Anderson 'Paak's 'Lockdown' deals with protests, the long history of racism and unjust police killings; Kaleida announced her new album with a mighty pop single 'Other Side'; R'n'B singer Orion Sun suffered violence from the police, but responded gently with 'Mama's Baby', a victory!; Norwegian pop-singer Annie has a new synth pearl 'American Cars', cold and pretty; 'Epistrophy' comes from one of Thelonious Monk's best performances - from a high school in Palo Alto, CA in 1968, recorded by the school's janitor; acoustic version of 'Heatwave' by Mereba is tender and strong; Tee Grizzley goes fast and furious on 'Lions & Eagles', with Meek Mill borrowing a verse; 'Fight On' by the Harlem Gospel Travelers is a groovy gospel song; Derrick Hodge's 'Heartbeats' is like a jazz flying carpet; Misery Signals combine post hardcore and post-rock on 'River King'.

'So You Won’t Forget' is a new Khruangbin song from their forthcoming album 'Mordechai', slightly less world music, slightly more funk, a summer breeze song; Compton rapper Problem's 'Janet Freestyle' is a tribute to his friend Nipsey Hussle, it samples Janet Jackson, and features jazz musician/Kendrick Lamar collaborator Terrace Martin; Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Ra Diaz covered Billie Eilish's 'Bad Guy' - that would have happened had her brother been a metalhead; metalcore outfit Misery Signals play tense and dense on 'The Tempest'; American Trappist go psych-rocky on 'Losing My Grip'; Slowthai is back with yet another new song, 'BB (BodyBag)', he's still pretty much angry; Apollo Brown & Che’ Noir feature Black Thought on soul-heavy 'Hustle Don’t Give'; dark-pop newcomer Daine sounds like a polished Billie Eilish on her debut single 'Picking Flowers'.