journal.nonesuch.com

Nonesuch Events for the Long Weekend of July 3–6

Here is our weekly list of just some of the many events going on across the globe this long, holiday weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

Randy Newman continues his three-day musical celebration of the Fourth of July with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by conductor Rob Fisher at the Hollywood Bowl tonight and tomorrow night (tickets: hollywoodbowl.com). Also making special guest appearances are two legendary Brooklyn/LA Dodgers icons: former manager Tommy Lasorda and broadcaster Vin Scully. The July 4th Fireworks Spectacular, which also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers in L.A., began last night and made the Los Angeles Times's list of not-to-be-missed events.

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The Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka, led by Norichika Iimori, performs John Adams's Chamber Symphony tonight in its hometown Izumi Hall in Osaka, Japan, and performs the program the following night in Tokyo at Kioi Hall. Info: izumihall.co.jp.

The Carroll Symphony Orchestra out of Carrollton, Georgia, led by Terry Lowry, celebrates Independence Day with a performance of the composer's Short Ride in a Fast Machine at the Carrollton Elementary School. On Sunday, the Brevard Music Ensemble, led by J. Falletta, will perform Short Ride at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium in  Brevard, North Carolina. On Saturday, the Neue Elbland Philharmonie will perform the piece at Freyler-Halle in Riesa, Germany.

Also in Germany, on Sunday, the piece continues to contribute to performances of choreographer John Neumeier's Parzifal: Episodes and Echo, by the Hamburg Ballet at the Staatsoper in Hamburg, in a score that also includes Adams's Tromba Lontana, Christian Zeal and Activity, The Wound-Dresser, El Dorado, and The Dharma at Big Sur. Tickets: hamburgballet.de.

For another Sunday performance in Germany, Adams's Lollapalooza will be performed by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, led by Benjamin Shwartz in the Theater at the Festsaal in Ingolstadt. Info, auf Deutsch, at ingolstadt.up2city.de.

Back in the States, on Saturday, the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra, led by Carlos Kalmar, will perform Adams's Slonimsky's Earbox as part of its free series of summer concerts at the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millenium Park. Bill McGlaughlin, host of Exploring Music on Chicago radio's WFMT, narrates a program of American works spanning 125 years, beginning in the post Civil War era and ending with the music of today. Tickets are not required. Info: grantparkmusicfestival.com.

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On Saturday, The Black Keys take the stage at the weekend-long Rothbury Festival in Rothbury, Michigan. For a complete list of artists and events, visit rothburyfestival.com.

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The Magnetic Fields' European tour, which got under way last week with stops in Spain, Portugal, and Scandinavia, continues this weekend with three performances in Germany: tonight at the Karlstorbahnof in Heidelberg (karlstorbanhof.de), tomorrow night for an Independence Day concert at the aptly named Freiheizhalle in Munich (freiheiz.com), and Sunday night at the Passionskirche in Berlin (akanthus.de).

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Brad Mehldau will be in Europe for Fourth of July and throughout the month as he and his Trio, with Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums, tour the continent. On Friday, the Trio will perform in Duisberg, Germany, at the Kraftzentrale in Landschaftspark Duisberg-Nord. They'll then head to Italy for the first of several dates in that country with Saturday's show at the Piazza Grande Polo Della Qualita in Marcianise. For further tour dates, click here.

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Orchestra Baobab performs a free concert tonight at 9 PM in Toronto. The band on the Harbourfront Centre's main stage as part of the city's World Routes free concert series. Info: harbourfrontcentre.com.

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Nicholas Payton performs in his hometown of New Orleans this Sunday  at the weekend-long Essence Festival. Tickets: essencemusicfestival.com.

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Punch Brothers play one more show Stateside, at the Britt Pavillion in Jacksonville, Oregon, Saturday night (brittfest.org), before heading to the UK and Ireland for a two-week tour later this month. For complete tour info, click here.

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Steve Reich's Sextet (1984) will be part of the Cheltenham Music Festival, which kicks off on July 4 and runs through July 19, when Three Strange Angels performs the piece at Town Hall in Cheltenham on Sunday. Tickets: cheltenhamfestivals.com.

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Here is our weekly list of just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

London Sinfonietta, led by Diego Masson, will perform John Adams's Chamber Symphony tomorrow night at Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore in its second of two performances at the 2008 Singapore Arts Festival. Also on tonight's program: Piazzolla's Tango Seis, Takemitsu's Rain Coming, and Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Info: singaporeartsfest.com.

Also tomorrow night, the Holland Symfonia, led by Henrik Schaefer, performs works from South America, including Adams's orchestrations of Piazzolla's La Mufa, Tango and Todo Buenos Aires. The Symfonia continues its South American program Sunday night with more works by Piazzolla. Info: hollandsymfonia.com.

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The Black Keys' tour of New Zealand and Australia winds down this weekend, jumping from the eastern to western coasts of Australia. Saturday, the band will play at the Manning Bar in Camperdown, Sydney (manningbar.com), then fly to Perth for a show at Metro Fremantle on Sunday, before heading home.

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T Bone Burnett continues to cross the country with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss as part of the Raising Sands tour. This weekend it brings them to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, Colorado. Info: redrocksonline.com.

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Bill Frisell has had to cancel his appearance tonight at the 8 Days in June festival in Detroit, Michigan, due to a family illness. For information on refunds and ticket exchanges, call the Orchestra Hall box office at 313-576-5111.

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Emmylou Harris played the second of two nights yesterday at New York City's The Town Hall and heads out to Long Island tonight for the Opening Night Gala performance the The Planting Fields Arboretum's summer season of concerts in Oyster Bay, New York (fotapresents.org). She'll then perform at the Wolf Trap Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia, on Sunday (wolftrap.org).

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The Brad Mehldau Trio joins the festivities for the annual JVC Jazz Festival New York with a performance Sunday night in Carnegie Hall's intimate Zankel Hall. Info: festivalnetwork.com.

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After a rocking performance last night at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, broadcast live on npr.org and now available at npr.org/music, Orchestra Baobab heads up to the Boston area to play the Somerville Theatre tomorrow night. (somervilletheatreonline.com). "There are few summer sounds more breezily soulful than those wafting north from Cuba," says the Boston Herald, "unless they make their way here via a detour through Africa." The Herald calls the band's sound "an infectious mix of high life, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and Congolese rumba that made it legendary in West Africa."

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Tonight, Nicholas Payton joins drummer Roy Hanes and fellow Birds of a Feather participants Donald Harrison on sax, Christian McBride on bass, and Dave Kikoski on piano, paying tribute to John Coltrane, for the finale concert in the Gene Harris Jazz Festival in Boise, Idaho. The concert will take place in the Morrison Center at Boise State University. Info: boiseevents.com.

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Punch Brothers perform at the Sheridan Opera House for the closing-day events of the 35th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado, on Sunday. Tickets and info: bluegrass.com/telluride.

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This weekend, the Cincinnati Conservatory at the University of Cincinnati will conclude its weeklong Music 08 festival, showcasing new works and masterworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. Frederic Rzewski and Steve Reich are guest composers at the event, leading master classes today and tomorrow. The festival's culminating events include an all-Reich concert tomorrow night in the school's Corbett Auditorium, featuring Cello Counterpoint and Music for 18 Musicians, and a Sunday afternoon performance of Double Sextet by eighth blackbird, which held a master class yesterday. Info and tickets: ccm.uc.edu.

Reich's New York Counterpoint will be on the program tonight in the London Sinfonietta's first of two performances for the Singapore Arts Festival at Esplanade Concert Hall, in which the music will be accompanied by original visuals by video art collective Flat-e. Info: singaporeartsfest.com.

Also tonight, pianist Stephen Drury joins performers from the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice for Reich's Sextet at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston. Info: sicpp.org.

The Black Keys Give Pitchfork TV Pillow Talk

The Black Keys' Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach talk to Pitchfork staffer Jessica Suarez from their hotel bed, tackling such weighty issues as the unintended use of "The Stage Nod" and settling intra-band fighting over the perfect sandwich. Watch it here, from Pitchfork TV:

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

The Black Keys Guest DJ for XM Satellite Radio Through June

The Black Keys have taken the keys of the broadcast booth at XM Satellite Radio's Channel 43, XMU, the station for college, indie, and unsigned music. At least on Tuesdays for the month of June, starting each night at 10 PM ET, for the station's artist-in-residency show, XMU A.I.R. Time. You can catch an encore broadcast of each episode on Wednesdays, 2-4 PM ET, and Thursdays, 6-8 AM.

For more information, visit xmradio.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

JamBase: The Black Keys "Leave Everything on Stage" in Live Set

The Black Keys are gearing up for the Australian leg of their Attack & Release tour, which begins in Brisbane on June 17. In the mean time, JamBase , which recently called the new album "a shoe-in for Best of 2008 lists everywhere," looks back a few weeks with a review of the band's May 15 show at New York City's Terminal 5.

Reviewer Matt Draper writes that Pat and Dan "stayed true to form" at the show, "treating the sold-out crowd to an onslaught of garage-rock revival that moved from rapid-fire blues with sweat-soaked solos to soaring ballads featuring intricate drumming."

Draper concludes:

In sum, it was another night of garage-rock revival with The Black Keys. They came. They killed it. ... Night after night Auerbach and Carney leave everything on the stage, as evidenced by the sweat, spit and broken drum sticks left behind at Terminal 5.

To read the full concert review, visit jambase.com. For further tour information, click here.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

JamBase: The Black Keys' "Attack & Release" "A Shoe-in for Best of 2008"

The Black Keys have closed out the UK leg of their Attack & Release tour and will soon be heading south for stops in Australia and New Zealand in mid-June. Reviewing the new album, JamBase's Dennis Cook describes it as music that "crawls into your marrow and disturbs your rest. It's not the blues but it's gone drinking with them. For sure, it's rock 'n' roll but with a haunted echo behind even the good time pronouncements."

On Attack & Release, Pat and Dan joined forces with Danger Mouse to create their first non self-produced effort, allowing the band to retain its essentially Black Keys sound while at the same time propelling it forward. "Attack refines their virtues and gooses their creative adrenal gland in a big way," says Cook. "Both instantly accessible and a slow boil, the album operates on a lot of levels even when you don't think it is."

The reviewer asserts both that Dan's "vocals truly come into their own here" and that "the Keys have never written more clearly or effectively" than they do here. He concludes:

It'd be easy enough to keep heaping praise on various elements, but suffice it to say the imagination and talent gathered on Attack & Release make it a shoe-in for Best of 2008 lists everywhere. Often that sounds like hype but in this case it's just a statement of fact. Once in a while quality just shines out in a way that can't be denied.

To read the full review, visit jambase.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

NPR's World Cafe: The Black Keys Create "Spot-On Mix of Blues and Rock" for New Album

The Black Keys' in-studio performance and interview on NPR's World Cafe last week is now available online at npr.org. Says the site:

With their newest record, Attack & Release, the two-man band of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney has created a spot-on mix of blues and rock ... The resulting collection takes their minimalist sound into a new dimension with unexpected arrangements and expanded instrumentation.

Listen now at npr.org.

"Strange Times," off the new album, will be featured in the soundtrack for the soon-to-be-released video game NASCAR 09. Last week saw the red-carpet celebration of the game's forthcoming launch at a special event at Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s new club, Whisky River, in Charlotte, North Carolina, with NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon. The game will be available on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 10. For more information, visit easportsracing.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

Nonesuch Events for the Long Weekend

Here is a special, extended list of some of the events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists, as we celebrate Memorial Day in the States:

The Chicago Opera Theater production of John Adams's newest opera, A Flowering Tree, continues this weekend. After the composer led the first two performances last week, conductor Joana Carneiro took the reins earlier this week and will lead the final performances, tonight and Sunday at Chicago's Millennium Park. Tickets: chicagooperatheater.org.

Saturday night, the composer will conduct the Dutch premiere of the piece at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, leading the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and soloists Jessica Rivera, Russell Thomas, and Eric Owens. Limited ticket availability: concertgebouw.nl.

Tonight and tomorrow night, the Rambert Dance Company and London Musici will perform American choreographer Doug Verone's piece Scribblings, set to the music of Adams's Chamber Symphony, at Sadler's Wells in London. It is Verone's first piece for the company and was premiered earlier this year. More info: rambert.org.

Kronos Quartet is in France and will perform Adams's Fellow Traveler twice there over the coming days: first on Saturday at the Festival de l'Epau in Le Mans (centre-culturel-de-la-sarthe.com) and then on Monday at Théâtre de la Ville in Paris (theatredelaville-paris.com). The piece was written for the Quartet in honor of director Peter Sellars's 50th birthday last year.

The composer's 1986 piece Short Ride in a Fast Machine will also be performed twice this weekend, in quite different contexts. Tomorrow, the Malmo Opera, under Nicolae Moldoveanu, will perform the piece in Malmo, Sweden. On Sunday, in Saarbrücken, Germany, the Ballett des Saarländischen Staatstheaters will perform choreographer Stephan Thoss's dance piece Poem an Minotaurus, set to Short Ride. It is part of the larger program Picasso on the Move, which also features music by Satie and Stravinsky, text by Gertrude Stein, and the piece Parade, based on a scenario by Jean Cocteau with stage design and costume by Pablo Picasso. Poem am Minotaurus was premiered earlier this year by the Staatstheater (info: saarlaendisches-staatstheater.de).

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Laurie Anderson returns to the UK to participate in the Salisbury International Arts Festival tonight. She brings her Songs and Stories to the City Hall auditorium as part of the festival, offering a collection of songs and stories from past shows The Speed of Darkness, Happiness, and The End of the Moon, as well as from her latest piece, Homeland. Info: salisburyfestival.co.uk.

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The Black Keys play the fourth UK show on their current European tour tonight at the Leeds University Union (luuonline.com) before heading to Amsterdam, where the duo performs at Melkweg Sunday night (melkweg.nl).

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Richard Goode is currently in Europe, with a performance tonight at the Amici della Musica di Padova in Padua, Italy, and a concert at the Concertgebouw's Main Hall in Amsterdam on Saturday night, with works by Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, and Debussy (tickets: concertgebouw.nl).

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Emmylou Harris is out West to perform all three nights this weekend. Tonight, she'll be in Monterey, California, for An Evening with Emmylou Harris at the Golden State Theatre (tickets: goldenstatetheatre.com); Saturday night, she headlines the sold-out Strawberry Music Festival in Yosemite, California; and Sunday she heads to Sparks, Nevada, to play the Celebrity Showroom at the Nugget Casino.

Emmylou can also be heard on the radio this weekend as a guest on the latest episode of Animal Radio. The show airs on nearly 100 AM/FM stations, including KOST 103.5 FM in Los Angeles, and on XM Satellite Radio channel 158 at 12 PM ET, with an encore presentation Sunday morning at 9 AM ET. You can also listen online now at animalradio.com. "Animals can teach us how to be better human beings," says Emmylou. "They've certainly taught me that."

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k.d. lang brings songs from Watershed back on the road, starting the latest Canadian leg of the tour tomorrow night at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa (tickets: nac.ca). On Sunday, she and the band head down to Lake Ontario's southwest tip to play at the Hamilton Place Theatre, which sits just about an hour's drive from both Toronto and Niagara Falls on either side.

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Randy Newman joins the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in a performance of his songs tonight at Boettcher Concert Hall in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Information: coloradosymphony.org.

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Punch Brothers continue the current leg of the US tour with performances all weekend: tonight at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, (birchmere.com); tomorrow night at The Mauch Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (mauchchunkoperahouse.com); and Sunday night at the Delfest, the first-ever, weekend-long celebration of the music and legacy of Del McCoury, at the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maryland (delfest.com).

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Tokyo Opera City's Composium 2008, part of the Contemporary Music Festival, featuring Steve Reich, continues through the weekend, including a sold-out conversation with the composer tomorrow night that incorporates the 2005 recording You Are (Variations) and, closing out the festival on Sunday, the concert for the final selection of the 2008 Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, with Reich judging the competition. More information: operacity.jp.

Reich's Proverb, which was performed last night in Tokyo by Synergy Vocals as part of Composium 2008, will be performed tonight by Soundstreams Canada at Walter Hall in Toronto, in a program titled "Minimalist Classics," part of the ensemble's Cool Drummings series. Tickets: soundstreams.ca.

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After playing New York's Bowery Ballroom last night, Laura Veirs closes out this leg of her solo tour, with Liam Finn opening, at the Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Massachusetts, tonight (tickets: mideastclub.com) and at El Mocambo in Toronto tomorrow night (tickets: elmocombo.ca).

The Black Keys to Appear on BBC Radio 1 with Zane Lowe

The Black Keys are in the UK on the European leg of their Attack & Release tour. To coincide with their performance tonight at ABC in Glasgow, Scotland, BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe will broadcast an in-studio performance and interview with the band tonight on his show, sometime between 7 and 9 PM GMT. The show will also feature an extra track tomorrow night at the same time. Listen online at bbc.co.uk/radio1/zanelowe.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

Filter Magazine: The Black Keys' New Album Proves Good Things Can Get Better

The Black Keys closed out the first leg of their US tour this weekend with sold-out shows at Philadelphia's Electric Factory on Friday and the Orpheum in Boston on Saturday, and start their European tour with a sold-out set at The Astoria in London tonight. Fans Stateside will be able to see the guys again come this summer, as more dates have been confirmed through September, and two new shows have been added: August 8 at the New American Music Union in Pittsburgh and August 31 at the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle. Click here for tour info.

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Following Friday's show at the Electric Factory, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Adams writes that though Patrick and Dan "are often labeled minimalists, because of their bare-bones guitar and drums lineup, the truth is their sound is anything but minimal. Reveling in their Rust Belt roots, the band takes a blue-collar approach to blues rock, hard-driving and no-nonsense."

In addition to those influences stemming from their hometown of Akron, Ohio, Adams recognizes the equally important impact of such legendary Mississippi bluesmen as Junior Kimbrough, writing:

Their songs draw from elemental forces while steering clear of mere revivalism by tapping the same sources that fed their forebears. There may be only two people on stage, but generations stand behind them.

To read the review of the Philadelphia show, visit philly.com.

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The Boston Globe's Jonathan Perry reports from Saturday's Orpheum set that the band "thrilled an audience of 2,700-plus with a lean 75-minute set long on mesmerizing hoodoo garage-blues and short on convention or flabby filler." He describes the band's appeal this way:

What remains remarkable, after all this time and even after the initial shock of seeing and hearing them wears off, is how two skinny 20-something white guys from Akron, Ohio ... can mine such deep roots and summon such soulful fire.

Describing two highlights of the set, Perry points first to the "primal slab of moaning desire" that is Rubber Factory's "Girl Is On My Mind" and then to "I Got Mine" off Attack & Release, which, "replete with riffs deadly as a razor or a rattlesnake and powered by Carney's elemental, relentless whomp, conjured its own universe of sweat, tough times, and triumph, no bass guitar necessary."

To read the concert review, visit boston.com.

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Filter magazine rates Attack & Release a 93, with reviewer Patrick Strange saying the new album seems to have "dropped out of the heavens with a fistful of downright biting blues-rock." The album, reads the review, "has all the cadence of honest-to-God Southern balladeers (via the band's hometown of Akron, Ohio) and production that makes every bass kick and guitar clash a rustic-Technicolor wonder."

Strange sees a great "nuance and musicianship" in the album's songs, highlights from which he describes this way:

Layered tastefully with eerie background choruses and ghostly vocal murmurings, songs such as "Psychotic Girl" and "Lies" are beautifully haunting and exist as rightful purveyors of the modern blues tradition. "I Got Mine" and "Same Old Thing" are examples of the hard-hitting, sweat-slinging rock for which The Black Keys are known, but with near-perfect pitch. And forlorn numbers like "Remember When (Side A)" are reminiscent of classic deep soul with vocal stylings built upon the likes of Redding and Picket.

All in all, Strange concludes, the album "is a great accomplishment for both The Black Keys and Danger Mouse, who have proven that good things can not only last, but sometimes, actually get better."

To read the full review, visit filter-mag.com.

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And ACED magazine, the entertainment magazine for young adults, weighs in with four stars for Attack & Release, with reviewer Kenya Jones writing: "A few listens of the new album in rotation with the old ones, just for perspective's sake, reminds us that these guys are good. Scary good."

She says that while the pairing of Patrick and Dan with producer Danger Mouse may at first seem an unusual one, "what sweet music the odd couple makes." For Attack & Release, Jones concludes, "Pressing play and savoring the flavor is highly recommended on this one."

Read the review at acedmagazine.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Here is our weekly list of just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

John Adams's opera A Flowering Tree received its Midwest premiere in Chicago's Millennium Park on Wednesday, with the composer conducting. The Chicago Opera Theater continues its production on Saturday with Adams conducting again. Tickets: chicagooperatheater.org.

On Sunday, at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, DC, The Choral Arts Society of Washington, under the direction of Norman Scribner, will perform Adams's oratorio El Niño, which received its world premiere at the Châtelet in Paris in 2000, directed by Peter Sellars with soloists Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, Willard White, who recorded the piece for its Nonesuch release. Tickets: kennedy-center.org.

Also on Sunday, the San Fransisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, led by Benjamin Schwartz, will perform Adams's 1995 piece Lollapalooza at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, along with Stravinsky's Le Chant du rossignol and Dvořák's "New World" Symphony (sfsymphony.org); and the American Philharmonic Sonoma County, led by Gabriel Sakakeeny, will perform Short Ride in a Fast Machine at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, California (wellsfargocenterarts.org).

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Laurie Anderson will bring her latest performance piece, Homeland, to Spain this weekend: at Auditorio de Garcia in Santiago de Compostela in the country's northwest tonight and Auditorio de Murcia, in Murcia in the southeast on Sunday night.

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After a couple of days in New York that included stops at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and WNYC's Soundcheck and a sold-out show at Terminal 5, The Black Keys are moving on to Philadelphia for a sold-out set at the Electric Factory tonight, then to Boston for a show at the Orpheum Theatre Saturday night. Its the last gig on this leg of the US tour before they head to Europe. Tickets: boston-theater.com.

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The European leg of the Raising Sands tour continues, with T Bone Burnett joining Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on stage in Stockholm, Sweden, tonight at the Stockholm Hovet (globearenas.se), and Oslo, Norway, on Sunday at the Oslo Spektrum (oslospektrum.no).

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Richard Goode joins the Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, with Peter Oundjian conducting, tonight at Salle Pleyel in Paris for a program of works by Jacques Hétu, Mozart, and Brahms. Tickets: sallepleyel.fr.

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Kronos Quartet is in Europe this month, performing tonight at the Internationales Congress Center as part of the Dresden International Music Festival in Dresden, Germany. The Quartet performs Terry Riley's 2002 piece Sun Rings, which was commissioned for the group by the NASA Art Program among many others. Tickets: musikfestspiel.com.

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Nicholas Payton began a four-night residency at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle, Washington, as the special guest of vibes master Bobby Hutcherson. For this presentation of KPLU 88.5 NPR and the Pacific Jazz Institute, Payton and Hutcherson are joined by Joe Gilman on piano, Glen Richman on bass, and Eddie Marshall on drums. Remaining performances this weekend include two sets each tonight and tomorrow night, plus a 7:30 set on Sunday. Tickets: jazzalley.com.

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Punch Brothers are back in full swing with the next leg of their US tour. They'll be at the the Satellite Ballroom in Charlottesville, Virginia, tonight (satelliteballroom.com); the Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis, Maryland, for two all-ages sets on Saturday, at 1 PM and 4 PM (tickets.ramsheadonstage.com); and the Mountain Stage Little Theatre in Charleston, West Virginia, on Sunday (mountainstage.org).

You can check out a recording of the band in concert on Live from Folk Alley now on folkalley.com. There's both video and streaming audio, as well as downloadable audio for members of the site, from a performance at The Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio, on April 2.

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Laura Veirs's solo tour continues with three stops this weekend: tonight at The 9:30 Listening Room in Louisville, Kentucky (the930.org); Saturday at The Basement in Nashville (thebasementnashville.com); and Sunday at The Earl in Atlanta (badearl.com); all with opener Liam Finn.

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Wilco two sold-out shows at The Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri, with opener Retribution Gospel Choir, featuring Alan Sparhawk of Low (thepageant.com). It's their last scheduled tour date before they ramp things up again for two shows in Alaska at the end of July with The Whipsaws.

Listen to The Black Keys on WNYC's "Soundcheck"

The Black Keys played a killer set last night at New York City's Terminal 5, leaving more than a few Nonesuch staffers a bit bleary-eyed but all the better for it this morning. While in New York yesterday, the band stopped by the studios at WNYC, New York public radio, to talk with Soundcheck host John Schaefer about the making of the new record, Attack & Release, and working with producer Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse). Listen to the full 20-minute episode, with tracks off the new record---which WNYC calls "a dynamic CD of blues rock that avoids the genre's biggest pitfalls: studio polish"---and an exclusive alternate take of "Same Old Thing" here:

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

NPR: The Black Keys Play "Unabashed, Hard-Driving Rock Show"

When faced with the conundrum of deciding between two shows by The Black Keys over consecutive nights at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club, DCist's Valerie Paschall looked to Dan Auerbach's promise in Monday's first-night set: "We'll play better tonight and we'll play more songs tomorrow night."

Whether or not they held to that, the duo, whose "multi-faceted sound has aspects that can appeal to fans of multiple genres," reports DCist, "had complete command of the sold-out crowd" Monday night. Writes Paschall:

Carney pounds the drums with such strength and precision that the tips of his drumsticks had completely broken off. ... [B]oth men are masters of their craft and Auerbach in particular can make his guitar wail like it's just been left on the side of a cold rainy highway. There's even a slight psychedelia to his guitar solos which were perfectly accented by the roving light show.

To read the Monday concert review, visit dcist.com.

As for Tuesday's show, you can judge for yourself whether more is also better: NPR.org broadcast the show live and has added the recording to the All Songs Considered Live in Concert site, along with a pre-show interview with host Bob Boilen. NPR calls their latest album, Attack & Release, an "arresting mix of crunchy guitars and thundering rhythms" that also shows "a more thoughtful side" and says the Tuesday set was "an unabashed, hard-driving rock show." Listen now at npr.org.

The band arrived in New York yesterday for an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (you can see video footage at brooklynvegan.com) and to play a sold-out show tonight at Terminal 5. They've got another sold-out show at Philadelphia's Electric Factory tomorrow night, then head up to Boston for a show at the Orpheum Theatre Saturday night, their last gig on this leg of the US tour before hitting Europe, Australia, and New Zealand next. Leading up to the Orpheum show, Patrick and Dan spoke with the Boston Herald about their varied musical influences, the new record, and what the audience can expect at the live show. To read the article, visit bostonherald.com.

New York Press has an interview with Patrick about the new record, yes, but also about sports at home in Ohio. After talking with Press's LaRue Cook about the ups and downs of Cleveland fandom, Pat reveals some of the details of the band's working relationship with Attack & Release producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton:

Dan [Auerbach] and I pay attention to the overall sound and sonic side of the music. Brian pays attention to shit we normally don’t, things like tempo. He basically had us deconstruct the demos we already had and start from scratch. Like "Psychotic Girl," for instance, started out as a fast-paced garage rock track, and Brian said we should try it much slower, then he built a drum loop out of white noise to keep tempo. It was the most fun I'd ever had recording an album.

To read the full interview, visit nypress.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

The Black Keys Play Conan Tonight, Take on Grand Theft Auto

The Black Keys, fresh off the live NPR.org webcast of their second successive sold-out gig at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club last night, are in New York City today to perform on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The band will perform "Strange Times" off their latest ablum, Attack & Release, which remains the No. 1 record on college radio for an amazing fifth straight week. Late Night starts at 12:30 AM ET on NBC; also scheduled to appear: Gossip Girl's own Blair Waldorf, Leighton Meester. Visit nbc.com for details.

Before that show hits the air, Patrick and Dan will be taking a detour to Liberty City: they'll be taking on fans in a joint gaming session of Grand Theft Auto IV with Xbox LIVE Gold members, from 7-8:30 PM ET, as part of the Xbox Game with Fame series. For information on how you can match up against the guys, visit xbox.com.

The guys gave an interview to WTMD, 89.7 FM, Towson University public radio in Maryland, backstage at the 9:30 Club to discuss the making of Attack & Release. Says Patrick of the philosophy behind the recording: "We were trying to stay outside of the box, but inside of the bun." Click here to listen.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

NPR Broadcasts Live from The Black Keys' DC Show Tonight

Tune in to NPR.org tonight at 10 PM ET to hear The Black Keys perform live from Washington, DC's 9:30 Club---their second sold-out show there in two days. Pat and Dan bring what NPR calls "a timeless mix of roots and riff-rock" to the show; it's part of the All Songs Considered series of live-concert webcasts.

Says NPR of the band's new album:

Attack and Release is a fitting title for The Black Keys' fifth full-length CD and its arresting mix of crunchy guitars and thundering rhythms. But the duo also backs away from its usual riff-rock punch to show a more thoughtful side ... Attack and Release is The Black Keys' richest and most diverse recording to date.

For more information and to listen to the live webcast, visit npr.org.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

The Black Keys' DC Concert to Air Live on NPR Tuesday

The Black Keys kick off the next leg of their Attack & Release tour tonight in Washington, DC, for the first of two sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club. Tomorrow night's set will be broadcast live on NPR's All Songs Considered, starting at around 10 PM ET. For more information and to listen online tomorrow night, visit npr.org.

From DC, Pat and Dan head up to New York City for a performance Wednesday night on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, followed by a sold-out show Thursday night at Terminal 5. For local listings on Conan's show, visit nbc.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Black Keys Channel Mississippi Bluesmen in MySpace Secret Show

The Black Keys played a MySpace Secret Show last night at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, the site of their first-ever show six years ago, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer's pop music critic, John Soeder, says Akron-based duo is "white-hot" following the release of Attack & Release, their "lushest" album yet.

The show leads Soeder to wonder rhetorically what the band's secret is, whether Dan's "receiving instructions directly from the ghosts of bluesmen Robert Johnson and Junior Kimbrough" or whether the guys may be "privy to a long-forgotten Mississippi River tributary that flows through the Rubber City, from which our heroes drink every day."

The Black Keys' "soulful" cover of Captain Beefheart's "I'm Glad," elicits the most colorful response from Soeder. "If you weren't there," he writes, "it's safe to commence eating your heart out now." You can hold off on the cardio-cannibalism for one day more: a recent home-studio recording of the song is available on the band's MySpace page for download free until tomorrow.

To read the show review, visit cleveland.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

The Black Keys Play MySpace Secret Show; Answer Fan Questions on MTVu

Just a reminder for fans of The Black Keys within getting-to distance of Cleveland: the band will play a MySpace Secret Show tonight at Cleveland's Beachland Tavern, the site of the first-ever Black Keys gig. Wristbands are being passed out at now and doors open at 8.

For the rest of us, Pat and Dan gave an interview to MTVu's Backstage Pass and answer a few all-important questions from some college fans. Check it out at mtvu.com.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

The Black Keys to Play Free MySpace Secret Show Wednesday in Cleveland

The Black Keys will perform a free, all-ages show at the Beachland Tavern in Cleveland, Ohio, this Wednesday as part of the MySpace Secret Show series. Doors open at 8 PM and entry is first come, first served. For more info, visit myspace.com/secretshows.

Here's a look at the show poster, making excellent use of the theme to the band's online video game, TBK Lazerz, which you can play at nonesuch.com/theblackkeys:

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

The Black Keys Captain Beefheart Cover Available Now on Stereogum

Head over to Stereogum to download a brand-new track from The Black Keys: their cover of Captain Beefheart's "I'm Glad." It's not on their new album, Attack & Release, as it was recorded just yesterday at Dan's house, but Stereogum says: "We're digging it ... good times, indeed." It's available for free at stereogum.com now through May 9.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

The Black Keys Featured on WFUV FM Today

The Black Keys will be featured artists throughout the day today on WFUV FM, 90.7 FM in New York. You can hear them at 8:15 AM ET and 4:45 PM for Take 5, in short excerpts from their interview and in-studio performance with host Darren DeVivo. The complete interview/performance will air at 9 PM on Words and Music from Studio A. You can listen to all of these online, streaming live at wfuv.org.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

Wilco and The Black Keys Set to Perform at 3rd Virgin Mobile Festival This Summer

Wilco and The Black Keys will join Bob Dylan, Kanye West, Iggy Pop, Cat Power, Andrew Bird, and dozens of other artists performing at the third running of the Virgin Mobile Festival, August 9-10, at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Wilco will take the main stage on Saturday, August 9, while The Black Keys will play the main stage the next day.

Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 AM ET. For more information and a complete line-up, visit virginmobilefestival.com.

The Black Keys Featured on NPR's "All Songs Considered"

The Black Keys' latest album, Attack & Release is featured on the latest edition of NPR's All Songs Considered. "Their previous four records were very heavy on loud guitars and very blues based," says the show's host, Bob Boilen, by way of introduction. Before playing the album track "Psychotic Girl," he continues: "Their new CD is produced by Brian Burton, also known as Danger Mouse, and though it's still basically a drums and guitar record, there are more quiet moments and more subtle moments going on here." You can listen to the episode at npr.org.

Also, tune in on May 13 when the All Songs Considered concert series will webcast the sold-out Black Keys show live from the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

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Click here to add The Black Keys' Attack & Release CD directly to your Shopping Cart for $13 and download the album MP3s at no extra charge.

Other Music Video Showcases Toumani Diabate In-Store

New York's Other Music, which played host to a guest-DJ set by The Black Keys as part of Record Store Day this past Saturday, presented Toumani Diabate in a rare in-store solo lecture-demonstration earlier this year for the Live at Other Music series, to celebrate the release of his new album, The Mande Variations.

"When we’re lucky enough to host a musician with the singular vision and dedication of Malian griot and kora prodigy Toumani Diabate," says Other Music's Josh Madell, "it makes us all take pause. It was an honor to have him play for us at Other Music, and even more so to sit with Diabate and learn."

Here are two videos Other Music created from the event.

This first segment highlights both Toumani's masterly teaching and playing skills:

This second segment contains a performance Toumani dedicates to all the kora players who preceded him:

For more from the series, visit digital.othermusic.com.

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Click here to add Toumani's The Mande Variations CD ($16), plus the free album MP3s, to your Shopping Cart.

The Black Keys DJ for Record Store Day at NYC's Other Music, Saturday at 2 PM

Don't forget to stop by your local independently owned record store tomorrow to check out all that's going on for Record Store Day. Hundreds of indie retailers across the country will be participating with in-store performances, give-aways, and sales of limited-edition vinyl singles and EPs from artists like Vampire Weekend, the Breeders, Stephen Malkmus, Built to Spill, and, of course, The Black Keys.

The Keys' Patrick and Dan, fresh off last night's spot on the Late Show with David Letterman, will be playing DJ at New York City's Other Music, at 15 East 4th Street. Each will have a 1/2 hour in the DJ booth beginning at 2 PM. Also playing guest-DJ sets at Other Music will be Tapes 'N' Tapes at 12:30 PM, Dead Meadow at 3 PM, Grizzly Bear and Deerhunter with a battle of the DJs at 4 PM, and Interpol, starting at 5 PM.

Visit recordstoreday.com for information on participating store in your area. Visit othermusic.com for more on The Black Keys' set.

The Black Keys Rock the Late Show; New Album "An Incredible Piece of Work" (JamBase)

The Black Keys rocked out on the Late Show with David Letterman last night, leading Stereogum to remind readers that it "gave props to Attack & Release" even before the record's release at the beginning of the month. The site gives props this time around to the "plow through the anvil-slamming, scuzz-blues riffage of 'I Got Mine'" Dan and Patrick brought to the show last night.

David Letterman followed the set with an exuberant "I love these guys!" To which Paul replied, "Unbelievable!" Leaving Dave to conclude: "That's what I'm talkin' about."

You can watch the footage at stereogum.com.

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"You can't fake music like this. The blues don't sound right if it ain't in you, and Akron had filled this duo with the right stuf