“Drugs can be dangerous but they can also be hilarious” - is the idea behind the new documentary 'Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics' where numerous musicians share stories about taking psychedelic drugs. Among those are Ad Rock (Beastie Boys), ASAP Rocky, The Grateful Dead‘s Bill Kreutzmann, Sting, Donovan, Reggie Watts, Jim James (My Morning Jacket). It was directed by Donick Cary, who is a comedy writer who’s written for 'The Simpsons', 'Silicon Valley', 'Parks & Recreation', 'The New Girl', 'Bored to Death', hence the original idea... Watch the trailer below.

Blogger Dave Strickson did an A-MA-ZING job - he made an alphabetized roundup of all the Peel Sessions he found on YouTube. There’s nearly a thousand, including Nirvana, Pulp, Nick Drake, The Fugees, Sonic Youth, David Bowie and The Spiders From Mars, Joy Division and New Order, The Smiths, Roxy Music, The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Fall, Echo & The Bunnymen, Hole, Jack White, Elvis Costello, Cocteau Twins, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Wedding Present, The Raincoats, T-Rex, Buzzcocks, Can, Billy Bragg, Fairport Convention, The Breeders, The Kinks, The Specials, The Slits, Thin Lizzy.

Event Safety Alliance has published a Reopening Guide, based on suggestions by 400 tour promoters, managers, Ticketmaster employees, and caterers. It's a 29-page guidebook. The essential guidelines:

• Hand-washing every hour, as well as after sneezing, mopping, smoking, eating, drinking and other select activities
• 4 square meters necessary per unrelated group of people
• Required masks
• Sanitizing door handles, sink faucets, soap dispensers, elevator buttons, phones, water fountains, vending machines, trash bins and computers
• Stagger lines into venues so patrons don't have to cluster in lines
• Temperature screening for every customer
• Clear protective shields for will-call and box-office windows

A great article by General Intelligence about music generated by artificial intelligence, so good it's nearly impossible to tell the difference. What these algorithms do is they analyze large collections of an artist’s songs, find patterns in the audio data that humans would correlate with hallmarks of music style, and then use those patterns to generate new audio. One such is Jukebox, an algorithmic system able to generate music - complete with lyrics - in the style of famous musicians like Elvis and Frank Sinatra.

“Everyone send your thoughts to Slowthai. Fuck knows where he is, but God bless the boy… fucking nightmare” - was The 1975 Matty Healy's reaction to Slowthai's shenanigans at NME's Awards, 'Enemy' is rapper's own take on it, not something everybody's gonna agree with, but he does take a legitimate stand; Arthur Gunn played a beautiful cover of Bon Iver's 'Hey Ma' at 'American Idol'; Naomi Lien's 'Don’t Need None' is a, well, decent R'n'B song, with a video made with a budget of enthusiasm, no banknotes exchanged; the title says it all really in 'Raincheck Summer' by Lillian Frances.

Classical critic Alex Ross has made a list of his ten favorite books on music. (via Twitter). It goes from "the book that affected me more perhaps than any other: Thomas Mann's monumental, bone-chilling, strangely exalting composer-novel, 'Doctor Faustus'" to an easier read - "'Out of the Vinyl Deeps', a wide-ranging collection of the incisive, impassioned, posture-free pop-music criticism of Ellen Willis".

Soul legend Betty Wright passed away Sunday morning in her Miami home after losing her battle with cancer, NPR reports. Wright started singing at the age of two as a member of her family's gospel group, Echoes of Joy, she released her first solo album when she was just 14 years old, and she shot to fame at the age of 18 with her classic song 'Clean Up Woman'. A powerful, soulful vocalist, she was one of the first singers to use the "whistle register", later utilised by Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande. As a writer and producer, she also created hits for artists including Bob Marley, Gloria Estefan and Joss Stone. Tributes are pouring in...

Portland, Seattle (King County), New Orleans, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Austin, Albuquerque and Chicago have joined the Music Cities Together pilot program Reopen Every Venue Safely, which aims to “develop and disseminate action plans and budgets rooted in a hyper-pragmatic understanding of the challenges ahead” in the COVID-19 era, Variety reports. REVS hopes to share data and “best practices” tips across the eight cities between city officials and venue owners in an effort to best strategize ways to effectively ensure venues can open safely in a coming era where social distancing may be the new normal, temperature checks at the door might be a potential mandated safety check, and city-imposed reduced capacity numbers might also become a reality.

Country superstar Kenny Chesney tops the Billboard 200 chart for the ninth time with his latest album 'Here and Now', equaling Garth Brooks' record for the most No. 1s among country acts in the chart’s history, according to Billboard. Chesney's set earned 233,000 equivalent album units in the U.S., with the vast majority of it being actual album sales - 222,000. Drake's surprise-released 'Dark Lane Demo Tapes' opens at No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 chart, with 223,000 equivalent album units earned. And a curiosity from this week's Billboard - post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance charted at No. 14 without the help of any physical sales; their new album 'Afterburner' ended up receiving the equivalent of 23,211 album sales from streaming in its first week, Loudwire reports.

Little Richard, one of the pioneers of the first wave of rock’n’roll, has died at age 87, Rolling Stone reports. At the height of his career he released a run of singles that were among the wildest and most flamboyant of the rock’n’roll era – 'Tutti Frutti', 'Long Tall Sally', 'Rip It Up', 'The Girl Can’t Help It', 'Lucille', 'Keep A-Knockin’' and 'Good Golly, Miss Molly'. He was also known for his outrageous performance style - eyes lined with mascara, and brightly coloured clothes.

Guitarist and singer The Tallest Man on Earth played some beautiful covers in his weekly livestream yesterday - The National‘s 'Pink Rabbits' performed on synthesizer, The Strokes‘ 'Someday', John Lennon‘s 'Jealous Guy', Daniel Johnston‘s 'Walking the Cow', Lucinda Williams‘ 'Greenville', Tom Waits‘ Take It With Me', traditional folk song 'The Moonshiner', and a couple of others. Watch below (80 minutes).

The newest episode of battles curated by music producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland will feature neo-soul artists Erykah Badu and Jill Scott - the first female superstars in the series (previously it was RZA vs. DJ Premier, Swizz Beatz vs. Timbaland, T-Pain vs. Lil Jon, Mannie Fresh vs. Scott Storch, and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds vs. Teddy Riley). All Hip Hop is sure the battle will be "epic" since Badu and Scott "are the best of the best". It's on Saturday, May 9 - at 7 p.m. Philadelphia time, 6 p.m. Dallas time, 1 a.m. Barcelona time.

he New York Times reports on a beautiful story - accomplished classical musicians like Molly Carr and Andrew Janss have started playing at the New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in Manhattan - through patients' iPhones or iPads. Chamber music players, winners of international competitions and prizes, teachers at prestigious music schools perform from California, Kentucky, Maine, Virginia, Massachusetts and New York. They play the music of Bach, Brahms, the Beatles, Edith Piaf...

'Shadow of Doubt' by Satin Nickel is strange and great - prog-rock meets Americana; 'The Eddy' takes St. Vincent in an unseen jazz direction - the song is from ‘La La Land’ director Daniel Chazelle's new Netflix drama; singer, songwriter, and producer Ted When takes on isolation in 'The Edge'; Fontaines D.C. won't change rock with 'A Hero's Death', but it is a potent rock song; Rhye is going for the beautiful with her new song; Muse frontman Matt Bellamy is alone on 'Tomorrow's World', inspired by isolation on the piano-heavy, haunting song; Zeshan B mixes global music and soul in 'Only in my Dreams', a song that came to him in a dream.

Bob Dylan at midnight released his new track 'False Prophet' and announced a new album 'Rough And Rowdy Ways', due out next month. The song itself is a slow blues number which explores the dark side, with lyrics such as: “I’m no false prophet, I just said what I said/ I’m just here to bring vengeance on somebody’s head”. The two songs Dylan released this spring - 'Murder Most Foul' about the J.F.K. assassination, and 'I Contain Multitudes' will also be on the forthcoming album.

The lockdown caused by the coronavirus has left 140,000 UK's performers, agents, promoters and technicians without a steady income since the end of March, BBC reports. The effect of the quarantine on live music is "catastrophic", according to the chief executive of UK Music Tom Kiehl. 554 of Music Venue Trust's 670 member venues are under threat of "imminent closure", before the end of the month. "In a typical year, live music contributes £1bn to the UK economy and supports many jobs. What we are seeing now with the changes and social distancing likely to continue this year - at least £900m could be wiped off the sector" - said Mr Kiehl.

New York r'n'b duo Lion Babe has just finished their “Around The World, At Home: Virtual World Tour” playing 12 shows in 11 countries over six continents in six days. They treated it like a real tour from a logistical sense - soundchecks and rehearsals, virtual meet and greets, and virtual press runs in each market - in order for their fans to get the best of it. Each venue agreed to Lion Babe take over their IG channels, and fans were only allowed to RSVP for the show corresponding to their place of residence. The concerts were free of charge. Jillian Hervey and Lucas Goodman told Forbes how their experience as independent artists has uniquely prepared them for moments like this - “We’ve always needed to have the ability to know that we don't have to rely on getting products and renting things, and that we can be really productive on the fly if an idea comes or an opportunity arises like this one. We're just playing all the roles; it definitely takes a lot of work, but it's exciting and affirming to know that in this time we've been capable of doing it”.

Guns N' Roses created the new picture book in collaboration with the novelist James Patterson, and it was illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin. 'Sweet Child O' Mine' pulls its narrative from the lyrics of the Guns N’ Roses song of the same name and follows the adventures of Maya and Natalia Rose, the niece and daughter of Guns N’ Roses manager Fernando Lebeis, who have grown up touring with the band. It’s due out September.

Concerts and festivals will not go ahead in the UK until at least next year - Cambridge University lecturer dr Chris Smith tells BBC about the prospect of music events by the end of this year. Smith believes it is "too optimistic" to think such social gatherings will take place - "we won't even have got a vaccine into people by then". Dr. Smith is confident we will ultimately return to enjoying such collective experiences - as they "appeal to the human nature" - but only after most people in the country have either been infected with the disease (herd immunity) or inoculated (vaccines or combinations of drugs) in some way. "I think this year is basically a write-off, if I'm honest with you," he adds.

A new chapter is being written in d’n’b right now. It’s being written by a new generation of talent and fans, but it’s being supported across the entire scene, and it’s left the genre in its healthiest state for years - Mix Magazine reports on the new wave of drum 'n' bass musicians. Who are they? - AC13 (“I dropped everything for music. I’ve never worked so hard in my life, it was fucking intense, but it’s so worth it”), IMANU ("I quit university"), Buunshin, DJ Leniz, Halflow, Phentix, Skylark, The Caracal Project, Monty, Flite, Echo B, Winslow...

Visual effects specialists who regularly work on music projects say that artists and promoters are asking how they can present online performances that go beyond livestreams from musicians' homes - Pitchfork reports on the issue of the future of online shows. Travis Scott has set the threshold quite high - creating a concert like his requires a serious team of developers, but the process can take as little as a couple of months. Virtual entertainment platform Wave might have an answer - they use motion-capture technology to transform artists into digital avatars in virtual worlds. Wave recently announced a concert series including John Legend and Tinashe.

Igor Cavalera is best known as a founding member and drummer of Sepultura, but in recent years he’s been an electronic producer and DJ under the alias Mixhell. Fact Magazine published a 13-minutes video of Cavalera from his home studio where he records an improvised modular synth performance and shares the story behind his custom setup. It's kinda funny to see the metalhead being so serious, but it is creative work so it does demand full focus.

Florian Schneider, co-founder of highly influential electronic pop group Kraftwerk, has died at the age of 73, Rolling Stone reports. The German quartet set the template for synthesiser music in the 1970s and 80s, and were the godfathers of kraurock. They achieved both musical innovation and commercial success, and inspired scores of artists across genres ranging from techno to hip-hop. The long list of artists to have been influenced by Kraftwerk included David Bowie, Depeche Mode, New Order, Daft Punk, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Dr Dre... Alexis Petridis is quite clear about Kraftwerk: "They may well be the single most influential band since the Beatles".

City Winery has put together a livestream special for North American Mother’s Day this Sunday (May 10) which will be headlined by Billy Bragg and also includes Rosanne Cash, Rufus Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright, The Mountain Goats, The Indigo Girls, Steve Earle, Richard Thompson, Shovels & Rope, Jorma Kaukonen, Joan Osborne, Joseph Arthur, Stella Donnelly and more. Tickets ($10) benefit The United Nations Foundation fund addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. The livestream starts on Sunday at 5 p.m. New York time, 11 p.m. Geneva time, 5 a.m. Monday Singapore time.

Electronic musician Marc Rebillet has announced the first drive-in concert tour in the US, Pollstar reports. Rebillet, also known as YouTuber "Loop Daddy", will embark on the seven-date drive-in tour beginning in June, with socially distant concerts scheduled in North Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In lieu of opening acts, each show will screen short films. Additionally, attendees will be able to purchase merchandise, food, and more. It comes after promoters in Denmark invented the drive-in concert, and German concert-engineers innovated drive-in rave, or the Autodisco.

Jamaican singer Millie Small, most famous for her 1964 hit single 'My Boy Lollipop', has died at the age of 72 after suffering a stroke. 'My Boy Lollipop' made her an international star, it helped popularise ska music around the world, and remains one of the biggest-selling ska songs of all time, with more than seven million sales. "I would say she's the person who took ska international" Island Records founder Chris Blackwell told Jamaica Observer.

Oh, the merry quarantine days - a toddler named Jolee Dunn performed a very original song called 'I Wonder What’s Inside Your Butthole' with lyrics “I wonder what’s inside your butthole/ Maybe there is astronauts/ Maybe there is aliens/ All inside your butthole/ What’s inside your butthole?/ I always want to know”. Her mother posted in on Twitter and it, of course, became a viral hit. Now, the 'How I Met Your Mother' actor Josh Radnor and Australian folk artist Ben Lee made a cover of it.

In what will likely be one of the first live in-person shows in the US since the country shut down in mid-March, Travis McCready, frontman of the country-rock band Bishop Gunn, will give “an intimate solo acoustic performance” at TempleLive in Fort Smith, AR on 5/15, Billboard reports. Tickets can only be purchased in “fan pods” of 2-12 assigned seats, each of which will be six feet apart from the next seating group, and the venue’s capacity has been reduced 80% from 1100 to 229. Face masks, which will be available for purchase at the event, are required for all attendees and employees. The venue will be sanitized before and after the event. Concertgoers will have their temperatures taken upon arrival. All beverages at the event will be prepackaged or have lids. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced on Monday that indoor venues could resume live shows as of 5/18, with fewer than 50 people in attendance and strict social distancing guidelines.

It might be a hoax, but parents have been giving their children more and unusual names, so the news that Grimes and Elon Musk named their son X Æ A-12 Musk might be just a highpoint of that trend. Grimes has explained the various components that went into the baby's name. X refers to “the unknown variable”. Æ is “my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)”. A-12 is a shout-out to the Lockheed A-12 aircraft, “precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent”. The A in A-12 is short for “Archangel,” which Grimes says is her favorite song. So, that's the explanation, but Slate isn't sure that this name is even legal. Anyway, welcome to the baby, congratulations to the parents!!

“I always wanted to play a character that was the opposite of the public’s perception of me - and of course make fun of myself" - The Weeknd told Variety about a cartoon version of himself which appeared in a brand new episode of 'American Dad'. He also premiered his new song 'I'm a Virgin' in last night show. The Season 17 episode is built on the premise that Stan kidnaps the Weeknd in an attempt to teach Roger a lesson.