Grammy-winning artist Bill Charlap played at a storied Pennsylvania club last weekend, more than four months after his last public performance, telling New York Times - “It’s a risk for everybody, I suppose. It may be early, but it’s time for me”. The opening protocol included mandatory masks while moving through the club, widely spaced tables, temperature checks on entry, only natural ventilation supplied by open windows and fans, capacity was cut down by 75 percent to a maximum of two dozen. While playing at the Deer Head Inn, Charlap told his audience “there is no substitute for humanity and connection. I wish that I could be closer physically. But I will do everything I can to be as close in every other possible way with the music”.

Elon Musk‘s startup Neuralink is working on a brain-computer interface that will allow wearers to stream music directly to their brain, Tech Spot reports. Responding to computer scientist Austin Howard, Musk confirmed on his Twitter that Neuralink’s technology would allow people to “listen to music directly from our chips”.

German scientists are seeking 4,000 music fans to attend a concert by singer-songwriter Tim Bendzko at Leipzig’s Concert Hall on August 22, the Guardian reports. Volunteers are going to be equipped with bottles of fluorescent disinfectant and tracking devices to get a clear idea of how the spread of coronavirus can be prevented at large indoor concerts.

Miles Kane is the first musician to play the UK’s first public music event since the coronavirus lockdown began earlier this year, NME reports. Kane will play Camden Market this Saturday (July 25) to kick off the ‘Camden Unlocked’ series, which will take in eight ticketed, free open-air weekend performances until August 16, that will also see performances by Newton Faulkner, Shaun Escoffery, Stone Foundation, Sons of Pitches, John Power, Mae Muller, and The Puppini Sisters. Miles Kane has released 3 solo albums to date and is also one half of The Last Shadow Puppets with Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner.

56 years ago Chris Cornell was born, and in his memory, Cornell's widow Vicky Cornell and the Chris Cornell Estate have shared a previously unreleased cover of Guns N’ Roses’ 'Patience' that Chris Cornell recorded in Los Angeles in March 2016.

There was a 103% increase in cassette sales in the UK in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, new figures from the Official Charts company show. 65,000 cassettes were purchased in the first half of 2020 and the figures are on course to top 100,000 for the first time since 2003. The best selling cassettes of 2020 were by 5 Seconds of Summer, Lady Gaga, The 1975, Selena Gomez and Dua Lipa. 5 Seconds of Summer’s ‘CALM’ sold 12,000 in the first week making it the fastest selling cassette in 18 years.

British music monthly Q magazine has published its final issue and it is shutting down after 34 years in print, Independent reports. In his final Q editor’s letter, Ted Kessler describes the closure as “an inevitability nobody could’ve predicted as recently as March”. The final issue compiles “greatest-hits” interviews with many artists, including David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, and Prince. “Hopefully, these final issues will provide inspiration for someone canny enough to fill that huge Q-shaped hole on the newstand” Kessler writes.

American DJ and electronic musician The Black Madonna has changed her moniker to The Blessed Madonna, following online pressure, including a Change.org petition. After the change, The Blessed Madonna (real name Marea Stamper) said "The name was a reflection of my family’s lifelong and profound Catholic devotion to a specific kind of European icon of the Virgin Mary which is due in hue. People who shared that devotion loved the name, but in retrospect I should have listened harder to other perspectives". She continues - "My artist name has been a point of controversy, confusion, pain and frustration that distracts from things that are a thousand times more important than any single word in that name".

Stormzy, Dave, Nick Cave, Kate Tempest and Little Simz are nominated for this year's Ivor Novellos, the most prestigious songwriting awards in the UK and Ireland, Music Week reports. Four authors are nominated twice: Kate Tempest and producer Dan Carey are up for Best Album for the former’s ‘The Book Of Traps And Lessons‘ as well as Best Contemporary Song for ‘Firesmoke’; Jimmy Napes is nominated for his songwriting contributions to both Stormzy’s ‘Crown’ and Sam Smith‘s ‘Dancing With A Stranger’; Jamie Hartman is nominated for his work on Lewis Capaldi‘s ‘Hold Me While You Wait’ and Calvin Harris‘ Rag’n’Bone Man collaboration ‘Giant’; Stormzy and MJ Cole are also nominated for their songwriting on ‘Crown’. In the most prestigious category, for the best album, the nominated are ‘Ghosteen’ by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, ‘Grey Area’ by Little Simz, and ‘The Book of Traps and Lessons’ by Kate Tempest. See all the nominees here.

The three-day rock festival formerly known as Herd Immunity Fest took place as planned Thursday (July 16th) through Saturday (July 18th) outside the Q&Z Expo Center in Ringle, Wisconsin, in the US. It made headlines for its name, and for the fact that it was going to be staged in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing some bands to drop out. Despite the problems, the festival, renamed to Mini July Fest, was held with Sponge, Flaw, Saving Abel, AC/DC cover band Thunderstuck, and Static-X filling the bill. Organizers limited tickets to 2,500 in an effort to maintain social distancing, but the photos and videos from the cornfield suggest the number of attendees was considerably less than that.

Kanye West has officially launched his campaign for the 2020 US presidential election, with an unorthodox rally in Charleston, South Carolina, ABC reports. West appeared with "2020" shaved into the back of his head and wearing a protective security vest, and addressed the gathered rowdy crowd of a few hundred people without a microphone. He gave an impromptu monologue about 19th century abolitionist Harriet Tubman saying she "never actually freed the slaves, she just had the slaves go work for other white people" (Tubman was rescuing slaves on the network of routes and safe houses known as "underground railroad", risking her own life to lead people to freedom). West also suggested that women should be given $1m when they have a baby. He clarified that he thinks abortion should be legal, but that there should be more support for those who need it. West also said that marijuana "should be free". He also spoke about his private life, his children and his mother... You can watch his rally here.

Beyoncé has shared the new trailer for 'Black Is King', new visual album written, directed and executive produced by singer, and inspired by 'The Lion King: The Gift', the All Hip Hop reports. “The film reimagines the lessons from the 2019 blockbuster for today’s young kings and queens in search of their own crowns” Disney said. 'Black Is King' will feature guests Jay-Z, fellow Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland, Pharrell Williams, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Lupita Nyong’o, Naomi Campbell, models Aweng Ade-Chuol and Adut Akech and many of the artists that appear on 'The Gift' album. 'Black Is King' is truly a multicultural film, since it was filmed in New York, Los Angeles, South Africa, West Africa, London and Belgium using local actors and dancers.

The late Juice WRLD is opening this week’s Billboard 200 at No. 1 as 'Legends Never Die' debuts with a total of 497,000 equivalent album units, capturing the largest week of 2020 for any album. The set also registers the largest streaming week of 2020 with 238,000 streaming equivalent album units - equating to 422.63 million on-demand streams for the album tracks. 209,000 are in album sales and 3,000 are in track equivalent album units. It’s Juice WRLD’s first release since his death on Dec. 8, 2019.

Emitt Rhodes, cult musician, singer-songwriter, onetime frontman of '60s baroque pop group The Merry-Go-Round, power pop icon and home recording pioneer, has died aged 70, has died aged 70. In addition to The Merry-Go-Round, Rhodes is best known for his 1970 self-titled debut which garnered many comparisons to Paul McCartney ("The One Man Beatles" was his nickname), and he went on to become a prolific multi-instrumentalist and record producer. His songs have been covered by Fairport Convention, The Bangles, Linda Ronstadt, Tift Merritt and more. After a 40+ year absence from recording, Emitt returned in 2016 with a new album, 'The Rainbow End'. Watch 'The One Man Beatles', a documentary about him, here.

US rapper Juice WRLD has topped the UK album charts, seven months after his death at the age of 21, caused by an accidental overdose. The star racked up 22,500 chart sales of 'Legends Never Die' this week, 97% of which came from streams, UK Official Albums Chart reports. Juice WRLD's 'Legends...' is the first posthumous number one since a re-release of George Michael's 'Listen Without Prejudice' in October 2017.

Powerful new Lupe Fiasco song 'Shoes' was written from the perspective of the sneakers Ahmaud Arbery was wearing when he was murdered; Richard Barone's cover of Willie Nile’s 'Streets of New York' is just a warm love song to the city; Mastodon-At the Drive-in-QOTSA supergroup Gone Is Gone released psych-spacey rawk 'Everything Is Wonderfall', Shamir released 'I Wonder' from his self-titled album, out later this year.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has signalled the potential return for live music in two weeks - from August 1, socially distanced audiences can return for indoor performances in theatres, music halls and other venues, IQ Magazine reports. From October, Johnson said “audiences in stadia”, conferences and other events will be able to restart, subject to successful pilots around the UK. The PM warned, however, “the timetable I’m about to set out is conditional,” adding “we will not proceed if doing so risks a second peak”.

Marc Geiger, the former global head of music at talent agency William Morris Entertainment and co-founder of Lollapalooza, has said the concerts, hit hard by Covid-19, won't return until 2022. Speaking at the on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast, Geiger said “It’s my instinct, that’s going to take a while because super-spreader events — sports, shows, festivals, etc. — aren’t going to do too well when the virus is this present”. He added there are “probably 20” roadblocks that need to be overcome before live music can return. “The virus and illness being one, spacing and density” being another, he explained. A third, Geiger noted, will be insurance and liability. “With [COVID], there’s infinite liability”. he said, noting the challenge venues and promoters will face in finding an insurer willing to cover their events.

Chi Pig, founder of the legendary Canadian punk band SNFU, has passed away on Thursday (July 16) at the age of 57, Exclaim reports. SNFU have been a formative influence on the skate punk subgenre, and their work has on occasion been included in rankings of the best Canadian music. Chi's life was documented in the biographical film 'Open Your Mouth and Say... Mr. Chi Pig', which was released in 2010.

American rapper Logic has announced he's retiring from music so he can focus on being "a great father", XXL reports. He only started putting out music in 2009 and, after a string of mixtapes, he released his first studio album in 2014. Since then he's put out at least one album or mixtape per year. The 30-year-old rapper, from Maryland in the USA, says his fifth and final studio album, 'No Pressure', will be released next Friday. He became a dad earlier this year. Writing on Twitter, he says it's "been a great decade. Now it's time to be a great father".

Nike has announced a new line of sneakers in collaboration with Grateful Dead. The Nike SB Dunk Low Grateful Dead cost $110 and come in three different colors - orange, green and yellow, Kicks on Fire reports. The sneakers take their inspiration from the band’s iconic dancing bears, and they feature faux-fur and suede exterior lining, a frayed Nike Swoosh mimicking the bears’ collars, and a circular imagine of the bear on the tongue. Inside the shoes are a bear-adorned slip, a sockliner with the Steal Your Face skull printed on the underside, and a small zipper pouch on the inner tongue for stashing weed.

The 2020 short list for the Polaris Music Prize has been officially unveiled, with 10 albums for the Canadian music prize whittled down from a 40 albums list. One grand prize of $50,000 will be awarded on October 19. The other short list contenders will receive prizes of $3,000 each.

The nominees are:

Backxwash - 'God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It'
Caribou - 'Suddenly'
Junia-T - 'Studio Monk'
Kaytranada - 'Bubba'
nêhiyawak - 'nipiy'
Pantayo - 'Pantayo'
Lido Pimienta - 'Miss Colombia'
Jessie Reyez - 'Before Love Came to Kill Us'
U.S. Girls - 'Heavy Light'
Witch Prophet - 'DNA Activation'

A major tour of the hit musical 'Six', which had sold out several drive-in venues in the UK, also expected to feature performances by The Streets, Kaiser Chiefs, Dizzee Rascal, Sigala, has been cancelled due to uncertainties over local lockdown. Live Nation said the "latest developments over local lockdowns" meant they couldn't proceed "with any confidence", Evening Standard reports. The drive-in shows were announced last month, with outdoor venues such as airports and race courses booked in 12 cities, including Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Edinburgh and Bristol. Concert-goers would have been able to stand outside their vehicles in allocated spaces, or sit in their fold-out chairs.

Megan Thee Stallion suffered multiple gunshot wounds, saying she’s “lucky to be alive”, but is expected to make a full recovery. The incident occurred Sunday morning (July 12) in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. Police officers at the scene recovered a gun the rapper allegedly had in a vehicle. Canadian rapper/singer Tory Lanez was arrested in connection to the incident.

A lovely article in the Guardian about the strong friendship between two British folk-rock greats, Nick Drake and John Martyn: "In 2005 Martyn told me, 'Nicky was one of my favourite human beings in the world'. Throughout his life, Martyn’s friendships with other men could be intense: tactile, tempestuous, thoughtful and surprisingly gentle, with lots of kisses and hugs. 'John was different from other people in Glasgow; he was very free', says Linda Thompson. 'He wasn’t at all uncomfortable or frightened of loving a man – not in a physical way – which was quite unusual in those days. Nick and John loved one another. It was quite Greek, without the sex'".

Moses Sumney released 'Monumental', his interpretation of 'Olympic Hymn', accompanied by a stunning black and white video starring and directed by Sumney, featuring the musician singing the song on a pedestal like a marble statue come to life; Idles make a slight turn - release s tense psych-ballad 'A Hymn'; free jazz collective Standing On The Corner shared ‘G-E-T-O-U-T!! The Ghetto’ featuring a seven-year-old vocalist Annalise Chanel Renee Williams; Kanye West, again, has a good song - 'Donda', dedicated to his mother; King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard shared a ballad 'Honey'; 'Order' by Zen Mother is just some mighty electro industrial; Helena Deland's 'Lylz' is about the "aching forever-after of female friendship"; Arcade Fire's Will Butler released his new, solo, uplifting song 'Surrender'; Makaya McCraven's 'Strangers in the City' is groovy and tribal jazz.

John Legend made a provocative comment in the Entertainment Weekly about Grammy Awards, saying: “It’s almost impossible for a Black artist to win Album of the Year. How many years do we have to see Beyoncé snubbed? Kanye [West] has never won. It’s kind of insane…We’ve got to do something, because that’s a terrible record, and Diddy is right to complain about it”. Billboard double-checked Legend's claim. Of the 62 albums that have won album of the year, 12 – nearly 20% -- are by Black artists (as the lead artist). The most recent Black artist to win the album of the year, Herbie Hancock, won 12 years ago. Even if a Black artist wins when the 63rd annual Grammy Awards are presented on Jan. 31 - and The Weeknd and Lil Baby both appear to be strong candidates – that would be a 13-year gap between wins by Black artists – the longest such gap since Black artists starting win this award in the mid-‘70s.

The Quietus has made a collection of the best underground Irish music for the month of July, and the star of the month is MuRli, Togo-born rapper who combines grime, afrobeat and hip hop. He deals with issues of racism, discrimination, identity, freedom -  “You can’t hide forever, ain’t nobody safe here unless we all are".

The Dalai Lama’s recently released debut album, 'Inner World', hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s New Age album chart with sales of 2,000 units in just its first week. The record also scored No. 8 spot on the World Albums chart, and No. 98 at Album Sales chart. 'Inner World' pairs the Tibetan spiritual leader’s mantras and chants alongside ethereal, new age music composed by New Zealand artists Junelle and Abraham Kunin, and music by Anuscha Shankar.

Wu-Tang Clan have joined the personal shout-out app Cameo and are now available for requests for congratulating birthdays, anniversaries, or even applaud the completion of a mixtape. It costs $360 to get a shout-out from RZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, and the others, Consequence of Sound reports. Ice Cube is also on disposal, for $500. There are from over 30,000 different celebrities on Cameo, including musicians like Kathleen Hanna, David Yow, Ariel Pink, Torres, Foxygen's Sam France, Dr Dog's Eric Slick, The Drums' Jonny Pierce, Giant Drag's Annie Hardy, Surfbort's Dani Miller, Brad Oberhofer, Girlpool's Harmony Tividad...