Yesterday came the first in a five-part series of videos unveiling Realism, The Magnetic Fields' forthcoming album. Today, in the second episode, L.A.: A Folk Heaven, Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson explain why recording the new, folk-inspired album in Los Angeles made perfect sense. Drowned in Sound rates the album an 8 of 10, lauding the band's "Eternally Great Pop Songs"; The Quietus interviews Merritt about those songs.

Introducing a two-disc song cycle about Imelda Marcos, performed by a who's who of singers, is no simple task, but David Byrne has done it in a new video presentation, available at nonesuch.com/media, about Here Lies Love, his collaboration with Fatboy Slim and such vocalists as Tori Amos, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, Natalie Merchant, Kate Pierson, Santigold, and St. Vincent. The album, due out April 6, is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

As The Low Anthem digs in at work on its next album, NPR has posted the band's Tiny Desk Concert performance, including "To the Ghosts Who Write History Books" off its Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. Another song from the album is part of Paste's "Songs for Haiti" project, offering free downloads for those who donate to support relief efforts in Haiti.

Realism, the new album from The Magnetic Fields, is just days from its January 26 Nonesuch CD release. Each weekday till launch, Nonesuch.com will post a new video, in which Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson discuss aspects of the album, beginning with today's Introductions. Watch it now at nonesuch.com/media and check back in the days to follow for new videos to come.

Recollection, k.d. lang's first-ever career retrospective, is due out February 9, 25 years after the release of her debut recording. It is now available for pre-order through the Nonesuch Store. And, as an Nonesuch.com exclusive offer, we've made a limited-edition print of an iconic photo of k.d. taken by Herb Ritts, signed by k.d. and available on just the first 500 orders of these special bundles.

Kate McGarrigle, one half of a famed folk music duo with her sister Anna, has died of sarcoma at the age of 63. The sisters' last full-length album was the 2005 Nonesuch release The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, featuring family and friends, including Kate’s children Martha and Rufus Wainwright. Donations in Kate's name are being accepted at the Kate McGarrigle Fund, which raises money and awareness for the fight against sarcoma.

The Magnetic Fields' latest release, Realism, is out now. The BBC says the album confirms Stephin Merritt's "stature as the most inventive rhymer in the American lineage since Tom Lehrer," its sound "absolutely prime Merritt ... consistently confirming what unusually inventive arrangers Merritt and his cohorts are." MusicOMH‬‪ gives it four stars, saying Merritt's "talent for bathing his songs in wonderful arrangements and limpet-like melodies seals his genius status."

The Carolina Chocolate Drops have added a special performance to their tour schedule: an Emergency Benefit Concert for Haiti at New York's City Winery this Wednesday with Patti Smith, The Swell Season, John Wesley Harding, Yo La Tengo, Young People’s Choir of New York City, Joshua Bell, and others. Proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, and the Jewish Renaissance Medical Center's emergency mobile hospital unit.

NY Phil performs Adams's The Wound-Dresser ... Laurie Anderson previews new piece at MASS MoCA ... Carolina Chocolate Drops bring "electrifying show" to Dartmouth, Birchmere ... Richard Goode gives free concert in Florida ... Kronos Quartet gives West Coast premiere of A Chinese Home at Stanford ... The Low Anthem joins Dave Douglas for NY's Festival of New Trumpet Music ... Punch Brothers play three shows in Colorado ... Joshua Redman's new quartet plays Paris ... and more ...

Laurie Anderson is at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, this weekend as part of a weeklong residency to develop her new work, Delusion. On Saturday afternoon, she will speak about her creative process and discuss the piece, which will premiere on February 16 and run for a week at the Vancouver Playhouse as part of that city's Cultural Olympiad.

The Low Anthem will be making its US television debut with an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight. The band will be performing "Charlie Darwin" off its Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. The episode is sure to be additionally special, as Letterman will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of his successful quintuple bypass heart surgery by speaking his surgeon, O. Wayne Isom.

Allen Toussaint celebrates his 72nd birthday today. He received an early birthday gift when he was awarded the Grand Prix, Best Disc of the Year, from France's Académie du Jazz, for his 2009 Nonesuch debut, The Bright Mississippi. The awards ceremony took place this past Tuesday in Paris with members of the Ministry of Culture and a diverse array of artists in attendance.