Madlib is joined by Four Tet on the uplifting track 'Hopprock'; a sad story - after Justin Townes Earle died last year, his father Steve Earle recorded an album of his son's songs, and one of his own, 'Last Words', about their last conversation they had the night the younger Americana singer-songwriter died of an accidental overdose; emo-hardcore band Holy Figures released an EP about drugs, with songs named after women, melodic and powerful 'Lucille' stands out among them; Open Mike Eagle recorded a freestyle after hearing about MF Doom's passing, titled simply 'for DOOM'.

Grayceon play hard-to-define-easy-to-listen-to music on 'Diablo Wind', let's just call it psych-folk post-metal; 'Bloodrush' is an intense electro-rap song with Andrew Broder, Denzel Curry, Dua Saleh, & Haleek Maul on board; Weather Station make a u-turn from folk - 'Robber' is jazzy alter-pop; James Blake releases 'Before', a cold and dancey new song, with haunting strings; an old Elton John song, 'Regimental Sgt. Zippo', very Beatles-sounding, is out now; members of Napalm Death, Converge, Megadeth, and Nasum reactivated the Blood From The Soul project - 'Debris of Dreams'; Ahya Simone takes a harpist angle to R'n'B with 'Frostbite'; new pop-folk band Thunder Dreamer present themselves with 'Of a Million'; Weird Al shares his first non-comedy song, a Portugal. The Man collaboration 'Who's Gonna Stop Me'; Bad Religion release 'What Are We Standing For' in solidarity with athletes taking a knee; Kristeen Young has taken her 2003 David Bowie collaboration 'Savior' and reimagined it as new track 'American Landfill', an unusual song with an unusual video; horn-player CARM shares a Justin Vernon pop-classical collaboration 'Land'; Americana lady Iris DeMent had a lot to say about the world today, so she made 'Going Down To Sing In Texas'; Open Mike Eagle delivers some clever punches on 'Death Parade'.

Pine Barons released a catchy indie rock 'Sputter'; RZA and Ghostface Killah are in classic Wu-Tang mood with 'Fighting for Equality'; some big careers started off with covers - new hardcore strength Gulch might be on that same path with 'Sin in my Heart'; Open Mike Eagle went groovy-jazzy in 'Bucciarati'; Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle released melodic doom goth 'Ancestral Recall'; Mina Tindle, Kate Stables, Emma Broughton, Melissa Laveaux re-sang Nina Simone's '22nd Century'; Carcass are back with a metal banger 'The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue', their first new song in 7 years.

Norwegian pop singer Annie has shared drum'n'bass-y club banger 'The Bomb'; Open Mike Eagle says he made 'Neighborhood Protection Spell (Lana Del Biden Nem)' as a "spell to ward off subtle social attacks at Blackness”; LCD Soundsystem’s Tyler Pope built his new EP around a single drum pattern, restricting his hardware to one drum machine and one keyboard as a means of finding inspiration from limitations, 'Nur weil ich kann' is an example of that; Tobi is a Gogol Bordello and Dälek collaborator, with her 'Can't Control Me' going more to the clubby side; even Rolling Stones have a new song - bluesy-rock 'Scarlet' features Jimmy Page and late bass great Rick Grech, it was recorded in 1974 as Led Zeppelin were leaving the same studio; Avalanches have released two new songs - 'Wherever You Go' with contributions by Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry, Mick Jones of The Clash, and CLYPSO, while 'Reflecting Light' includes a cameo from Sananda Maitreya and a Vashti Bunyan sample.

American rapper and comedian Open Mike Eagle is teaming with comedian Baron Vaughn for a new Comedy Central variety show The New Negroes (it airs Friday, April 19th at 11:00 p.m. ET). The weekly series will feature multiple stand-up sets and close with a new original song and music video by OME in collaboration with […]