Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman) and Nico Muhly release a new album, Peter Pears: Balinese Ceremonial Music, May 18 on Nonesuch. It's nine songs written by the duo plus three gamelan transcriptions by ethnomusicologist Colin McPhee that inspired the songs. Peter Pears is available to preorder with instant downloads of the tracks "Dominic," "Gambangan," and "Festina," videos for which can be seen here. Bartlett and Muhly perform the music in NYC, Dublin, and London this spring.

Steve Reich's Pulse / Quartet, released on CD and digitally in February, is now available on vinyl as well. Pulse is performed by International Contemporary Ensemble, and Quartet by Colin Currie Group. The Los Angeles Times notes the "lyricism, gorgeous instrumental textures and affecting harmonies" of Pulse, and the New York Times says: "Written for two vibraphones and two pianos, Quartet is Mr. Reich's first piece for those two instruments alone, and the combination is ingenious and seductive, and deployed with subtle craftsmanship."

Laurie Anderson is the guest on the latest episode of PRI's Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen. On the show, Anderson and Andersen discuss her life and career and how she has responded to loss. That response includes All the Things I Lost in the Flood, her new book, and Landfall, her new album with Kronos Quartet that was inspired by her experience of Hurricane Sandy. Hear the conversation here.

The line-up for the 2018 Noches del Botánico in Madrid has been announced, and among the artists to perform this July are David Byrne, Brad Mehldau Trio, and Pat Metheny, all on their respective tours of Spain.

The Magnetic Fields will bring 50 Song Memoir back on the road in June, performing at the Apollo Theater in NYC on June 15 and 16, Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh on June 19 and 20, and the Luminato Festival in Toronto on June 22 and 23.

Brad Mehldau's new album, After Bach, which pairs selections from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier with new music by Mehldau inspired by WTC, was reviewed on NPR's All Things Considered. Reviewer Tom Moon says: "The album cover, a black-and-white picture of a massive spiral staircase, is ... an apt image, capturing the supreme order of Bach's music, as well as its sense of endless, possibly infinite variation—a quality Mehldau celebrates with his originals on this collection." Hear the review here.

Natalie Merchant has announced A Summer Evening With… summer tour of intimate, historic venues across the UK. The tour, from St Ives on July 13 to Oxford on July 30, is her most far-reaching of the country to date and includes songs from throughout her career. "There's so much of Britain I've never seen," says Merchant. "I expect this summer's tour will satisfy my desire to explore those historic and scenic regions while meeting up with my fans who live there."

Sam Amidon has announced a UK tour for October, with shows in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Sheffield, and Newcastle, in addition to previously announced summer festival sets. He begins a North American spring tour at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville this Friday, with shows in Lexington, Philadelphia, NYC, Brattleboro, Cambridge, Montreal, Toronto, Ann Arbor, and Chicago, plus sets at the MusicNow festival in Cincinnati.

Rhiannon Giddens, the Guest Curator of the 2018 Cambridge Folk Festival, has selected the performers she has invited to Cherry Hinton Hall this August 2–5: Peggy Seeger, Kaia Kater, Birds of Chicago, Amythyst Kiah, and Yola Carter will be introduced by Giddens before each takes the stage. Giddens will also perform at the Festival. She will give the keynote address at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville this Saturday.

Brad Mehldau Trio's Seymour Reads the Constitution! is due May 18, 2018, on Nonesuch. The pianist and his longtime trio perform three Mehldau originals plus interpretations of pop songs (Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson), jazz tunes (Elmo Hope, Sam Rivers), and one work from the American songbook (Frederick Loewe's "Almost Like Being in Love"). Pre-order to download the album track "Spiral" now.

Rostam, who resumes his US Half-Light tour at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville on Sunday, announced two new headline shows: at Brooklyn Steel in NYC on May 24 and the Fonda Theatre in LA on September 14. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has released a video of Rostam with a string quartet performing "Gwan," from Half-Light, and a cover of Nick Drake's "Pink Moon," made as part of The Warhol's Silver Studio Sessions series. You can watch it here.

Congratulations to Brad Mehldau, whose new solo album, After Bach, debuted simultaneously at No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart, his highest career position on that chart, and at No. 3 on the Billboard Classical Albums chart! Another career high: the album debuted at No. 2 on the UK Jazz/Blues chart too. Mehldau's previous release, the 2017 self-titled duo album with mandolinist and label mate Chris Thile, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart.