NPR has started a series We Insist about protest songs released this summer in the shadow of police brutality in the US. There is H.E.R.'s 'I Can't Breathe', Adia Victoria's 'South Gotta Change', Usher's 'I Cry', Tunde Adebimpe's 'People', Anderson Paak's 'Lockdown' and other songs (some are notably missing, like 'Pig Feet' and 'Legendary'). The violence the authorities condone isn't over yet, so, unfortunately, more songs are expected to the list.

American John Shepherd devoted nearly 30 years of his life to beaming records into space from his grandparents' home crammed with a mountain of electronic equipment. The records Shepherd transmitted were from a collection of 4,000 LPs, including Can, Harmonia, Fela Kuti, Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett, K. Leimer... 16 minute 'John Was Trying To Contact Aliens' is now available on Netflix.

Although the caste system was banned by the Indian constitution, caste-based discrimination has persisted and evolved into many sub-castes, especially in villages. Casteless Collective, a brainchild of Indian film director Pa Ranjith, are using music to shake up this notorious system of stratified social class. The band sings about manual scavenging, LGBTQ issues, violence against women, corruption, land grabs and voting rights. The songs however have elements of intrigue, humour, melancholy, playfulness and incredulousness tinged with sarcasm. Guardian presents the brave collective.

Billie Eilish has partnered with Fender to design and launch her own signature ukulele called Billie Eilish Uke, adorned with her signature “blohsh” symbol, uDiscover Music reports. The ukulele was the first instrument Eilish picked up at six years old, and she’s since used the ukulele on her own songs. Asked for her ukulele-playing advice, Eilish said: “The rules of ukulele are: If you know three chords, you can play any song. Ever”. It goes fo $279.

"I don’t feel like this currently, but I had never gone through wanting to kill myself, give up on my life until the past few years and I didn’t realize how important it was to embrace the ups n downs of life and enjoy (in joy) taking active steps to better it. it’s the Journey!" - Big Sean wrote in a candid series of tweets about his mental health. "I thought doing what I loved would always make me happy and satisfied, so when I got tired of it, I was confused and it drove me insane. Later I realized I was just growing n had to gain a new mentality and foundation on many levels n re-discover my passion! And try new things".

Former The Animals frontman Eric Burdon bashed Donald Trump after the American president used 'House of the Rising Sun' during a recent campaign event. “Even though nobody asked my permission, I wasn’t surprised to learn that #Trump #864511320 used #HouseoftheRisingSun for his rally the other day” Burdon wrote on Instagram, and scored - “A tale of sin and misery set in a brothel suits him so perfectly!”. In similar politics news, Rage Against the Machine's guitarist Tom Morello told Interview Magazine, ironically, that the band were responsible for Trump becoming president: "I would say that we are karmically entirely responsible, and my apologies". Morello is referring in part to the band's 'Sleep Now in the Fire' music video from 1999, which briefly includes an extra holding up a sign that says "Trump for President". "It's funny how that became an offhand joke. Offhand joke would be a good hashtag for 2020" - Morello says.

Gary Peacock, a versatile bassist who collaborated with some of the 20th century's most notable jazz musicians, acclaimed for his virtuosity and innovative approach, has died aged 85, NPR reports. Over a career that spanned seven decades, he played on recordings alongside Albert Ayler, Paul Bley, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Miles David, among others. Pianist Marc Copland said five years ago that Peacock "was arguably one of the tiny handful of a vanguard of innovators on his instrument, OK? In 2015, you can make the same argument".

Phoebe Bridgers covered Radiohead’s 'Fake Plastic Trees' with the up-and-coming London musician Arlo Parks, in a church, turned out to be just a pretty song; Teyana Taylor released a powerful video for her song 'Still' with images of Black civil rights leaders and victims of police brutality; The Polyphonic Spree released a sugary cover of Rolling Stones' 'She's a Rainbow'.

London-based music tech startup MelodyVR, which streams gigs, bought Napster las month for $70m (£52m). Lockdown has proved to be the best thing to have happened to MelodyVR - app installs are up 1,000% since the start of quarantine, month-on-month usage is growing at 36%, and the company has raised almost $30m from investors in recent months, Guardian reports. The company has had 100 artists perform virtual gigs during lockdown, including Emeli Sandé, Liam Payne, The Chainsmokers and Cypress Hill. The gigs can also be watched on virtual reality headsets, an experience that allows fans to choose what part of the auditorium they watch the performance from. MelodyVR charges £9.99 per gig, and it is now adding a monthly subscription option.

Blaccmass is an up-and-coming Atlanta producer who is going viral for blending drill beats with classic songs from artists like Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Earth, Wind & Fire and even classic musicians like Beethoven, Complex reports. Blaccmass credits the success of the mashup to an inherent element of surprise. People don’t expect Maurice White’s iconic vocals to pair so well with the haunting, gliding bass that anchors most drill beats.

But Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s 'WAP' was the U.K.’s best-selling single last week, becoming the first-ever female rap collaboration to go to the summit in that territory. After two weeks at No. 2, the track snags 65,000 charts sales, including 8.5 million streams, to take the title, the Official Charts Company reports. It’s a person best for both artists.

Taylor Swift set a few records this week with her album 'Folklore': it collects its sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the album with the most weeks atop the list in nearly four years; Swift also ties Whitney Houston for the most cumulative weeks at No. 1 among women - Swift’s cumulative weeks at No. 1, across all of her seven chart-topping albums, now rises to 46, which is as much as Houston (the all-time leader is The Beatles, with 132 weeks at No. 1), Billboard reports.

Last year, classically trained musician Kelsey Lu published her critically acclaimed album 'Blood' that combined classic music with disco, pop, and electronics. This year, she's into music-therapy. Her latest project Hydroharmonia works with frequencies - “I’ve found that 432 Hertz is said to be mathematically consistent with the patterns of the universe – and there’s evidence of that being healing and therapeutic”. The theory sounds nice, though it's much-disputed.

Kanye West has spent nearly $6 million since entering the presidential race on July 4th, with him loaning approximately $6.7 million to his campaign between July and August. He’s received eight outside donations totaling $11,500. Most of the money spent has gone to consulting firms who’ve been working to get his name on states’ ballots. He has been kicked off more states’ ballots than he’s actually gotten on - he’s gotten his name on the ballot in just 10 states. In a recent survey, Kanye received just 2% of voters aged 18-34, so it seems his candidacy won't change much for the other candidates, especially since Democratic voters don't have a favorable opinion of him.

David Bowie's 1970 album 'The Man Who Sold the World' is being reissued in November, with its original title 'Metrobolist', an homage to Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis', Brooklyn Vegan reports. The reissue has been remixed by the album's producer, Tony Visconti, except for 'After All' which Visconti considered perfect as is. New artwork was designed by Mike Weller, who did the original design which Mercury Records found too controversial at the time. Bowie said in 2000 that "Weller devised this kind of very subversive looking cartoon and put in some quite personalised things. The building in the background on the cartoon in fact was the hospital where my half brother had committed himself to".

Saturday afternoon (September 6) an organ chord that's been held since October 2013 will change in Halberstadt, Germany. It's a musical and concept piece, part of a 639-year performance of John Cage's 'Organ2/ASLSP (As Slow As Possible)'. Saturday's chord will be held for the next 20 months. Check out the latest chord here. Soprano singer Johanna Vargas and organist Julian Lembke manually changed the chord on Saturday, drawing hundreds of fans to witness the event, Associated Press reports. The composition is played on a special organ built specifically for this piece, with a compressor in the basement blowing air into the pipes to create a continuous sound. If all goes according to plan, the performance will end in 2640.

Arab Strap are back with new music, their first in 15 years, a funny little song called 'The Turning Of Our Bones'; Bette Smith dropped soul-heavy rocker 'I'm a Sinner', about her relationship with her mother; Thurston Moore dropped a 12-minute dreamer 'Siren'; Killer Be Killed supergroup - featuring Troy Sanders (Mastodon), Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan), Max Cavalera (Soulfly), and Ben Koller (Converge) - dropped a catchy metal song 'Deconstructing Self-Destruction'; Hey Colossus colab with Mark Lanegan 'The Mirror' is slow and not really loud, still it's powerful; Nadine Khouri grew up in 'Beirut' and said that 'To Sleep' was written as "a lullaby from a war zone"; Anohni dropped a political song 'R.N.C. 2020'.

Perfume Genius will perform from the Palace Theater in downtown Los Angeles, on Saturday, September 19. Tickets are available in advance for $15 ($20 day of the event + $5 for access to stream an acoustic solo encore). During the concert, Perfume Genius mastermind Mike Hadreas will be joined by a six-piece band as well as a string quartet. They will perform music from Perfume Genius’ latest, critically acclaimed album 'Set My Heart on Fire Immediately'.

Well, this is just really sweet: 10-year-old drum-sensation Nandi Bushell accepted Dave Grohl's challenge for a drum-off, and - matched the Foo Fighters' leader performance of Them Crooked Vultures’ 'Dead End Friends'. In her YouTube description, Bushell said - "Thank you for giving me this incredible opportunity. I am extremely grateful. The Rock Gods of old are happy!”. It all started when Bushell invited Grohl for a match-off by playing Foo Fighters' 'Everlong'. He accepted, played 'Dead End Friends' himself, and has now acknowledged defeat, but teased there’s more to come from the two - “Ok, @Nandi_Bushell ……you win round one….but it ain’t over yet! Buckle up, cuz I have something special in mind…”.

The Show Must Be Paused initiative made a list of demands for the music companies, Billboard reports, asking for, well, not too much really. Health insurance benefits to artists and road crews; addressing internal pay disparities and converting long-term temp jobs to staff jobs; adding anti-racism and anti-sexism clauses to touring contracts; actively recruiting Black employees and make internships available to people who aren't in college. The Show Must Be Paused initiative made a list of demands for the music companies, Billboard reports, asking for, well, not too much really. Health insurance benefits to artists and road crews; addressing internal pay disparities and converting long-term temp jobs to staff jobs; adding anti-racism and anti-sexism clauses to touring contracts; actively recruiting Black employees and make internships available to people who aren't in college...

Little Simz, Dave and Jamie Cullum were major winners at 2020’s Ivor Novello awards, which honour the best in British songwriting, uDiscover Music reports. London rapper Little Simz was awarded Album of the year for 'Grey Area'. Dave was awarded best contemporary song for 'Black', his track that charts the struggles of black people from slavery to today’s racial inequality and stereotyping. Jamie Cullum was awarded in the “best song musically and lyrically” category, for his power ballad 'The Age of Anxiety'.

In November Nick Cave will release 'Idiot Prayer' live album and film made on his live-streamed solo piano concert back in June. The film is an extended version of the original stream featuring four "unseen performances". 'Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace' is a "prayer into the void—alone at Alexandra Palace—a souvenir from a strange and precarious moment in history", as Cave says. 

Haim singer-songwriter Alana Haim will make her feature debut in Paul Thomas Anderson's untitled ’70s coming-of-age film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Details remain scarce, but it’s being reported that Haim and Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, will be the lead stars of the ensemble drama that’s set in the San Fernando Valley. Together, they join star Bradley Cooper, who was previously attached to the project. Anderson has been steadily working with Haim since 2017’s 'Something to Tell You'.

Los Angeles has just unveiled its official logo for the 2028 summer games, and it’s also recruited Billie Eilish to design an alternate logo. The LA Olympic Committee has actually brought in a number of different people to design different versions of the Olympic logo - athletes like Gabby Douglas, Adam Rippon, and Alex Morgan, as well as celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, and talk show host Lily Singh. Billie Eilish said about her logo that "The font is the font that I use for my logo. And who knows if that’s going to be relevant in my life in eight years?".

The Atlantic has a great article about America and its system in general, seen through the eyes of incarcerated rappers. Drakeo the Ruler has managed to record an album while in prison, although he has been kept in solitary confinement for months - “It’s like they keep tryna silence me ... That’s what all these protests are about, too”. L.A. rapper 03 Greedo, currently serving a 20-year sentence on drug-trafficking and weapons-possession charges, has recorded an album just before he had to go to prison - “Honestly, I could be a whole ’nother artist if I was from somewhere nicer”. BL Shirelle grew up surrounded by drug usage and crime, and she ended up in prison at age 18 - “they knew I was coming; my bed was prepared way before the act was even done”.

Snoop Dogg is set to launch a gin line 26 years after the debut of his signature track 'Gin & Juice', Complex reports. The rapper and entrepreneur unveiled Indoggo Gin after working to create a beverage that evokes a "laid-back California style", embodying the spirit of the party anthem.

Brandy and Monica reunited on Monday night on the Verzuz series to celebrate their own solo back catalogs. The two went back-and-forth with their most beloved hits, including Monica's 'Angel Of Mine' and 'So Gone' as well as Brandy favorites 'I Wanna Be Down' and 'Have You Ever', with Monica taking advantage of the huge audience to debut new song 'Trenches', produced by The Neptunes, the Fader reports. Verzuz claimed to have broken their own record for live viewers on Instagram, with over 1.2m people watching on around the world.

Internet scammers have hit UK festival-lovers this year charging them to view live streams of festivals across the country, Guardian reports. Facebook phishing scams with fake pages and events were charging individuals £2.95 to £7.50 view live streams – even though they are often free to view on official festival pages.

Woodstock ’99 was planned as a music festival of "peace and love" featuring Limp Bizkit, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, and Insane Clown Posse, but it devolved into squalid havoc, with arson, injuries, and sexual assaults, Deadline reports. Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst infamously incited the crowd to actually break stuff as the band performed their song 'Break Stuff'. An activist group in attendance passed out candles to the crowd as part of a planned anti-gun vigil during the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ set, but it quickly went awry - uncontrolled bonfires erupted and plywood pieces from the Woodstock Peace Wall caught fire. These, and other events, are being recollected into a Netflix documentary.

"A political activist in the US civil rights movement - before it was even a movement" - biographer Robert Atkinson said about Babatunde Olatunji, Nigeria-born drummer who spent his life in the US playing drums, and staging anti-racism protests. BBC recollects how Olatunji, in 1952, three years before Rosa Parks helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, staged his own protests on public buses in the south. His protest was brave and clever - he and a group of students boarded a racially segregated bus in Atlanta wearing traditional African clothes and were allowed to sit anywhere they wanted because they were not identified as African Americans, who had to sit at the back. Day after they boarded the same bus in their Western clothing and refused to sit in the back. Olatunji was, however, better known for his music - he became a pioneering drummer, releasing 17 studio albums, including his 1959 debut 'Drums of Passion', widely credited with helping to introduce the West to "world music".