Super-group Kings of Quarantine, featuring members of Limp Bizkit, 311, Mastodon, Filter, The Used, Veruca Salt, and In Flames, teamed up to perform a socially-distant cover of Jane's Addiction's 'Mountain Song'. The project is in collaboration with the Roadie Relief effort, in hopes to raise awareness for touring industry workers whose jobs have been affected by the pandemic. Buy the song on Bandcamp.

"As part of the popular 33 1/3 series, Eric Wolfson–a dyed-in-the-wool Elvis fan and impressive Elvis historian–dissects, analyzes, and celebrates what many experts consider to be Presley's finest album" - PopMatters writes about new book 'Elvis Presley's From Elvis in Memphis'.

BBC has looked into details of dozens of prosecutions in the UK for drill and rap music lyrics from the last decade. Police often blame drill for fuelling violence, and when it comes to court, it is also increasingly being used as evidence. Defense lawyers say it stops defendants from getting a fair trial, while also limiting rappers' freedom of speech.

Mogwai have shared a beautiful, positive new song ‘Ritchie Sacramento’ dedicated to the late Silver Jews'/Purple Mountains' frontman David Berman and all the musician friends that they’ve lost over the years. The band goes from post-rock to pop-rock on this song, and it's one of the rarer to feature vocals. The track’s video was created by director Sam Wiehl, who “created a whole first person multi level computer game for the song, which then formed the animations and narratives for the video” (watch it below). The song will come out on the band's new album ‘As The Love Continues’, recorded during lockdown but, as Mogwai's frontman Stuart Braithwaite explained NME, it's a "positive" and "warm" record.

YouTuber and professional musician Adam Neely shares a video where he gives his opinion on videos musicians have sent him playing. There's classical music, gypsy-jazz, and rock played on bass, guitar, violin... Fun and pleasure even for a non-musician.

Queen guitarist Brian May has launched perfume Save Me that smells like "the British countryside", as Queen's guitarist points out on his Instagram. The Sun took a smell and says there's "surprisingly refreshing" emphasis on "deliberately earthy overtones - a hint of clean badger fur, some sandalwood and something a bit limey". A 50ml bottle of perfume goes for €235, while a signed bottle goes for €500. Those proceeds will benefit the animal welfare organization Save Me, co-founded by May in 2010.

SOCAN Foundation announced winners of the first-ever Black Canadian Music Awards, which aims to "recognize and celebrate the artistic merit demonstrated by Black music creators (songwriters, composers, producers, etc.) in all genres". The winners are: rapper and singer TOBi; rapper Naya Ali started music as a 2-year old, now she's known for her flamboyant flow; RAAHiiM is a new Canadian R'n'B singer; Hunnah started singing in her church at age 4, now she writes and produces her own music; Dylan Sinclair brought his R'n'B to LA. All the winners each receive a $5,000 prize.

YouTube has launched a global grant program for Black creators on the platform, using capital from its $100 million #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund, Billboard reports. The inaugural class of 132 grant recipients includes 21 music artists from around the world - Brent Faiyaz, BRS Kash, Fireboy DML, Jean Dawson, Jensen McRae, Jerome Farah, Joy Oladokun, KennyHoopla, Mariah the Scientist, MC Carol, Miiesha, Myke Towers, Péricles, Rael, Rexx Life Raj, Sauti Sol, serpentwithfeet, Sho Madjozi, Tkay Maidza, Urias and Yung Baby Tate.

'Trainspotting' director Danny Boyle is to make a six-part TV series about Sex Pistols, based on guitarist Steve Jones's memoir, IndieWire reports. It will star Anson Boon as John Lydon and Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious. Jones's memoir 'Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol' goes beyond his time with the band, beginning with his life in West London. It deals also with the band's struggle with criticism and living up to their image, as well as addiction.

"An essential read" - Music Journalism Insider says about the new book 'Ten Cities: Clubbing in Nairobi, Cairo, Kyiv, Johannesburg, Berlin, Naples, Luanda, Lagos, Bristol, Lisbon, 1960–Present', a big international project about club music in these ten African and European cities. The authors say that "through 21 essays, playlists and photo sequences the book shows the pursuits and practices that assembling around and communing over music generated in the time before COVID-19. It is a retrospective testimony to the spirit of creative communities, a rhythm-analysis mediated by sound and night".

The EU offered the UK visa-free tours by British musicians to EU countries, but the UK government refused it, the liberal London paper Independent reports. A “standard” proposal to exempt performers from the huge cost and bureaucracy for 90 days was turned down, because the government is insisting on denying that to EU artists visiting this country.

For the venues to be reopened, the society needs to reach an effective level of herd immunity, which means vaccinating from 70 percent to 85 percent of the population, dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert said, the New York Times reports. In the case of the US, "this will occur some time in the fall of 2021, so that by the time we get to the early to mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage as well as people in the audience”. Once that happens, theaters with good ventilation and proper air filters might not need to place many restrictions for performances by the fall, including venues capacity, except asking their audience members to wear masks, which he suggested could continue to be a norm for some time.

Nandi Bushell has shared a cover of Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Immigrant Song’ to mark Jimmy Page‘s 77th birthday. The 10-year-old drumming sensation played the solo song by looping her drum, bass and guitar parts, to finish before she would have to start singing; seams Robert Plant's vocals are too much for her, for now...

David Bowie’s friends, collaborators, and some of the musicians he inspired performed a tribute to celebrate his 74th birthday, CoS reports. Trent Reznor performed covers of 'Fantastic Voyage' and 'Fashion', Billy Corgan played 'Space Oddity', Duran Duran covered 'Five Years', The Cult’s Ian Astbury tackled 'Lazarus', Bowie’s friend Gary Oldman sang 'I Can’t Read', Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins, and Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney covered 'Hang On to Yourself'. Other participants included Macy Gray, Adam Lambert, Boy George, Lzzy Hale, Peter Frampton, Perry Farrell, Gary Barlow, Anna Calvi... Guardian looks back on Bowie's legacy five years after his death, quoting writer Dan Fox - “He was the greatest art student of the 20th century. He never stopped learning, never stopped being curious. I think you can use his work as a model: don’t be afraid to admit ‘I don’t know’, and go and find someone who does”.

Marsha Zazula, who founded Megaforce Records with her husband Jon Zazula in 1982 to release early thrash metal albums, has passed away at age 68, Lambgoat reports. Soon after launching, Megaforce became a seminal heavy metal/thrash label after releasing the first two Metallica albums - 'Kill 'Em All' in 1983 and 'Ride the Lightning' in 1984. They also released classic metal albums by Mercyful Fate, Anthrax, Overkill, Testament, Vio-lence, and more, as well as some outside metal like Bad Brains and Meat Puppets. Megaforce went on to release hundreds of records. UPDATE: Metallica's James Hetfield said “Marsha Z is the Metal Matriarch of the East Coast. She was our mother when I had none. She made great sacrifices for Metallica to grow", Blabberbouth reports.

Taylor Swift jumps back to Top of Billboard 200 chart with 'Evermore' earning 56,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 7, Billboard reports. It's the third week in the lead for 'Evermore', and 51st week on top of Billboard for Swift across all eight of her chart-topping albums. That ties Michael Jackson for the fourth-most weeks at No. 1 in the chart’s 65-year history, only behind The Beatles (a record 132 weeks), Elvis Presley (67), and Garth Brooks (52).

Rhye shared a video for his latest single, a mellow funk-soul song 'Come In Closer'. Rhye says the song explores how "as relationships deepen and you invite someone into your world, your life, your home, layers of appreciation, vulnerability, and patience reveal themselves”, while the video shows two little girls having outdoor adventures with a couple of kittens. So, just some simple beauty.

Sarah Neufeld of Arcade Fire has released a new song with her Bell Orchestre project - a post-rock-meats-classical music 'V: Movement'; Ivonne Van Cleef shared 'Paracao Street', ambient lo-fi psychedelia; The Weather Station released a melancholic yet uplifting 'Atlantic'; Virgil Abloh has shared a minimal yet grand collaboration with serpentwithfeet 'Delicate Limbs'; Oxymorrons put a new twist on rap-rock with 'Green Vision'; Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman shared an MF Doom tribute song 'Ask Anyone'; Dreamwell shared some hard-hitting screamo with 'Sayaka'.

There have been at least 30 cases where rap music or videos have been used as evidence in England and Wales, exclusively against Black men, according to research by London School of Economics and Political Science - Huck magazine is warning about the dangerous practice in the UK. Prosecutors are allowed to present lyrics as evidence of someone’s character, the logic being that because you rap about violence or criminality you are a criminal. There also seems to be racial bias to this - no other fictional form is targeted in this way in court. On the other side, the harassment and targeting of Black people is done with little or no accountability.

"Carolyn Franklin has been mostly overlooked, known – if at all – for a few songwriting credits. Her life and career as a songwriter, backing vocalist and solo artist, though cut short, is one of frustrated opportunity, hidden identity and fantastic accomplishment" - Guardian writes about Aretha Franklin's little sister, who could have been at least as equally big because she had left behind "a passionate, soulful body of work that deserves wider attention and recognition". She died in 1988, aged 43.

Rapper Nicki Minaj will pay singer Tracy Chapman $450,000 to settle a copyright dispute over a sample from Chapman's song 'Baby, Can I Hold You Tonight' that Minaj used in her 2018 song 'Sorry', the New York Times reports. The song was based on a sample of the dancehall track 'Sorry' by Jamaican artist Shelly Thunder, and that song, unbeknownst to Minaj, was based on Chapman's 'Baby, Can I Hold You Tonight'. After discovering the connection, Minaj and her record label sought permission to use Chapman's composition, but the singer-songwriter repeatedly refused. Judge sided with the rapper's lawyers, who argued that artists need to be free to sample music while writing and recording, adding that "a ruling uprooting these common practices would limit creativity and stifle innovation within the music industry". Finally, Chapman has accepted Minaj's offer of judgment in the case, and she will receive $450,000 from Minaj. As a result, the two have avoided going to trial.

Ariel Pink has officially been dropped by his longtime label Mexican Summer after the artist attended this week's pro-Trump riots at the U.S. Capitol, Rolling Stone reports. Ariel Pink has previously been accused of both sexist and racist behaviour. In similar news, Jon Schaffer, guitarist and leader of Florida metal band Iced Earth is being sought by the police for storming into the Capitol building during the same pro-Trump riots, Blabbermouth reports.

A lovely article in the New York Times about songs named after real people like Dolly Parton’s 'Jolene', Kinks' 'Lola', Sting's 'Roxanne'... Dave McCabe's 'Valerie' was inspired by Valerie Star, a makeup artist, who dated the singer, but the song was popularised after Amy Winehouse recorded her version. Ms. Star thinks “it was a brilliant song, and I loved everything about it. It described that moment in my life and those trials and tribulations that I had gone through in the most quintessential way". Sharona Alperin was the subject of the Knack’s 1979 hit 'My Sharona' - band's singer Doug Fieger wrote it as a love letter to her and got her thanks to the song. When she decided to leave him it was because of the "my" part of the song - "when we broke up it was time to be my Sharona”.

Metal Sucks presents the four biggest trash-metal bands from China, a genre that has grown roots in the Far East in the last 25 years. The four horsemen are: Ancestor, a Beijing band comparable to early Sepultura; Punisher from Jinzhou add some speed-metal to their trash; Suffocated are veterans of the scene, who already played outside of China and its nearest neighborhood; Tumour Boy come from Beijing and deal with ecology issues. Also, check out Metal Sucks' five most brutal metal bands in China.

Playboy explores the possibilities for artists to earn money from streaming their music or videos online. Some artists managed to reach millions of streams if they obey one basic principle - "You just have to be on your phone all the fucking time" - as 32-year-old New York-based electronic musician Marc Rebillet said. Also, it doesn't take much - Cookiee Kawaii kick-started her career thank's to 'Vibe', an 83-second burst of murky R&B and trap beats. Music Business Worldwide emphasizes the importance of fans' diverting to different ways of listening to music - "full-fledged consumer embrace of streaming helped avert a total collapse of the music business".

"The State of Maryland’s highest court ruled that rap lyrics may be admitted in court as evidence of a defendant’s guilt. This blatantly racist decision is a travesty that sets a dangerous precedent" - veteran attorney Dina LaPolt writes for Variety about a recent case of conviction of one Lawrence Montague partly based on his rap lyrics. LaPolt continues - "great music is more often than not rooted in storytelling, and by imposing criminal consequences for a story told through an artistic medium, the court here threatens to stifle creativity and limit the scope of artistic expression". She also sees racial bias here: "I would invite anyone suggesting that this ruling is not limited to rap music to find an example of a court admitting lyrical evidence of a country singer driving drunk or shooting a cheating spouse".

Felipe Salmon of the Peruvian club duo Dengue Dengue Dengue is the latest guest in Fact magazine's Against The Clock segment where an artist gets 10 minutes to make a song. Salmon here samples Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments made of animal bone and wood, to combine it with synthesizers and really dark and minimal music. Salmon says it usually takes him two to three hours or even a couple of years to make s song.

PopMatters has an extensive article about how American musicians are surviving in a pandemic shutdown which is closing in on a full year. They talked to guitarists Marisa Anderson, Sarah Louise, Bill MacKay, Jackie Venson, and Ryley Walker, to singer-songwriters Jerry David DeCicca and Simon Joyner, the folk songster Jeffrey Lewis, and experimental/free jazz/session cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm about their income, music streaming, indie labels, Bandcamp etc.

"'BRASS' is the rare, mesmerizing album that can throw that kind of gut-punch, land it—and keep moving" - Pitchfork says in a review of the collaborate album by Moor Mother and billy woods (also a member of Armand Hammer). Pitch points out "together they treat history as a mass grave and a playground, heeding its horrors yet finding room for dark laughs and cautious hope". Tom Breihan said "it’s a work of tingling bad-feelings expressionism. To listen to 'BRASS' is to disappear into a certain headspace".

The flute is one of humanity’s oldest ways of producing a beautiful sound, and it is based on the most fundamental sign of life: breath - New York Times writes in their introduction of a selection of the best classical compositions written for the flute.