System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian tweeted shortly “simply awesome” responding to a viral video of Nigerian wedding guests rocking out to the band’s 2001 hit ‘Toxicity’. The short clip features revellers headbanging and singing along to the track, to which Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello said "there's hope".

The retro acoustic-electric 1959 Martin D-18E guitar played by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain in a rare acoustic concert has sold for a record $6 million, CNN reports. Cobain played the guitar during a legendary MTV Unplugged performance in 1993, just five months before he died. At $6.01m after fees, the guitar is the most expensive ever sold at auction. It was bought by Rode Microphones founder Peter Freedman who said "I didn't even buy it for me. I paid for it but I'm going to use it to highlight the plight of artists worldwide by touring it around and then I'm going to sell it and use the dough for that as well, later".

Lil Baby’s 'My Turn' spends a third week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with 72,000 equivalent album units earned last week - just under 71,000 are SEA units (equating to 110 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs), while TEA units and album sales total a little less than 1,000 each. According to Billboard, a slight increase in sales (12%) was thanks in part to buzz generated by the release of Lil Baby’s new non-album single 'The Bigger Picture' - the track is not on album, but the set likely found increased streams and sales thanks to it.

UK music venues need an immediate cash injection of £50 million from the government to prevent a wave of permanent venue closures across the summer, Music Venue Trust has warned. MVT has launched its #saveourvenues campaign in April, raising £2 million which saved 140 cultural spaces so far, but the Trust warns that the government must provide the injection to prevent lasting damage to the live sector, Music Week reports. Trade body UK Music predicts that the coronavirus shutdown will destroy a staggering £900 million of the estimated £1.1 billion that the UK’s live industry contributes to the economy each year.

Anderson 'Paak's 'Lockdown' deals with protests, the long history of racism and unjust police killings; Kaleida announced her new album with a mighty pop single 'Other Side'; R'n'B singer Orion Sun suffered violence from the police, but responded gently with 'Mama's Baby', a victory!; Norwegian pop-singer Annie has a new synth pearl 'American Cars', cold and pretty; 'Epistrophy' comes from one of Thelonious Monk's best performances - from a high school in Palo Alto, CA in 1968, recorded by the school's janitor; acoustic version of 'Heatwave' by Mereba is tender and strong; Tee Grizzley goes fast and furious on 'Lions & Eagles', with Meek Mill borrowing a verse; 'Fight On' by the Harlem Gospel Travelers is a groovy gospel song; Derrick Hodge's 'Heartbeats' is like a jazz flying carpet; Misery Signals combine post hardcore and post-rock on 'River King'.

NME's Mark Beaumont made a list of eight songs made by artificial intelligence that qualify for "the best least worst" among them. It's fake Nickelback, Strokes, Morrissey, Nirvana, etc. songs. Check out the full list here.

An interesting interview in the Guardian with Norah Jones, who looks back on every one of her albums:

'Seven Years', her debut from 2002 - “I was trying to have fun with the success, but at the same time, I was a little too worried about getting swallowed up by it all”

'Sunrise' (2004) precipitated the signing of Amy Winehouse, Katie Melua, Joss Stone - "I had to separate myself from it all. The truth is some great artists came out of that and that’s awesome”

'Rosie’s Lullaby' (2007) was written on tour, with a lot of alcohol around - “I was just trying to keep together, to be honest”

'Chasing Pirates' (2009) was the first one written primarily by herself - "It lifted me up as a songwriter and made me feel validated”

'All a Dream' (2012) -  "It was a transformative experience. Before, I was terrified of having to finish songs before I went into the studio... I went in having faith in the process and the lightning bolt of inspiration that comes with making music"

'It’s a Wonderful Time for Love' (2016) - it's about "let’s lift each other up and send love to each other in a hard time"

'It Was You' (2019) - it was released one song at a time, which in turn "really freed me up and made me more inspired than ever”

'Flame Twin' (2020) - “If there’s a darkness to this album, it’s not meant to be an impending sense of doom. It feels more like a human longing for connection”

Rihanna's nonprofit The Clara Lionel Foundation has partnered with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to donate $15 million (£12 million) towards mental health services amid the ongoing social unrest and the coronavirus pandemic, People. It's the latest in a series of donations from the pop superstar and tech leader, with Rihanna's foundation alone donating more than $36 million towards coronavirus relief to date.

Loudwire presents a new band that likes to keep their identities secret - Sleep Token keep their masks on, because “our identities are unimportant. Music is marketed on who is or isn’t in a band; it’s pushed. prodded and moulded into something it isn’t". Well, actually, they transfer that focus from themselves to Sleep, a divine entity that the band follows - "since no modern tongue can properly express its name. This being once held great power, bestowing ancient civilisations with the gift of dreams, and the curse of nightmares". Sleep Token released their debut album 'Sundowning' this past November.

Liam Gallagher’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ album has become the first release in the series to hit the top of the Uk album charts since Nirvana in 1994. Gallagher’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ record is also the first live album to top the charts since George Michael’s ‘Symphonica’ in 2014, according to the Official UK Albums Chart. It is the biggest selling vinyl release of 2020 so far, with 10,000 of its 21,000 first-week sales comprised of vinyl purchases. By now, Gallagher has spent a combined total of nearly six months at Number One with 11 chart-topping albums from his solo career and as a part of Oasis.

"This time I feel like the songs are wildly better because it’s me as an adult. I’m getting less afraid" - Phoebe Bridgers said in CoS interview about her new album, 'Punisher'. For her second record she made more energetic material - "I think it’s just more fun to play live. That might be something I learned from my collaborations: the more fun a song is to play live, the more I like it over time, whereas I get kind of exhausted playing sad songs over and over and over". Bridgers released the album earlier because - “I’m not pushing the record until things go back to ‘normal’ because I don’t think they should”, as she wrote on Twitter.

Rage Against the Machine music was streamed over 11 million times in the last week, a 62% increase, caused by the renewed interest for their music amid the protests in the U.S., Billboard reports. The band’s 1992 single 'Killing in the Name' accounts for 2.4 million of those streams alone, which places the song at No. 3 on Hard Rock Digital Songs Chart and No. 21 on the Hard Rock Streaming Songs Chart. 'Bulls on Parade', meanwhile, has been streamed 1.4 million times in the last week. The band’s catalog, which features four studio albums released between 1992 and 2000, earned 11,000 equivalent album units in the June 5-11 tracking week, a boost of 24%.

Dave Grohl, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Mavis Staples, Willie Nelson, Coldplay, André 3000, Trent Reznor, St. Vincent, Kamasi Washington, Leon Bridges, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith, Brittany Howard, Bon Iver, Mitski, Leon Bridges, Vampire Weekend, David Byrne, Aaron Nevill are among 600 musicians and comedians who have signed an open letter to US Congress asking federal assistance to independent music venues and promoters across the United States, according to Billboard. The letter urges Congress to “remember we are the nation that gave the world jazz, country, rock & roll, bluegrass, hip hop, metal, blues, and R&B”, adding that “entertainment is America’s largest economic export, with songs written and produced by American artists sung in every place on the globe”. The signees emphasize that if the shutdown lasts six months and there’s no federal assistance, 90% of independent venues will never reopen again.

The likes of Ash, Dizzee Rascal, The Streets, The Lightning Seeds, Gary Numan, Kaiser Chiefs, Tony Hadley, and others will play at the "Live From The Drive-In" - a series of drive-in concerts set to take place across the UK from mid-July until September, iNews. Outdoor spaces in Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Edinburgh, Bristol and beyond will play host. The 300-car gigs have been designed to provide a safe environment - concert-goers will be able to stand outside their vehicles in allocated spaces, or sit in their own fold-out chairs.

A 12-year-old black boy Keedron Bryant whose song 'I Just Wanna Live' about the fears of being a young African American went viral has been signed by Warner Records, Complex reports. The young gospel singer's original Instagram post has attracted over 3m likes and has drawn praise from former President Barack Obama, basketball legend LeBron James, singer Janet Jackson and actress Lupita Nyong'o. Warner Records timed the release to coincide with Juneteenth, which marks the end of centuries of US slavery. The soulful track was written by Keedron's mother Johnnetta Bryant, it is sung a cappella by him, and it includes the lyrics: "I'm a young black man, doing all that I can to stand. Oh, but when I look around, and I see what's being done to my kind".

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce selection panel announced the members of the next Walk Of Fame class, coming from the music world they are: rapper/singer/producer Missy Elliott; jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker (posthumous); female rap pioneers Salt-N-Pepa; pop-rock singer Kelly Clarkson; opera singer Luciano Pavarotti (posthumous); longtime radio deejay Big Boy; mellow-soul band The Chi-Lites; classical singer Sarah Brightman.

Women's music was born, NPR argues, in May of 1969 when Maxine Feldman wrote a song 'Angry Atthis' about the very injustices and indignities that, one month later, would lead to the Stonewall Riots, the uprising credited with kickstarting the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Since then, there were plenty of women, singing about women - Linda Tillery, God-Des & She, Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman - in an effort to make the world fairer place.

When Johnniqua Charles, 27, was detained in front of a strip club for, as she believes, no reason at all, she sang the officer "You about to lose your job", while dancing. Her detaining routine was taped, released on social media, and has inspired several remixes, memes and dance videos. It has since become a chanting regular at protests. Charles told the NBC "It feels so overwhelming to me. It’s just heartwarming to know that my song is being used for something so powerful". But it has also changed her quality of life for the better - Charles' sister, Andrea, created an Instagram account for her and is helping her trademark "You About to Lose Your Job". Charles, who has a 3-year-old son, said that she was struggling with homelessness and addiction before the video went viral, and that she is planning to use the money people have donated to her via GoFundMe to rent an apartment and start her own business.

Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers wrote an honest and nice essay for the NPR about his band's name, inspired by Lady Antebellum's name change, and what a band's name means in general. A pleasant read; here's a snippet: "Our name was a drunken joke that was never intended to be in rotation and reckoned with two-and-a-half decades later, and I sincerely apologize for its stupidity and any negative stereotypes it has propagated. I'm not sure changing it now serves any higher purpose, but I'm certainly open to suggestions. In the meantime, you're welcome to just call us Lady DBT".

Live Nation has set up a plan for concert season 2021 that would see artists taking more risk and financial burden, as Billboard reports. Live Nation wants to reduce artist fees by 20 percent from 2020 levels. If a festival is canceled because of poor ticket sales, the giant promoter wants the artist to get 25 percent of the guarantee (now it's a full guarantee). If an artist pulls out of a fest without good reason, Live Nation wants the artist to pay a penalty of double that guarantee (now, artists owe the promoter nothing in that case).

"American capitalism was built on slavery and the historical bloodlust persists today in the form of Covid-19 health inequalities, gentrification, mass incarceration, violent policing, colonial conquest and worker impoverishment" - Atlanta band Algiers says in an opinion in the Quietus, about monuments being torn down these days in the U.S., and symbolism behind them. "There is, therefore, not an either/or choice between dismantling public symbols of control and pursuing the tangible demands to bring justice for victims; abolish the police; dismantle anti-black political, financial, health and education institutions; and end the miserable condition that exists for Black and other oppressed people on this Earth".

Dame Vera Lynn, the endearingly popular “Forces’ Sweetheart” who serenaded British troops abroad during World War II, has died at 103, BBC reports. During the war and long after, Lynn got crowds singing, smiling and crying with sentimental favorites such as 'We’ll Meet Again', and 'The White Cliffs of Dover'. She hosted a wildly popular BBC radio show during the war called 'Sincerely Yours' in which she sent messages to British troops abroad and performed the songs they requested. The half-hour program came on during the highly coveted slot following the Sunday night news. “Winston Churchill was my opening act”, she once said. The NME emphasizes "the most punk thing she ever did" - in 1985 she played an anti-heroin gig at London’s Crystal Palace Bowl with space-rockers and famed psychedelics fans Hawkwind.

This week UK buskers have returned to the streets, which brought out the issue of the exchange of physical money. World Health Organisation has countered claims that banknotes could transmit Covid-19, but they did however emphasised the importance of hand-washing after handling cash. A busking guide recommends that buskers use “a box with plastic inside for your drops” but stresses the public health benefits of cashless reader and PayPal. Yet James Stephen, a folk busker from Stockport, said that PayPal “has a few more steps in it than opening your wallet and throwing a coin in. People may think, ‘Oh well, bit of a faff that, I’ll just walk past’”.

UK electronic-jazz drummer Moses Boyd and drill rapper Digga D are the most nominated artists for this year’s AIM Independent Music Awards, with three nominations each. Electronic music trailblazers Flying Lotus and Floating Points, as well as Polish pianist Hania Rani and psychedelic R'n'B singer Greentea Peng are vying for two awards each. The most attractive category, Best Independent Album, is filled with interesting releases: Brooke Bentham 'Everyday Nothing', Everything Is Recorded 'Friday Forever', Kidjo Ojua 'The Mixtape', Kim Gordon 'No Home Record', Laura Marling 'Song For Our Daughter', Moses Boyd 'Dark Matter', Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 'Ghosteen', The Ninth Wave 'Infancy', Phoenix Da Icefire & Husky Brown 'Panacea' and Sarathy Korwar 'More Arriving'.

A fun new song 'Pelota' by the psych-trio Khruangbin; 'Dreams' by Hannas Georgas is a simple, almost cold, albeit full-hearted song produced by The National's Aaron Dessner; Braids 'Snow Angel' is elegiac and threatening, a pearl!; J Cole's 'Snow On Tha Bluff' addresses the issue of Black Lives Matter protests (supposedly he's aiming at activist and rapper NoName); Idles' new song 'Grounds' features a big beat and a big riff.

SoundCloud producer DJ Skarface has shared ‘Rage The Jewels’, a mash-up mix that pairs Run The Jewels instrumentals with De La Rocha’s RATM vocals. RTJ's El-P gave his approval to the project on Twitter as he tweeted “oh shit” while sharing a link to Skarface’s SoundCloud mix. Skarface has made a version of ‘Rage The Jewels’ with separated tracks available for free on Bandcamp. A name-your-price download option is also available, with proceeds from the downloads going to the National Lawyers Guild.

Akon has secured $6 billion to build a cryptocurrency-powered city in Senegal, and he’s calling it Akon City. The Senegalese-American artist struck a partnership with the African country’s state-owned tourism company to create a fully sustainable tourist city beginning of the year, and now, Akon has gotten the ball rolling on the city’s development by entering the huge deal with the United States-based engineering and consulting firm KE International. The first phase of the project is focusing on constructing roads, a school, a police station, a power plant, a waste facility, a hospital, and a mall by the end of 2023. The second phase will begin the following year and will focus on courting businesses to run on Akon’s own AKOIN cryptocurrency. By the time it’s completed in 2030, Akon City will also include parks, universities, a stadium, and an industrial complex.

The third episode of Drillosophy - video blog where philosophy meets drill-rap - covers the topic of surveillance. Authors Ciaran and Reveal explain how English philosopher Jeremy Bentham's "panopticon" design can be used to understand systems of control in modern society. They also dissect the lyrics of M1llionz and M Huncho to explore why some UK rappers cover their faces. This episode features drill artists S1, F2 Anti, and RoadWorks ambassador, Demetri Addison.

Ian Fraser 'Lemmy' Kilmister of the iconic Motörhead is the subject of the new biopic as a "vanguard and talisman of the loudest, dirtiest and most liberated rock ’n’ roll band in the world", according to The Hollywood Reporter. The upcoming film, 'Lemmy,' is to be directed by Greg Olliver, who spent three years following Motörhead and Kilmister for the 2010 documentary of the same name. The film will cover Lemmy’s youth in England, his stints as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and a member of Hawkwind, and his legendary 40-year run as the driving force behind Motörhead. Loudwire suggests 13 actors who could play Lemmy (aren't they way to pretty to play him?!?).

Critics really like former Savages' debut: "A sonic poltergeist with sentiment to boot" - Clash Magazine; "Beth’s ability to glide between vulnerability and intimidation is unnerving, and adds more shades of grey to a performer who’s previously operated in black and white" - Guardian; "Lyrically and musically, it vacillates between the corporeal and the ethereal, prudence and excess, softness and severity" - Pitchfork; "The music transforms from sweet and cinematic to harsh and claustrophobic, and Beth’s voice similarly vacillates between acidic and corrosive or lush and full of yearning" - Rolling Stone.