“There was a 360 portal and you could go step on stage with them, and you could pick your camera angles” - Christian Guirnalda, director of Verizon’s 5G Labs, told Rolling Stone about the recent Black Pumas show, recorded at company's Los Angeles 5G Labs. Producers filmed in 4K video on a camera connected to Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network, which can create a “visually lossless” experience that “eliminates the side effects of image compression that’s visible to the naked eye”. There was no postproduction, either - all the visuals were rendered in real time. Rolling Stone believes this is the future, even after the live shows return.

Texan blues-soul band Black Pumas played a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR - it was an intimate setting as usual, and powerful nevertheless. Singer Eric Burton "digs deep and... he's burning with old-school soul heartbreak", Adrian Quesada's guitar "is the perfect call-and-response foil, while the entire band - complete with two powerful back-up singers - calls to mind soul classics, but with a groovy new sheen".

Black Pumas released a version of 'Confines' performed with a string quartet; Billie Eilish released her new song 'My Future', a bluesy pop with a very studio Ghibli video; Mastodon's dramatic 'Fallen Torches' features Scott Kelly of Neurosis; Jorja Smith shared an instant soul classic 'By Any Means'; Toni Cornell, daughter of Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, did a lovely thing covering 'Black' by Pearl Jam; Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan shared 'Roach Hiss', a noise-metal song featuring Converge drummer Ben Koller; pop folk singer Matt Berry announced his new album with single 'Take a Bow'; Jyoti dropped a warm jazz-soul hybrid 'Mama, You Can Bet'.

Norah Jones said she had heard Guns N' Roses' 'Patience', it made her feel good, so she covered it; John Legend in his new song 'Actions' says, more or less, he should practice what he preaches, on a trivia note, it samples 'The Edge' by David McCallum, which is the same track Dr. Dre sampled on his 2000 hit 'The Next Episode'; Eyes Without A Face is made of musicians that used to play metal and pop, together they make - goth synth, check them out on 'Cold Moon'; M.I.A. has released ‘OHMNI 202091’, her first new song in three years, on the 15th anniversary of her debut album ‘Arular’; 'Resiliencia' by El Búho and DJ Raff is South American traditional music plus electronica, a hommage to Chilean activism; 'March 13' by Ellis is a big and gentle piano song; soul band Black Pumas have turned Detroit proto-punk legends Death’s 'Politicians In My Eyes' into a smooth soul song; Danish singer-songwriter Oh Land sings about how she misses normal on her new song 'I Miss One Week Ago', Run The Jewels have released new track ‘The Yankee and The Brave’, an ear-attack.

Black Pumas were voted Best New Band at the 2019 Austin Music Awards, and "the songs they’ve assembled on their self-titled debut revivify the sound and feel of 70s soul in a surprisingly fresh way", Guardian writes. They have a debut album (out June 20), "so perfectly realised by the standards they’ve set themselves that […]