"When the music’s so loud that you can’t think about anything else, all those niggling troubles just go” - Matt Baty, frontman of the Pig Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs told the Guardian about the psychedelic metal they're playing - “I find solace in really loud music. I don’t meditate – maybe I should – but it feels like I’m achieving a similar state of consciousness". Bassist Johnny Hedley explained - "It’s therapy through noise”. And for the band's name, abbreviated to Pigsx7 by the band themselves, guitarist Sam Grant explains that it functions as “an ego inhibitor. Having a silly name stops you getting ahead of yourself or hungering for success and keeps you focused on making music you believe in”.

A lovely column in the NPR about how sounds are beginning to emerge now that everything has stopped - the traffic, the daily commute, the stores are closed... Birdsong is more noticeable right now because noise pollution levels are down, so we're hearing the world as people heard it decades ago...

Founder of legendary label Trax Records, Larry Sherman, has died of heart failure, with his family announcing that "he was of the Jewish faith and passed away on his holiday Passover", Exclaim reports. Sherman started the Trax imprint in Chicago in 1984 alongside Jesse Saunders, with it going on to become one of the world's most influential dance labels. Trax is also seen as the pioneer of acid house, releasing what's often considered the very first acid house release Phuture's 'Acid Tracks' (1987). Trax Records still exists to this day, run now by Rachel Cain (a.k.a. Screamin Rachael).

Radiohead are streaming previous concerts on YouTube today (5 p.m. New York time, 11 p.m. Paris time, 5. a.m. Friday Hong Kong time)

Dolly Parton‘s weekly livestream series 'Goodnight with Dolly' continues on YouTube with 'Coat of Many Colors' (7 p.m. / 1.a.m. / 7 a.m.)

Oneohtrix Point Never‘s new radio show 'Depressive Danny's Witches Borscht' kicks off with its first episode, 'Demented Ass 'Music' From Outer Space' on Elara.fm (9 p.m. / 3 a.m. / 9 a.m.)

Diplo is doing livestreamed DJ set 'The Thomas Wesley Show' on YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram (10 p.m. / 4 a.m. / 10 a.m.)

The Roots are sharing stuff on YouTube all week

Tomorrow, Friday, April 10

The Tallest Man on Earth is playing 'The Wild Hunt' in full for its 10th anniversary on YouTube (3 p.m. / 9 p.m. / 3 a.m.)

Kvelertak brings Live From Your Living Room, a livestreamed show and Q&A, to Vierlive (3 p.m / 9 p.m. / 3 a.m.)

'Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert' premieres on YouTube (3 p.m. / 9 p.m. / 3 a.m.)

Phoebe Bridgers on Pitchfork’s Instagram (4 p.m. / 10 p.m. / 4 a.m.)

Jehnny Beth of Savages is reading from her new book of erotic short stories, 'Crimes Against Love Manifesto (C.A.L.M.)', every Friday (at 4 p.m. / 10 p.m. / 4 a.m.)

On Saturday April 11, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews perform on At Home with Farm Aid (at 8 p.m. / 2 a.m. / 8 a.m.)

Brooklyn Vegan still keeps up a good list of livestreams.

"Perhaps there is some wisdom in treating all songs, or for that matter, all experiences, with a certain care and reverence, as if encountering these things for the last time" - Nick Cave told his fans on his Red Hand Files blog. Specifically, he was answering fans' questions about the newest Bob Dylan song 'Murder Most Foul' - "I say this not just in the light of the novel coronavirus, rather that it is an eloquent way to lead one’s life and to appreciate the here and now, by savouring it as if it were for the last time. To have a drink with a friend as if it were the last time, to eat with your family as it were the last time, to read to your child as if it were the last time, or indeed, to sit in the kitchen listening to a new Bob Dylan song as if it were the last time. It permeates all that we do with greater meaning, placing us within the present, our uncertain future, temporarily arrested".

Philadelphia rapper Chynna Rogers, best known as Chynna, died on Wednesday, at age 25, Pitchfork reports. Chynna was open about the opiate addiction she struggled with in the wake of her music taking off, addressing her trouble on her 2016 mixtape 'Ninety'. She released her 'in case i die first' EP at the end of last year.

Listeners worldwide are tuning into chiller, more mood-oriented music in the time of the big lockdown, while children’s music has seen the biggest spike in listening, Rolling Stone reports. Spotify has noticed people adding songs that are noticeably more acoustic, less danceable, and have lower energy. Pandora is seeing increases in categories like "cleaning", "wind-down", "focus", and "family". On Deezer, playlists like their “cosy coffeeshop” increased by 486%, “lazy indie” saw a 180% uptick, and the use of “mellow days", which features older rock, soul, disco tracks, rose by 305%. Spotify noted an increase in music geared to help kids sleep, Deezer’s “happy kids” playlist spiked up over 100%, while both Apple and Deezer also saw a significant boost in fitness-related listening.

"The film’s revelatory perspectives on Sun Ra’s work arise not only from the filmmaker’s analytical understanding of it, and the discussions that he films with Sun Ra and other members of the band, but also from his approach to filming music itself, in rehearsal and concert" - The New Yorker writes in a review of 'Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise', a documentary about the afro-futurist collective. The thing is it starts from the music - "scenes of performance, whether taken from archival clips or filmed anew for the documentary at hand, run for a few seconds at a time before being covered on the soundtrack by voice-overs". So, it's music first...

Henry Rollins has begun a new online radio series called 'The Cool Quarantine' with the idea - "We play you songs, I tell you stories, and we do time together", the LA Times reports. The first episode is out now on KCRW - here - and it’s just over four hours long. It includes “live bootlegs of the Cramps recorded by Ian MacKaye, a story about the time Henry and Ian saw Led Zeppelin in 1977 (plus a bootleg recording from that performance), audio from original Joy Division album pressings, stories about the early days of Black Flag and Dischord Records”.

Pitchfork has a great and useful selection of five of the best apps available that allow beginners as well as professionals to make sounds together while physically apart. Endlesss is a new, free iOS app - its basic functionality involves looping drums, bass, and other sounds - good for making techno. SoundStorming - good for sharing new ideas made on guitars quickly. Bandpass for Android is a stripped-down, loop-based version of a digital audio workstation. Bandlab - good fit for musicians who want to try their hand at recording or production without having to download and install any additional software. Apple has launched a 90-day free trial of their $199 Logic Pro X DAW software for the first time ever; it has everything you need to start making music.

Washington Post has a great read about the beauty of walking while listening to music (on your earphones): "In her book 'Wanderlust: A History of Walking', Rebecca Solnit writes that 'walking is a mode of making the world as well as being in it'. What a terrific definition for listening, too. Listening to music requires imagination — and listening to it while walking gives you the rare opportunity to move through three places at once: your mind, the song and your route. Somehow, instead of ripping your psyche to shreds, your brain synchronizes all three worlds effortlessly".

Apple Music is launching a $50 million advance royalty fund for indie labels, to offer them relief in time of coronavirus epidemic, the Rolling Stone reports. Independent labels that earn at least $10,000 in quarterly Apple Music earnings will qualify for the royalty advances. To qualify, the indie labels must have a direct Apple Music distribution deal. "Apple has a deep, decades-long history with music, and we are proud to be in close partnership with the best labels and artists in the world. We want to help” - Apple said in its letter to the indies.

A great text on Pitchfork about why we need to listen to new music, especially now: "The world will keep spinning and culture must move with it, even if we are staid and static in our homes... The choice to listen to new music prioritizes, if for one listen only, the artist over you. It is an emotional risk to live for a moment in the abyss of someone else’s world.... It also appears that we are in the most impressionable era in generations... Don’t let history be recursively defined by a feedback loop. Steer into the skid, pour the fear and dread leaking through your roof into something unfamiliar, because it could be the new artifact that exclusively defines this moment for you".

Warner Records released two flagship albums simultaneously on Friday, March 27th: Dua Lipa's 'Future Nostalgia' and PartyNextDoor's 'PartyMobile', the latter featuring Rihanna’s first new vocal for three years. Warner's COO Tom Corson explained to the Rolling Stone: “Music is very of the moment - it captures a time. To say, ‘Let’s push these releases back a number of months,’ which we did consider, felt very risky from the standpoint that we had momentum and great music that people wanted to hear”. Streaming services were happy with the decision, Corson adds - "There was a real excitement of ‘This is just what we need!’".

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have translated the structure of famous spike protein of the notorious coronavirus into music, The Next Web reports. The sounds all represent different aspects of the spikelike protein, and like all proteins, the spikes are made of combinations of amino acids. Using a new technique called sonification, MIT's scientists assigned each amino acid a unique note in a musical scale, converting the entire protein into a music score. Sound quite classical, slightly disharmonic, and benign... Listen to the 2-hour long composition below.

In the first quarter of this year, gross revenue for the Top 100 tours was a record $840 million, up 10.9% compared to the same period the previous year, while ticket sales rose 4.5% to 9.4 million. Based on that growth, Pollstar projects this year’s box office would have reached $12.2 billion had Q1’s percentage growth remained constant. Pollstar also forecasts the live industry would lose up to $8.9 billion of revenue if the rest of 2020 were to remain dark – a worst-case scenario and certainly not what is expected.

Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli will perform a concert on Easter evening at the historic Duomo Cathedral in Milan, Italy, to be offered as a global live-stream on YouTube, Reuters reports. Bocelli will be accompanied only by cathedral organist Emanuele Vianelli for the occasion. Sacral pieces slated for the set-list include 'Ave Maria' and Mascagni’s 'Sancta Maria'. The performance is titled 'Bocelli: Music for Hope', and it’ll be seen exclusively on Bocelli’s YouTube channel (at 7 p.m. Milan time, 1 p.m. Boston time, 1 a.m. on Monday Manila time).

Instagram Live is truly alive thanks to live battles of rap and R&B stars, with hundreds of thousands of viewers being able to witness hitmaker’s skills in going up against a peer song-for-song while also judging a catalog of work, Variety reports. The rules are as follows: two music-makers trade off tracks that they have credits on - in 90 second samples - then those in the virtual room choose the winner of each round. One of the first beat battles was between producers Swizz Beats - who boasted his Beyonce, Jay-Z and DMX classics, and Timbaland - he showed his catalog rich with Missy Elliot, Madonna and Rihanna. The audience is becoming festival-size big - on Saturday, 270,000 tuned in to see Lil Jon vs. T-Pain battle. Tory Lanez made history on the platform when Drake checked into his 'Quarantine Radio' on Instagram along with Justin Bieber, Megan The Stallion, Chris Brown and more when more than 300,000 viewers tuned in - breaking a record previously held by Taylor Swift.

he Quietus made a selection of the best psychedelic and noise rock for the month of April, and two albums stand out from the already good bunch. The first one is Human Impact's self-titled debut, an industrial noise record made by the members of Unsane, Swans and Cop Shoot Cop. Apart from the name of the month award, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs win the doom-stoner-psych-rock album of the month award.

American folk singer John Prine has died at 73 following complications with the COVID-19 coronavirus, NPR reports. Prine worked as a mailman in Chicago in the 1960s when he began singing at open mic nights. His first review came courtesy of the legendary Roger Ebert, who happened to catch a show of his at the folk club the Fifth Peg. Prine's self-titled debut came out in 1971 on Atlantic Records after he was championed by actor and musician Kris Kristofferson, and his last album 'The Tree of Forgiveness' came out in 2018. In 2010, he was honored with a tribute album that featured artists like My Morning Jacket, the Avett Brothers, Conor Oberst, Drive-By Truckers, and Bon Iver covering his songs. He had a considerable following from musicians, including Roger Waters, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism” - Dylan once said - “midwestern mind-trips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs”. Tennessean published a big biography of the singer, and the NPR has a great essay about him. Watch his great performance at Tiny Desk below, and listen to his after-I'm-dead song he wrote to himself here.

British pop singer Charli XCX is creating her new album 'How I'm Feeling Now' in isolation using only the tools she has at home to create all the music, the artwork, and the videos. She also invited her fans on Twitter to collaborate on the album - she will be posting demos, a cappellas, and her fans can send her beats or references. The singer says that, for her, "staying positive goes hand-in-hand with being creative, and so that's why I've decided that I'm going to use this isolation time to make a brand new album from scratch". Charli XCX aims to be done quickly - release date for the album is May 15. She already dropped the beginning of what will be her new song 'Forever'.

Hal Willner, a music producer for Marianne Faithfull, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, and Lucinda Williams, has died of complications related to the coronavirus, at age 64, CNN reports. He had also been involved with Saturday Night live, as the man behind the music skits, since 1980. But he remains perhaps best or most fondly remembered for the full-length salutes he helmed on borderless tribute albums to artists like Thelonious Monk and Kurt Weill, and the music of classic Disney films. New York Times described Willner as an author of "mixtapes of a city’s imagination".

Jesse Tabish wrote 'We Wait', his new song for his project Other Lives as a tribute to his old friend Tommy, who was shot and killed at the age of 25, Jennifer, Tommy's wife, had hired his murderer; Katie Harkin has played with Sleater-Kinney, Wild Beasts, Courtney Barnett’s band, with her new single 'Dail it In' going in a different direction - moody and atmospheric; Justin Vernon debuted brand new Bon Iver song 'Things Behind Things Behind Things' during Bernie Sanders stream, an old-school Bon Iver thing; Desire's 'Escape' comes from their first new album in 11 years; The Strokes are changing their sound - with 'Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus' they go into synth-pop territory; O'Brother released their new slow-burner 'Killing Spree' produced by Manchester Orchestra’s core duo of Andy Hull and Robert McDowell; a great video for 'Don't Slack' with Justin Timberlake and Anderson .Paak.

Since the outbreak, the UK government has been meeting with Britain's supermarket bosses to align on communication strategies that can minimise disruptive or irresponsible shopper behaviour, according to Wired. Music is one of a host of tricks supermarkets are using to try and encourage shoppers to maintain social distancing, and not to panic buy. Some surprising turns - Britney Spear's ‘Toxic’ has been struck off, The Bee Gees’ ‘Stayin’ Alive’ was also flagged as inappropriate, Lewis Capaldi isn’t getting much air time anymore as curators avoid ballads and downbeat tracks. Music policies, in general, have been made even more stringent to maintain a positive, if restrained, atmosphere.

Guardian's Mark Beaumont shared some advice on how to make a good live stream. First, there are some "dos": finish your songs (unlike Chris Martin who slaughtered his nice songs to just a few seconds of duration); put on a show; have an enthusiastic spouse (like Nicole Kidman, and unlike Chrissy Teigen); think big (like Willie Nelson who seriously upped the game with his ’Til Further Notice). There are, of course, some "don'ts": use Facebook (they cut Frant Turner's show for “violating community standards”); hold your own camera (Bono mistake); let quality control slip (like with John Lennon's 'Imagine' rendition); give up now.

Lady Gaga is to curate 'One World: Together at Home', a live-streamed and televised benefit concert with some of the biggest stars performing in support of the World Health Organization's Covid-19 solidarity response fund and in celebration of health workers around the world, CNBC reports. The lineup includes Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, Lizzo, J Balvin, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Alanis Morissette, Burna Boy, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Elton John, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, and Lang Lang. American talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert will host the event, which broadcasts live across the US television networks ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as being streamed online - on Alibaba, Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, LiveXLive, Tencent, Tencent Music Entertainment Group, TIDAL, TuneIn, Twitch, Twitter, Yahoo, and YouTube. It's on April 18 (at 8 p.m. New York time, 2 a.m. at Sunday 19 Geneva time, 8 a.m. Wuhan time)

Prog-metallers Baroness are keeping up the spirits performing together while each of the members is alone in quarantine - they made a video of each member playing 'Tourniquet' from their own homes. The message of it is "no matter what situation we face, we are still able to enjoy friendship, family and community through something as simple as a song. Isolated but never alone". Similarly, members of Testament, Anthrax and Suicidal Tendencies have recorded-in-isolation video cover of 'YYZ' by Rush, while Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong released a cover of Prince-written Bangles hit 'Manic Monday', with the help of Bangles' own Susanna Hoffs.

Judge John A. Kronstadt dismissed the class action lawsuit several artists filed against Universal Music Group because of the big Universal vault fire from 2008 that damaged at least 500,000 high-quality master recordings, Rolling Stone reports. Judge Kronstadt’s decision came after four of the five plaintiffs - Hole, Soundgarden, Steve Earle, and the Tupac Shakur estate - ended up dropping out of the suit. The case rested entirely on the remaining plaintiff: Tom Petty’s ex-wife Jane. Judge Kronstadt finally “dismissed the argument that UMG was obligated to pay Petty a portion of the recovery settlement, which the plaintiff unsuccessfully tried to characterize as a ‘license’ that ought to pay out royalties”. The judge also rejected a bailment argument that Universal failed to care for a valuable in its possession because Universal - and not Petty - actually owned the master tapes. The negligence portion of the suit was thrown out due to Petty’s standing contract with Universal, which never legally specified that Petty would be entitled to revenue from insurance claims.

Due to the rise of COVID-19, in-person songwriting sessions have been largely brought to a halt, but still, people are making songs, over Zoom or FaceTime or Google Hangouts. Not everybody likes it, some miss direct human-to-human interaction, there are technical difficulties (glitches, delays in sound transfer etc.), but it's a new normal now. Rolling Stone, however, points out one important thing - everyone can collaborate with anybody, no matter where they are. "It evens the playing field - anyone can be anywhere" - as Luke Laird, Kacey Musgraves, and Eric Church songwriter said.

Adult-emo come-backers American Football are headlining a virtual festival Nether Meant in video-game Minecraft on Saturday, April 11 (at 6 p.m. New York time, midnight Berlin time, 7 a.m. on Sunday Tokyo time). The fest takes place in a fictional space called Elsewither, which is based on the Brooklyn venue Elsewhere, NME reports. American Football are joined by Anamanaguchi, Baths, and HANA. AM's Mike Kinsella said “I’m looking forward to (finally) being able to prove to my 7-year-old son that I do, indeed, have a job”. People can watch within the game, or on Twitch. They’re also selling VIP passes to the concert, which offers “special VIP areas in-game” and in-game merch. Proceeds from the VIP passes will go to Good360’s COVID–19 relief efforts.