Lego released a streaming-only album 'White Noise' which was made by the Lego pieces being poured out of tubs, sifted through and clicked together. Lego’s “head of creative” Primus Manokaran describes the streaming-only album as “a collection of soundscapes” designed to promote relaxation and mindfulness. Manokaran told Guardian that producing the album was “like composing with 10,000 tiny instruments”.

Boston journalist Larry Katz has digitized his collection of 1,000+ interviews he made in three decades with musicians such as David Bowie, Prince, Bob Marley, Alanis Morissette, Mariah Carey, and, obviously, hundreds of others. Find the amazing collection here.

In Australia, the road to recovery for live music is happening six to nine months ahead of the world, promoters say, according to Rolling Stone. Clubs are pumping in Brisbane, where venue capacities have been entirely lifted. Artists like Courtney Barnett, Keith Urban, Guns N' Roses and others are announcing tours on a daily basis. Festivals have resumed with all-local lineups, venue capacities are slowly lifting, and dancing is now permitted. By late April, Australia recorded 910 deaths due to Covid, with fewer than 30,000 confirmed cases among its population of 25 million. Community transmissions have been close to zero for months. Visitors aren't really welcome yet - a 2-week quarantine in a hotel room is compulsory.

"‘If I Could Make It Go Quiet’ has all the qualities of a blockbuster pop record - incessant hooks, A-list producer credits" - DIY Magazine writes about the pop-rock debut album by the Norwegian singer. Dawn Richard comes from the opposite side of pop music's spectrum, with critics really appreciating her R'n'B/house: "The beats are decadent, but so too are the liberties she takes as an independent artist beholden to nothing but her own satisfaction" - Pitchfork.

Tom Morello, DIIV, Talib Kweli, and 180 other musicians signed an open letter calling on Spotify to make a public commitment never to utilize, license, sell, or monetize a patent for technology that could monitor and record users’ speech and background noise to help curate and recommend music, Pitchfork reports. “Spotify claims that the technology can detect, among other things, ‘emotional state, gender, age, or accent’ to recommend music” the letter reads, outlining the five major concerns that the coalition has regarding the technology: “emotional manipulation,” discrimination, privacy violations, data security, and the exacerbation of inequality in the music industry.

Bobi Wine, the "ghetto president" of Uganda, is a singer, actor, and, now, a politician, whose music has inspired his nation with dreams of a better future. Wine's political career has turned his music into a crime, and his supporters into Museveni's (Uganda's sitting president) targets. Yet, even in the face of a brutal regime, Bobi Wine's music is still the most dangerous weapon in Uganda - High Snobiety writes presenting the rebel, and talks to him.

Cinephiles Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney, who recently released a collaborative album 'Superwolves', made a selection of the best music films for Vice. The boys chose 'Gene Vincent: The Rock And Roll Singer' (1970) - "a tough watch, but a revealing study of a rare talent", 'Cisco Pike' (1972) - "music-infused crime film has earned a sizeable cult following", 'Oulaya’s Wedding' (2017)  - "astonishingly familiar feelings and ripping tunes", 'Payday' (1973) - "down and dirty character study of a country star indulging every vice under the sun as he hurtles towards annihilation", 'The Decline Of Western Civilization' (1981) - "a documentary about energy that's so loaded with power that it will never die", and other films.

YouTube generated $6.005 billion from advertising in the three months to end of March this year, which is up by nearly $2 billion, or by 49%, on the $4.038 billion YouTube generated in the same period of 2020, Music Business Worldwide reports on staggering numbers by the streaming platform. Compared to 2019 the numbers are even more impressive - in Q1 2019 YouTube had $3.025 billion in revenues. If YouTube can maintain that +49% growth across the course of 2021, it will turn over more than $29 billion this year. The number MBW isn't giving is how much of that $6 billion YouTube made during the three first months of the year is going to artists.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are selling the publishing rights of their catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Fund for upwards of $140 million, Variety reports. The transaction marks the latest catalog sale from a major legacy artist and one of the highest profile acquisitions to date for Merck Mercuriadis’ fund.

Spotify's former chief economist Will Page published a new study Twitch's Rockonomics which claims that artists make roughly 10 times more on Twitch than streaming providers. However, Twitch is very specific, and very different from Spotify - artists use Twitch to livestream content to their fans, charging monthly subscriptions (for $5, $10, or $25), earn digital tokens called Bits, or generate ad revenue. In general, Twitch aims super-fans willing to pay more for artists they like...

Nine-year-old DJ Michelle from The United Arab Emirates has become the youngest ever entrant to the DMC World Portablist DJ Championships, the DJ Mag reports. The annual DJ competition began in 1985, and it showcases the world’s DJ Scratch skills on portable turntables and vinyl records. Competitions are taking place from April through December.

Metal band from California, Dig The Grave bought time of members of Mastodon, Anthrax, Lamb Of God, Alexisonfire, Sepultura, Shadows Fall and some others to be in their latest video 'ISO'. Dig The Grave lacked funds, so they used CAMEO to buy just seconds of metal master's time for a simple yet memorable video.

American bands are on a tour-announcement spree, including the almost-forgotten The Monkees. The band's two surviving members, Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz have announced a Farewell Tour with dates across the US this fall, Brooklyn Vegan reports. The shows will featuring a "magical night of music: all the hits, deep cuts and fan favorites".

Drum-playing, motorcycle-riding grandmother Dorothea Taylor has gone viral on TikTok with her simple video of “How to Play Doubles”, Consequence reports. Quick lesson on “doubles” by the affectionately named "The Godmother of Drumming” has surpassed 20 million views in less than a week. The nice lady has previously earned 13 million views on YouTube for a drum cover of Disturbed’s 'Down with the Sickness' last year.

Indie pop bands Blossoms and The Lathums played Liverpool's Sefton Park in Liverpool Sunday evening in what was the UK's first live music gig in more than a year, NME reports. The 5,000 fans were required to take a supervised COVID test before arrival, with entry only permitted once a negative test had been received. Once inside, fans did not need to wear masks, socially distance, or stick to the rule of six, and could also enjoy bars and food stalls. Fans will need to take another lateral flow test in five days time to see the event’s impact on spreading the virus.

Moneybagg Yo’s album 'A Gangsta’s Pain' has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 110,000 equivalent album units, Billboard reports. They mostly derived from streaming - 106,000 were earned from SEA units, while 4,000 came from album sales, and less than 1,000 from TEA units. 'A Gangsta’s Pain' marks Moneybagg’s 11th time charting, with this album being his fifth top 10 charting set.

“Because of the way that I feel that the world sees me, I haven’t felt really desired. But that’s really my whole life, though, so I don’t know if it’s anything to do with fame” - Billie Eilish says in a Vogue interview, where she explains her body-image transition from a girl to a woman. She also discusses the issue of nudity - "Suddenly you’re a hypocrite if you want to show your skin, and you’re easy and you’re a slut and you’re a whore. If I am, then I’m proud. Me and all the girls are hoes, and f**k it, y’know? Let’s turn it around and be empowered in that. Showing your body and showing your skin – or not – should not take any respect away from you”. She tries to understand why men grope women: "I really think the bottom line is, men are very weak. I think it’s just so easy for them to lose it".

“I think having hope for the future is a default setting that we have. We choose to be in that energy that wants to succeed" - French prog-metal quartet Gojira say to Guardian about their newest album 'Fortitude', which explores the climate crisis. "We were confronted by nature hurting all the time, and nature hurting hurts you” - says vocalist and guitarist Joe Duplantier, who grew up in a French coastal town with his brother Mario, the drummer in Gojira. They deal with recent issues on their new album, such as deforestation on their single 'Amazonia' - “The greatest miracle is burning to the ground”, as they sing.

Loudwire reports about a slightly bizarre case of late drummer Brentnol McPherson who was placed behind a drum set at his own funeral. Guyana-born, Canada-based drummer spent his life drumming with Toots & the Maytals, Johnny Nash, Jimmy Reid, Brass Traxx with Deborah Cox and many more, and for his "last performance" he was posed behind a sapphire blue drum set, surrounded by elaborate floral arrangements...

Sir Tom Jones' new album 'Surrounded By Time' has debuted at the top of the UK album chart, making him the oldest man at the chart's top ever. Previously, the title has been held by Bob Dylan, who topped the chart last June aged 79 with 'Rough and Rowdy Ways'. The late Dame Vera Lynn holds the overall record after her 2009 greatest hits collection went to number one when she was 92. 'Surrounded By Time' finds Jones re-interpreting some old favourites, including Terry Callier's 'Lazarus Man'.

Sao Paulo trio DEAFKIDS are the latest guests in Fact Magazine's Against the Clock, where an artist has 10 minutes to produce a song. The model proves a perfect fit for the psych-noise industrial experimentalists, since their music often comes to life in a spontaneous way. Watching music creation rarely gets this close!

'Game of Thrones' actress Esmé Bianco has sued singer Marilyn Manson, claiming he coerced her with "drugs, force, and threats of force", CNN reports. The plaintiff alleges sexual assault and battery, also, the suit alleges Manson and his manager Tony Ciulla broke trafficking laws by luring her from London to the US with empty promises of work. Bianco is among a handful of women who spoke out against Manson, however, her court filing on Friday marks the first legal action over such allegations against Manson. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department started investigating allegations against Manson - real name Brain Warner - in February.

'Punk the Capital: Building a Sound Movement' is the first documentary to tell the story of Washington D.C.’s influential punk and DIY movement from the turn of the 1970s to the 1980s. The 88-minute documentary features some of the biggest names from the D.C. scene, such as H.R. from the Bad Brains, Ian MacKaye from Minor Threat and Fugazi, Henry Rollins from the Black Flag, Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys, and others, Consequence reports. It comes out May 14.

Will Mecum, founding guitarist of long-running stoner metal outfit Karma to Burn, has died, Metal Sucks reports. Will formed Karma to Burn with bassist Rich Mullins and drummer Nathan Limbaugh in 1994 in Morgantown WV, to release six albums with the band.

“Because everything’s so cancel-culture, woke bullshit nowadays, you could never have the punk explosion nowadays... We’re lucky it happened when it did, because it’ll never happen again. You won’t have any of those kinds of bands ever again. Everyone’s so uptight and P.C., it’s just like, ‘OK, whatever'” - Glenn Danzig says in a Rolling Stone interview about his beginnings with the band the Misfits in the late ’70s. He explained: “Part of [my songwriting approach was] like, ‘F**k everybody. F**k you, f**k you, f**k you, f**k the world.’ And that was pretty much the attitude. It was just like, ‘F**k your system, f**k all this bullshit.’ It was something else. I don’t think people will ever see anything like it again. There won’t be any new bands coming out like that. Now, they will immediately get canceled”.

Most of the music festivals in the UK still due to take place this year could be scrapped without the safety net of government-backed cancellation insurance, the Association of Independent Festivals has warned. A quarter of UK festivals have already been called off, but 76% of the rest need "urgent intervention" from the government to save the season, BBC reports. Festivals contribute £1.76bn to the UK economy and support 85,000 jobs.

The organisers of the Grammy Awards have scrapped their secret and anonymous voting committees following allegations of rigging, favouritism and racism, according to the New York Times. The Recording Academy voting members - which run into thousands - would instead select next year's nominations and winners. The Grammys voting procedure had been notoriously complex, with committees made up of 15-30 "highly-skilled music peers" having the final say in 72 categories. This meant they could overrule the votes of rank-and-file members. The Academy said it was also reducing the number of categories in which voters may vote, and adding two new award categories - Best Global Music Performance and Best Música Urbana Album.

Iranian metalcore band Out of Nowhere made a selection of 10 best Middle Eastern metal bands (or, we can call it Near East, depending, probably, on where we are). So, the best in metal from the vast region are:

Calibre - melodic metal core, Iran

Chopstick Suicide - mathcore, Turkey

Coast of Arms - metalcore, UAE/Qatar

Creative Waste - grindcore, Saudi Arabia

Kimaera - doom/death, Lebanon

Mortem Atra - melodic doom / death metal, Cyprus

New Carnis - death metal, Iran

Phenomy - thrash metal, Lebanon

Scarab - death metal, Egypt

Smouldering in Forgotten - death/black, Bahrain

‘I’m Going to Break Your Heart’ is a documentary about singer-songwriters Raine Maida (of the group Our Lady Peace) and Chantal Kreviazuk, who comprise the duo Moon Vs Sun, who are trying to save their marriage by making music together, in front of the camera. Variety likes the marriage-as-a-band premise of the docu: "The two escape from L.A. for a songwriting retreat on the French island of Saint Pierre, only to be constantly rubbing each other the wrong way in the collaborative process. That Maida and Kreviazuk are also husband and wife does lend some extra stakes when they battle it out as co-writers: This might be the first marital-drama documentary that has, at its crux, irreconcilable differences over a pre-chorus".

The UK is testing the relaxation of Covid rules with a trial festival this weekend in Liverpool, the Evening Standard reports. Fatboy Slim and Sven Väth will headline The First Dance at The Circus nightclub, which sold out its 6,000 tickets quickly - the first time any such event has been allowed for over a year. Clubbers will not be required to social distance or wear face coverings but will have to take a lateral flow test before entering the venue. The First Dance is part of the Events Research Programme (ERP), which will provide data on how events holding anywhere between hundreds and tens of thousands of people could safely reopen later this year.