Fermentophone is part a musical instrument, part a scientific instrument, constructed by artist and professor Joshua Pablo Rosenstock, and played by the release of bubbles from live microbes (bacteria and yeast) fermenting foods and drinks. Rosenstock wanted to make "something unexpected and cool", as he told in Justine Dees blog interview, and, on a deeper level, to suggest that the microbes "may even control our thoughts and feelings in ways that we don’t totally understand".

The majority of the planet is at home now, with plenty of time to do some stuff properly. LA Times wishes it be listening to an album - "with intention, like you were watching a movie or reading a novel". Not just to hear the album, as a soundtrack to some other activity, but to listen deeply, give it full attention - "stoners will probably tell you to consume an edible an hour prior. Scotch is wonderful. (LSD is illegal.) None of it is necessary. Mindfulness is essential".

With big festivals and tours being mostly cancelled, the bands are looking at live streaming as a way to make money. For now, it was mostly for free, but there's a growing need and an opportunity to find a model of income in music streaming. The Guardian writes about Left Bank, a Brooklyn-based magazine that's hosting a virtual music festival via YouTube, running 12 hours a day until 22 March with artists from around the world broadcasting from their bedrooms (like Vaeda Black, pictured above). There is no charge, listeners are encouraged to tip the musicians they enjoy using Venmo. Electronic musician Hana, best known for her collaborations with Grimes, has spent hundreds of hours on Twitch – a live streaming platform favoured by gamers and owned by Amazon – to create an intimate connection with her fans, who donate cash to show their appreciation. A big difference, also an opportunity, is live streaming's intimacy, every fan, and it could be millions of them, feels like they're in the front row.

NPR did a great job - they selected 100 best acts that were going to play at SXSW, of more than 1,500 acts scheduled to perform. Music varies from delicate folk to punishing metal, from Afropop to Latin rock to country to hip-hop and beyond; it's a 100 songs fest in six-hour playlist.

Surprising or not, Bono made a nice song, 'Let Your Love Be Known', dedicated to the people fighting the coronavirus; Quelle Chris & Chris Keys dropped a jazzy underground rap song 'Living Happy' featuring Joseph Chilliams & Cavalier; psychedelic folk band Lord Buffalo released a dark and dramatic 'Dog Head'. Purity Ring deliver a batch of electro-pop with 'Pink Lightning'; Activity are cold, noisy and distant on 'Nude Prince'; Control Top released a dancey rock song 'One Good Day'; well, this is great in a funny way - a country and western band covered Limp Bizkit's 'Rollin''.

Musicians are calling on Spotify to triple its royalty rates following the coronavirus pandemic causing tours cancellations all over the world, the Guardian reports. An online petition posted by musician Evan Greer asked Spotify to triple its rates permanently - it is widely believed that Spotify pays artists about $0.00318 per stream, meaning that a rights holder would receive $3.18 (£2.74) per 1,000 streams.

Biggest online stream today is Luck Reunion’s Til Further Notice at 7 p.m. ET (New York time), with Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Edie Brickell, Margo Price & Jeremy Ivey, Lucinda Williams, Nathaniel Rateliff, Jewel, Micah and Lukas Nelson, Devon Gilfillian, Thomas Csorba, Tami Nelson, Sunny War, Ian Ferguson, Tre Burt, David Ramirez, Katie Pruitt, Nikki Lane, Early James, Paul Cauthen, Randy Houser and more - watch it here. Indigo Girls play at 6 p.m. ET - here. Christine and the Queens are up again at 6 p.m. ET on Instagram. Ben Gibbard is live-streaming solo performances from his home studio every day at 7 p.m. ET, he plays Death Car For Cutie and Postal Service songs and some covers. Automatic, Fat Tony, Froth, Monde UFO and Slaughterhouse start at 8:45 p.m. ET on Instagram. Common is up at 5:30 p.m. ET on Instagram. Bruce Springsteen isn't streaming, yet, but he released his 2009 concert film 'London Calling: Live in Hyde Park' onto streaming platforms for the very first time - here. Brooklyn Vegan and NPR keep a good list of online streams.

Actress Gal Gadot took to Instagram on the sixth day of her self-imposed quarantine, for a star-studded sing-along to John Lennon's 'Imagine'. Gadot enlisted fellow superheroes Natalie Portman (Thor) and Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), as well as Will Ferrell, Amy Adams, Kristen Wiig, Sia and Cara Delevingne and others to sing a line from Lennon's classic. Gadot said she had chosen the song for its "powerful and pure" message of unity during the coronavirus pandemic.

When the coronavirus started people "didn’t talk about it - in Chinese tradition, discussing bad things during the New Year is bad luck" - Liang Yi, singer of the Chinese band Stolen said in a Pitchfork interview. But when things got worse, they all had to stay indoors, and "given that we had nothing to do, we decided to all write songs and think about the next album". He lives in Chengdu and is allowed to go out now, but people in Wuhan still have to stay at home. Yi describes it as "a very good performance city because it has a lot of college students. People in Wuhan are like people in Sichuan in terms of their personalities: They are more open, not like people in Shanghai or other southern parts of China that are more reserved".

A self-described “social experiment”, Rave Reparations is demonstrating the power of small-scale reparations, striving to make it easier, and safer, for black people to attend Los Angeles dance parties, held at secret underground locations across the city. The problem is, as the Guardian reports, LA’s nightlife scene – once home to a host of standout black queer venues has grown increasingly homogeneous, overtaken by “white DJ bros”. Rave Reparations work closely with party promoters to offer discounted tickets to black, brown and queer people (typically 50% off full price), and organize crowdfunded donations for free tickets. The ultimate goal: To be seen, felt, and heard.

Former The World We Knew singer Frank Fanelli has started a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to help those whose livelihoods have been severely impacted by coronavirus – including roadies, sound technicians, booking agents and tour management. Fanelli, who owns CAT Clothing, has released a line of T-shirts labeled ‘Merch Daddy’ and he plans to split the money between anyone with proof that they’ve lost income as a touring crew member due to the coronavirus. The page was down for two days, now it's working again. By Thursday morning $15,160 was raised of $20,000 target.

"Like garage rock or traditionalist country, jazz in the 21st century is retro by default, a bygone sound echoing into the present from a different era. Yet this band charges its decades-old discipline with a distinctly modern perspective. They tap directly into the cacophony of these times and connect it to the tumult that has been percolating since before people were making records" - Stereogum says about 'Who Sent You?', the new album by nu-jazzers Irreversible Entanglements. The US band is fronted by poet Camae Ayewa who "spouts revolutionary rhetoric over harrowing electronic soundscapes, resulting in deeply challenging protest music that prioritizes unfiltered expression over conventional notions of accessibility".

Katy Perry has won an appeal in a copyright case involving damages of $2.8m (£2.3m) over song 'Dark Horse', which had previously been found in favour of rapper Flame, the New York Times reports. In July 2014, Perry was accused of plagiarising the song 'Joyful Noise' by a Christian rapper named Marcus Gray (AKA Flame), for her US No 1 hit 'Dark Horse', which was the second biggest-selling song worldwide that year. The songwriters sued, and in July 2019, a jury sided with Gray, and so Perry, along with five co-defendants including producer Max Martin and rapper Juicy J, were ordered to pay damages, with Perry herself owing $550,000. An appeal has reversed that decision, with the judge, Christina Snyder, setting aside the jury’s verdict saying it was “undisputed” that the eight-note section of 'Dark Horse' in question was “not a particularly unique or rare combination” of notes.

Online retail giant will temporarily cease stocking discretionary items, including vinyl records, to make room on its shelves for more essential items like household staples and medical supplies, Variety reports. Amazon will continue to sell whatever vinyl records are already in stock at their warehouses, once those are sold vinyl-buyers are gonna have to wait. Vinyl sales were up by 19% in 2019, accounting for a total of in $504 million in sales, the highest such number since 1988. Amazon is the largest seller of vinyl in the U.S. with a quarter of the overall market share.

Porridge Radio have a great new album 'Every Day' out, they promoting it today with livestream via YouTube at 9:50 am ET. Yo La Tengo‘s Ira Kaplan is filling in as DJ on WFMU from noon-3 PT. Christine and the Queens is preparing "guests and weird concepts" everyday at 6 pm ET on Instagram. Ben Gibbard is livestreaming solo performances from his home studio everyday at 7 pm ET (listen to his take on 'Green Plastic Trees' below). Miley Cyrus will host another hourlong live stream on Instagram starting at 11:30 am PT. United We Stream is going to stream music from Berlin clubs and artists. Billboard, Brooklyn Vegan and NPR keep a list of online shows.

Bandcamp announced that this Friday (March 20) from midnight PST to midnight PST, they’ll be waiving their revenue share from digital sales and merchandise in an effort to support artists during the coronavirus pandemic (the company typically takes 15% on digital sales and 10% on merchandise). Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond said in a statement: “It may sound simple, but the best way to help artists is with your direct financial support".

American violinists Bonnie Von Duyke and Emer Kinsella have performed the 19th Century hymn 'Nearer My God to Thee', known to many for its use in the film 'Titanic', dressed in lifejackets, in a toilet paper aisle at a California supermarket. Their intention was to bring people hope and a laugh, as well as letting others know they can, as self-employed artists, offer their services remotely.

Sorry took four years to write their debut album '925', trying to distance themselves from their earlier singles that were "more rocky, and that’s not what we want to do”. '925' ended up sounding less as a genre-album, and more like their generation, with honest and vulnerable lyrics like “I want drugs and drugs and drugs and drugs, I want love”. As they told the Guardian, they are lazy, beholden to very little ambition - “We’re just making some music and seeing how it goes”.

Organizers of the Glastonbury have cancelled this year's edition fo the festival after the UK government advised people to avoid mass gatherings, Metro reports. Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar were due to appear end of June at the muddy British fields, but they won't this year. Organisers took the decision to call off the event before 1 April, when festival-goers were expected to pay the remaining balance of their £270 tickets. Fans who had already paid the £50 deposit will be allowed roll over that sum to next year, guaranteeing "the opportunity to buy a ticket for Glastonbury 2021", organisers said. Refunds will also be available for those who want them.

There are two possible ways that music might be beneficial in the workplace: by making us smarter, or by making us feel good - BBC Worklife writes in an analysis of science about music in the workplace. So, does it help us work better? The answer is: it depends - a person’s response to music changes based on many, many factors, such as the type of job or work, the genre of music, their control over their music listening and their personality.

John Legend hosted a virtual concert on Instagram Live (watch it below) in an effort to bring happiness and content in a time of, well, bleakness (Chris Martin started it quite nice). Legend played 'Stay With You', 'Good Morning', 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', 'Beauty and the Beast' (his daughter Luna wanted to hear it), while his wife Chrissy Teigen was sipping some rose wine sitting on a piano. So, a lovely evening in the house of Legend.

"The skillset of Jay Electronica as both an MC and a producer is on full display... 'A Written Testimony' gives us a peek into the immense, singular possibilities of Jay Electronica" - Consequence of Sound writes in a review o New Orleans rapper's debut album (gives it A-). Plenty of Jay-Z on the album - 50-year-old billionaire still rapping with the hunger and poignancy that he did in the ’90s. Pitchfork tagged it Best new music calling it "mystical, distinctive work", coming from a "well of deep faith, he summons rap performances that seem to defy space-time".

Of course there's light at the end of corona-tunnel, and Mark, My Words sees it: "Personally, I’m not dreading the lockdown. I’m lucky that I can do most of my job from the comfort of my own bed mess. I’ve got a novel to finish, a million records to listen to, a virulent online poker habit to feed and Dry Januarys backdated to 2005 to catch up on. I’m actually looking forward to the convenience of watching major bands livestreaming their gigs rather than trudging to an ice cavern in North London to watch them from half a mile away with a 12 quid Coke".

Vulture talked to dozens of artists about what the mass-cancellation of tours will mean to them. Frazey Ford summed it up pretty well: "The U.S. tour isn’t a huge financial loss to us, but we have a big tour in Europe scheduled for May that will be a big loss, especially to my band members, who rely heavily on touring. It’s also a loss of joy. Times are so tenuous already that an evening of music can be healing and bonding".

Kranky made a great meme out of their release, Godspeed You! Black Emperor's cover for 'Lift Your Hands Like Antennas to Heaven', a post-rock classic about, well, end of the world, more or less. It might be coming now with coronavirus. Or maybe not, if we wash our hands properly.

Cherie Hu has made virtual music events directory, a comprehensive, up-to-date resource for anyone seeking guidance on how to stage alternative music events in this moment of significant upheaval for the industry. Slightly smaller, but it deserves a sentence - Boston Globe has put together a list of classical live streams. Similarly, Music Scholarship at a Distance offers daily free lectures at 4 PM EST.

Drake scored his 208th Billboard Hot 100 entry this week, making him the artist with the most US chart hits in history, Billboard reports. The rapper broke the record, previously set by the cast of the TV show Glee, with the track 'Oprah’s Bank Account' by Lil Yachty and DaBaby, which he guests on. It reached No 85 off the back of 10.5m streams. His first US chart entry was 'Best I Ever Had', which debuted at No 92 in May 2009. His 207 chart placements since have been bulked out by frequent guest spots on tracks by artists including Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott, as well as his solo hits.

Enrico Monti, guitarist for Italian death metal band Skulld, played a bit of Slayer's classic 'Raining Blood' from his balcony to spread some devilishly good vibes in the time of government-mandated quarantine. The audience wasn't that big - an elderly woman, looking slightly perplexed.

Coldplay's Chris Martin made a lovely show from his home, where he's closed due to coronavirus, in order to lift up everybody's spirits, which he managed to do actually. He made jokes, played several songs - 'Viva la Vida', 'Clocks', 'Yellow', 'Green Eyes', well, parts of them really, and sent messages regarding the virus. He passed on the torch to John Legend to play the next show, which he agreed to do - Tuesday (March 17) at 1pm Pacific time.

Jason Rainey, longtime guitarist for thrash metal band Sacred Reich, has died at age 53, Blabbermouth reports. Sacred Reich formed in Phoenix in 1985, when the members of the band were teenagers. The band’s sound was a hard, theatrical take on ’80s speed metal that sometimes crossed into hardcore. They released five albums, broke up in 2000, and reunited for occasional touring in 2007.