concerto "spotlighted not only his virtuoso solo playing, but his gift for orchestration and melodic invention in a style that could only be Chris Thile."

The Black Keys were in New Orleans on Friday for a very rainy Voodoo Music Experience. The duo "rewarded the hearty souls who stood in the rain with a ferocious set," says the Times-Picayune. Creative Loafing concurs that "the Keys definitely heated it up for their hour-long set," calling it "the highlight of the day." Dan Auerbach begins a 14-day tour this Thursday.

Steve Reich leads all-Reich program at London's Royal Festival Hall ... Leila Josefowicz, Baltimore Symphony play Adams's Violin Concerto ... Laurie Anderson opens NYU's Halloween Wonder Cabinet ... The Black Keys go Voodoo in New Orleans ... Christina Courtin plays her hometown ... Bill Frisell is in Italy ... The Low Anthem brings tour to Baton Rouge ... Brad Mehldau Trio plays Portugal ... Nicholas Payton, Don Byron, Iva Bittová convene for SFJAZZ Sacred Space ... Sara Watkins closes out tour in Indiana ... and more ...

During Punch Brothers recent tour, the Albany Times Union, declared: "Chris Thile is more than just a mandolinist. He's a musician." Thile puts that musicianship to good use in a concert with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra of works by Bach, Bartók, and Radiohead and his own Mandolin Concerto tonight. "I don't acknowledge that there are anything but superficial differences between various types of good music," Thile tells the Birmingham News. "Music is music is music."

Wilco begins its European tour next week in the UK, where Q magazine has just named Wilco (the album) among the year's best, and where Channel 4 is broadcasting Ashes of American Flags, the documentary film about the band's 2008 tour, tonight. Following the final show on Wilco's recent US tour, JamBase said the band was "clearly having a blast." You can read Nels Cline's take on it all in Paste magazine.

The Low Anthem continues its cross-country tour with Blind Pilot at The Parish in Austin, Texas, tonight, as news is in that Q magazine has named Oh My God, Charlie Darwin one of the year's Top 50 albums. The Dallas Observer says the album, "quite simply, is a remarkably beautiful record, an album deserving of all the critical kudos." Magnet magazine is offering the band's take on Bob Dylan's "Dignity" as a free download.

John Adams gives the first of two Tanner Lectures on Human Values this afternoon at Yale University this afternoon, with the second to follow tomorrow afternoon. "Perhaps the most celebrated living American composer," writes the New Haven Advocate, "John Adams is nearly as adept with the English language as he is with musical notation." What's more, "Adams has created some of the most essential classical music of our age."

Earbox.com has long been the go-to source for information on the works of composer John Adams and has now received a makeover, including the addition of a blog from the composer. The first few posts have already caught the attention of The New Yorker's Alex Ross, who writes, "Few artists are as engagingly forthright in their interviews and writings. Adams has now started up a blog on his home site, with the promising name Hell Mouth."

Alarm Will Sound's recently released Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, has received a perfect five-star review from Audiophile Audition. "Have no fear," reads the review. "There are no boring or skipable pieces on this CD ... It could shock and throw your friends off, possibly prompting them to say 'What the hell was that?' Then they’ll ask to hear more."

Wilco and The Low Anthem have made the shortlist of nominees for the Uncut Music Award and are now two of just eight artists up for what Uncut has dubbed the year's "most inspiring and rewarding musical experience." The music video for The Low Anthem's "Charlie Darwin" can now be seen here at Nonesuch.com. Stereogum described it as an "affecting visual counterpart to Ben Knox Miller's fragile falsetto."

Alarm Will Sound's Nonesuch debut, a/rhythmia, is out now. The Times gives the new album four stars: "The rhythms here will trip you up as they collide in an eclectic programme of complex music ... All is joyous and raucous."

Byrne concludes bike panel tour ... Alarm Will Sound plays Adams in Hamburg ... Courtin concludes Elizabeth & the Catapult tour ... Frisell's 858 Quartet is in Italy and Innsbruck ... Glass gives Dallas debut of Dracula Live! ... Harris, Buddy Miller move Midwest ... Kronos premieres new work at benefit event ... Low Anthem tours West with Blind Pilot ... Mehldau Trio plays Skopje Jazz Fest ... Portuondo has rare show in LA ... Joshua Redman has several sets at NY's Jazz Standard ... Sondheim talks about his career ... Toussaint reopens the Roosevelt Hotel ... Upshaw makes Strathmore debut ... Watkins heads South ... and more ...