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  • Tuesday, June 23, 2009

    Wilco played the first show in its sold-out, three-night residency at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles last night. The Hollywood Reporter sums it up as "transcending Americana for searches of the heart and soul," full of "musical riches" in a set that "truly was as far-ranging as rock can get." Saturday's set in nearby Pomona was a "superb show," says the Orange County Register, that "ranks among its best," with the band at its most content yet its music now elevated "to a whole new level of complexity and emotional richness." The Los Angeles Times would agree, insisting that "a more comfortable Wilco isn't a less daring one."

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Reviews
  • Monday, June 22, 2009

    Christina Courtin's self-titled Nonesuch debut is out now. The Huffington Post calls its mix of a multitude of sounds and styles "a wonderful concoction, with intoxicating moody numbers" and "gorgeous lines" of lyrics. The review notes "Courtin's toasty-warm, reassuring vocal," her "lilting, breathy voice" as what "steers her adventures through layers of hypnotic music and production." Time Out New York calls the record "superb" and "beautifully textured," crediting "Courtin’s commanding voice." She talks to New York magazine about discovering that voice as the subject of the magazine's "Breaking" feature.

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Reviews, Video
  • Monday, June 22, 2009

    The Low Anthem recently made its Nonesuch debut with the release of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. The band has now made its way to the UK for a special gig at London's Union Chapel presented by MOJO magazine Tuesday. The Sunday Times gives the album four stars, calling attention to the closing-track reprise: "It’s wonderful, and effectively says: 'Not only have we just made a great album, but we could, if we chose, take these songs, rework them and make another equally great but entirely different album.' I think we can safely file the Low Anthem among 'the fittest.'"

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Reviews
  • Friday, June 19, 2009

    Allen Toussaint headlines the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, plays SFJAZZ ... David Byrne is out West, at Red Rocks and Red Butte ... Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe bring tour to Belgium ... Toumani Diabaté, Béla Fleck tune in to Telluride Bluegrass Fest ... Bill Frisell performs a solo set in Washington state ... Emmylou Harris goes solo at Telluride ... Pat Metheny revisits Gary Burton Quartet on the road ... Punch Brothers play bluegrass and Radiohead at Telluride ... Sara Watkins does Prairie Home Companion at Ravinia, joins WPA at Telluride ... Wilco does Vegas and Hard Rock Hotel ... and more ...

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Reviews, Weekend Events
  • Friday, June 19, 2009

    The Nonesuch Journal brought you a brief glimpse of Björk's forthcoming multimedia release, Voltaic, in a video preview of the project earlier this week. Now you can watch the first full-length song performance, "Declare Independence," recorded live in concert in Paris, at nonesuch.com/media. The performance is part of the concert film available in the CD+DVD and deluxe versions of Voltaic, to be released on Nonesuch on June 30, and will be screened in cities across the US in the coming weeks.

    Journal Topics: Video
  • Friday, June 19, 2009

    Wilco helped celebrate Record Store Day this past April with the early DVD release of the concert film Ashes of American Flags in independent retailers across the US. This weekend, the people behind Record Store Day launch Vinyl Saturday, and Wilco's on board again: Nonesuch releases a special limited-edition 7" single featuring the track "You Never Know," off the band's forthcoming release Wilco (the album), paired with the previously unreleased tune "Unlikely Japan" on the B-side. The band is also offering an autographed Gibson Faded SG Special to be given away to one lucky fan.

    Journal Topics: Album Release
  • Friday, June 19, 2009

    Sara Watkins will be a special guest on this week's episode of A Prairie Home Companion, airing a live national broadcast performance from the Ravinia Festival Pavillion in Ravinia, Illinois, on hundreds of public radio stations across the US beginning Saturday at 4:45 PM CT. Joining Sara and the show's host, Garrison Keillor, as special guest is Oklahoma blues man Elvin Bishop.

    Journal Topics: Radio
  • Thursday, June 18, 2009

    The Telluride Bluegrass Festival gets under way in beautiful Telluride, Colorado, today and runs through the weekend with a number of Nonesuch artists slated to perform and give last weekend's Bonnaroo lineup a run for its money. Performing are Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin with Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller for Three Girls & Their Buddy set, David Byrne, Toumani Diabaté with Béla Fleck, Punch Brothers (performing a bluegrass set and an all-Radiohead set), and Sara Watkins with Works Progress Administration. Emmylou Harris returns solo on Sunday night as the festival's final headlining artist.

    Journal Topics: On Tour
  • Thursday, June 18, 2009

    The Low Anthem and its recently released Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, are the subject of the latest Daytrotter Session, where you can hear four new live recordings by the band. Daytrotter takes a look at the "riveting" and "magnificent album," in particular its focus on the concept of survival of the fittest made famous by Charles Darwin, and the chaos inherent to it. It's a notion the band sets up right from the "lush, harmonious burst" of the album opener, "Charlie Darwin." This "powerful and moving opening song," the site asserts, "takes us through so much." There's also video of the band performing three songs at Baeble Music.

    Journal Topics: Reviews, Web
  • Wednesday, June 17, 2009

    Kronos Quartet's latest Nonesuch release, Floodplain, is out now. The New Statesman names it among the year's best, a "celebration of Middle Eastern, Balkan and African musical traditions, recast for string quartet to truly joyous effect." Songlines gives the album a perfect five stars, calling it "one of their most assertive statements in years." Billboard says "the album champions the rich sonic tapestries" of the regions it showcases, and the Detroit Free Press writes, "You can never predict where the intrepid Kronos Quartet is going next, but you can count on an interesting journey." MusicOMH interviews David Harrington, the music director of the group OMH calls "one of the world's busiest, eclectic, and perhaps most creative ensembles."

    Journal Topics: Reviews
  • Wednesday, June 17, 2009

    Pat Metheny settled into his home studio in New York City with a new baritone guitar one November evening in 2001 to experiment with a low "Nashville tuning." The result is the Grammy-winning One Quiet Night, now reissued on Nonesuch. Audiophile Audition gives the album four stars, describing it as "an intimate performance featuring Metheny's baritone guitar and his imagination ... a confidential, quiet affair, exemplified by the title track, which follows an unadorned template: extemporizing on a single melody and sustaining a solitary mood, in this case a lightly rural and rustic feeling."

    Journal Topics: Reviews
  • Tuesday, June 16, 2009

    Voltaic, the multimedia extravaganza in music and video celebrating Björk's two-year world tour following the 2007 release of Volta, is due for release from Nonesuch at the end of the month. Screenings of Voltaic's concert film component are set for cities across the US the week leading up to and around the June 30 release. And now you can catch a sneak peek at the whole project in a video preview at nonesuch.com/media.

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Video, Film