'Mutable Set' by the Californian guitarist and singer Blake Mills is "a hushed, finely tuned album" that "splits the difference between Mills’ two sides—the unassuming singer and the ambient wanderer", Pitchfork says in their review (tagged it "Best new music", grade 8.3). The P says it's not "just another singer-songwriter record. Its arrangements are slippery, and it’s often hard to tell if what you’re hearing is a keyboard, a guitar, a saxophone, or something else entirely. It’s never clear exactly where this album will go next, but there’s no doubt an expert hand is guiding the way".

'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.

Women in hip-hop have been pitted against each other since 1980s, and even as recently as 2018 Cardi B threw a shoe at Nicki Minaj during a red carpet confrontation. Just two years later, however, the mood has changed and this kind of spat is rare and feels undignified, Guardian writes in an article about a change of stance in lady's hip-hop. Now displays of friendship and support, along with in-jokes on social media timelines are much more common. Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Doja Cat, Stefflon Don, and Ms Banks and tens of other female rappers are breaking through by embracing sisterhood and shaking off the prejudices of the past...

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”.

When you’re a passionate music fan in a pandemic, you look for consolation in the songs you love. As always, music is the shelter from the storm. But music is also the storm. The songs you love might promise you a safe refuge, a little peace of mind. But you already know the songs are going to mess you up, ravage your heart, remind you of faces you miss and loud times you’re not having and weird places you’d rather be. Living with music these days can be total agony. Living without it? Merely impossible - Rolling Stone's journalist writes in his essay about how he misses live music these days; and how he dreams live music - terrible live music - every night, and LOVES 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".

"I Break Horses have always made music that lights up the mysteries inside us with giant, emotive soundscapes, music that you could sink deep into or use as transport to some imagined far away place" - Stereogum argues in favor of I Break Horses' new album. 'Warnings', S-Gum writes, "provides a perfect sound for those in-between spaces, nebulous and vibrant but not escapist. While mostly unfailingly beautiful, it has a hint of distortion haunting the edges... 'Warnings' might be more appropriate now than ever, not reacting to the noise of the world but giving us a place to sit and sift through what we’ve known".

The cold sobriety of lockdown has a way of sucking the colour and joy from the jetstream of youthful abandon. Did I really waste my life in the hands of crap rock’n’roll bands? No, I refuse to be pandemoralised. If I’m forced to assess my musical life and loves thus far just because the world pressed pause, I’m going to replay the biggest hooks proudly, be they by Foals or The Farm, by REM or, yes, Razorlight - Mark, My Words brings the light into the time of greyness...

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.

"In a nutshell, I feel the fact that most people live their lives half inside a screen, probably made by a slave, is a very weird thing. I feel the fact that most people have so willingly forfeited control over most of their lives to bunch of self-interested Californian billionaires is a completely insane" - Australian musician Anthony Pateras told the Quietus in an interesting interview about the theme of the latest album by tētēma, his collaborative project with Mike Patton. He elaborates further on: "I feel the cost of social media is not free; it takes a massive toll on the mental health of everyone who uses it, in turn making them not only anxious and depressed, but extremely distracted and self-absorbed. I feel this has resulted in otherwise intelligent human beings doing and saying stupid and cruel shit to each other like always, but just a lot faster and in public. Lastly, when I’ve been very outspoken about this at various points, I've received looks of bewilderment in return, because people say it helps them remain ‘connected’. People were connected before corporations sold our friendships back to us!".

Concerts in video games are more dynamic and immersive than 2D live streams of artists singing to front-facing iPhone cameras - Pitchfork argues in favor of video-game concerts, so they talked to Minecraft festival organizers for some advice. Open Pit is a volunteer-run collective of event organizers who’ve been making virtual festivals in Minecraft since 2018 - Coalchella, Fire Festival, Mine Gala, and Nether Meant. So, why Minecraft - "[it's] is super open—you can do pretty much whatever you want with it. It’s also the best-selling game of all time, so most people either have it or know someone who has it". On the software side - "there’s a lot of custom software that has to be written for the events we throw, but it’s not super difficult to just run your own Minecraft server with some friends". On Fortnite, an event like Travis Scott’s Astronomical has to be run by the developer of Fortnite - "whereas in Minecraft, there’s a lot of flexibility for the community to organize things".

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.

On May 1, Bandcamp waived its revenue shares, directing 100% of revenue to artists in an effort to help musicians affected by COVID-19 and quarantine. That 100% ended up being record $7.1 million. Bandcamp first waived its revenue shares on March 20, which resulted in $4.3 million of sales, what was then the biggest sales day in Bandcamp’s history. The project goes on - on June 5 and July 3, customers can once again ensure that the money they spent on Bandcamp will directly support artists.

Diligent people from The Pudding made an entertaining music historic test, which leads up to a specific point - that music fades from cultural knowledge, pop hits at the fastest rate. Try the test - here.

Drillosophy is an original video-blog combining contemporary music culture, urban sociology and philosophy. In their first episode, they explore perception by applying Plato's Cave, an idea from ancient Ancient Greek philosophy, to UK drill music. It features Brixton drill duo Skengdo & AM, who talk about their lyrics. Watch the episode below.

"When you think of the Stranglers’ most famous songs – from 'Peaches' and 'No More Heroes' to 'Waltzinblack' and 'Golden Brown' – you think first of Greenfield’s keyboards" - Alexis Petridis writes about Dave Greenfield, who died Sunday from coronavirus-related complications at age 71. Petridis defines Strangelrs as "never fashionable to start off with, they weren’t subject to fashion’s vagaries, instead building a huge, devoted cult following born out of being outsiders".

Many DJs juggle nocturnal activities with full-time or part-time work - Mix Magazine says in its article about the new generation of electronic DJs who continue to work at their 5-to-9 jobs and manage to DJ at night. Mix analyzes a few essentials: How can jobs help and hinder success? Is everyone suited to DJing and making music full-time? And if you had the chance to give up the day job, would you?

Country singer Cady Groves has died aged of 30 from “natural causes”, CNN reports. Groves is known for her pop country hits ‘This Little Girl’, 'Love Actually' and 'Forget You'. According to NME, her brothers Casey and Kelly died in 2007 and 2014 respectively, both aged 28 at the time of their deaths.