Nonesuch

On its debut album, James Farm—a collaborative band featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland—uses traditional acoustic jazz quartet instrumentation for its song-based approach to jazz and incorporates the members’ myriad influences: rock, soul, folk, classical, electronica. The New York Times calls it "a model of dazzling proficiency."

Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony, deemed "dangerously exhilarating" by the Financial Times, is performed here by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by Adams. It is paired on the album with his String Quartet, which the Philadelphia Inquirer calls "a knockout," performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the ensemble for which the piece was written.

Sleep with One Eye Open, the debut album from mandolin-virtuoso Chris Thile and guitar maven Michael Daves, was recorded live to tape over four days at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville. The album is a collection of 16 traditional tunes by bluegrass legends like The Monroe Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and Flatt & Scruggs. The duo makes for "a rip-roaring partnership," says the New York Times. "Bluegrass, in their hands, gets roughed up in the best possible way, with skill and fervor, and a touch of abandon." Nonesuch Store orders include the bonus download "Sophronie."

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang’s Sing it Loud is lang's first record made entirely with a band of her own since the pair of albums with the Reclines that launched her career over 20 years ago. "The big, beautiful voice of k.d. lang swoops, purrs and soars" on the album, says the Los Angeles Times. USA Today says it "nods to lang's alt-country roots while reinforcing her reputation as a singer of genre-defying dexterity and beauty." The Ottawa Citizen calls it "a torch-and-twangtinged stunner."

What's It All About, Pat Metheny's sequel to his Grammy-winning first solo baritone-guitar effort, One Quiet Night, features classic tunes from songwriters like Paul Simon, Lennon & McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Henry Mancini. The Boston Herald says: "Metheny’s thoughtful, loving approach elevates every tune he tackles to a realm of beauty."

Hard Bargain comprises 13 tracks, featuring 11 original songs by Emmylou Harris, all "suffused with kindly intimacy," says the New York Times. Two songs look back at relationships that were central to Harris’ creative life—with Kate McGarrigle and Gram Parsons. A deluxe edition includes a DVD featuring six performances interspersed with interviews. USA Today calls the album "exquisite."

The first in a series of imported 12" vinyl releases featuring music from Björk's Biophilia album, this 12" includes the "Crystalline" and "Cosmogony" singles mixed by Grammy Award–winning engineer Serban Ghenea.

WTC 9/11, Reich's reflection on the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, is scored for three string quartets, performed by Kronos Quartet, and pre-recorded voices, including NORAD air traffic controllers, first responders, and women who kept vigil over the dead. The New Yorker says the piece is "indicative of the undiminished powers of a great American artist." The album also includes Reich’s Mallet Quartet, performed by Sō Percussion, and Dance Patterns, featuring members of Steve Reich and Musicians, as well as a DVD with a live performance of Mallet Quartet.

Mayfield’s Nonesuch Records debut, Tell Me, was produced and engineered by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who provides backing vocals as well as guitar and drum loops. The New York Times has described her voice as "somewhere between Lucinda Williams’ and Hope Sandoval’s." Rolling Stone likens the album "to the anything-goes alternative country of Neko Case and Wilco." Nonesuch Store orders include the exclusive bonus download "I'll Be the One You Want Someday (Live)."

A collaboration between pianists Brad Mehldau and Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli, all longtime friends, Modern Music features pieces written by each of the three musicians as well as works by Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, and Philip Glass, performed by the two pianists in arrangements by Zimmerli. Pre-orders include an instant download of the title track.

Randy Newman takes a fresh look at both classic and more recent work in new solo takes on 16 of his celebrated songs, surveying 40 years of recordings. Songbook Vol. 2, includes songs spanning from the 1968 album Randy Newman through Newman’s most recent, 2008’s Harps and Angels. The Philadelphia Daily News gives the album an A. MusicOMH calls it "an invigorating celebration of the power of music, and a delicate declaration of the power of one man and his piano."

The label debut from Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, Grá agus Bás, includes the title piece, which translates as Love and Death and was inspired by sean-nós "old style" Irish vocal music, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come, comprising six settings of poems by W.B. Yeats. The Dublin–based Crash Ensemble performs both works, conducted by Alan Pierson. Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird is the soloist for Grá agus Bás; Dawn Upshaw is featured on That the Night Come.

Biophilia is an interdisciplinary exploration of the universe and its physical forces—particularly those where music, nature, and technology meet—inspired by these relationships between musical structures and natural phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic. The Independent on Sunday calls it "brilliantly original and ambitious." This standard CD version contains the album in a plastic jewel case.

Inspired by a news headline about the Wall Street bailout, Ry Cooder began work on Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down with the track “No Banker Left Behind,” an ode to the corrupt few spared from the financial crisis while most were left to fend for themselves. Pre-orders of the album include an instant download of the song. The CD is set for release on August 30, the vinyl September 13.

The New York Times has called The Black Keys’ music “tough-minded, blues haunted songs,” and the ghosts of Alabama's legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where the bulk of Brothers was recorded, inhabit the album's 15 tracks. Time Out, in a five-star review, calls it "a sonic wonderland"; Uncut says it proves The Black Keys to be "one of the best rock 'n' roll bands on the planet." The album won four Grammy awards, including Best Alternative Album.

The Low Anthem recorded the majority of Smart Flesh in a cavernous, vacant pasta sauce factory, using an eclectic array of instruments, like jaw harp, musical saw, stylophone, antique pump organs, and oversized drum kits. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both call the songs "gorgeous." NPR says it's "beautiful through and through." The deluxe edition includes a bonus disc of additional music and comes in a letterpress, numbered edition. This special bundle includes a limited-edition, letterpress poster signed by the band. 

This three-disc set comprises newly remastered editions of Kate & Anna McGarrigle's beloved 1976 self-titled debut and its equally praised 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees, plus a third disc of previously unreleased songs and demos—45 songs in all. Rolling Stone calls the debut album "idiosyncratically perfect." The Boston Globe calls it an "exhilarating ride," the demos a "real revelation," and the sisters' music "too enchanted, too singular to ever be forgotten." The Financial Times gives the new collection a perfect five stars.

This four-song collaboration between Carolina Chocolate Drops and the New York–based gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii was inspired by a spontaneous set together at the Folk Alliance festival in Memphis that Lumi guitarist Sxip Shirey described as “magic." Joining the bands on the EP is human beatboxer Adam Matta. No Depression says "the good times are palpable on this disc, starting from the very first notes."