Music Connection July 2020

Two iconic bands. An unforgettable life.

Philip Upchurch, born on July 19, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois, developed an early connection to music through his father's piano. His musical journey took a significant turn when he started playing the guitar during his teenage years. In 1956, while still in high school, Phil immersed himself in the local music scene, contributing to R&B backing bands such as The Kool Gents. In 1957, right after graduating, he joined The Spaniels and collaborated with Jerry Butler and Dee Clark's band. The latter's theme song, "You Can't Sit Down," recorded in 1960 on the Boyd label, gained unexpected success when released under Phil's name a year later, reaching No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking a pivotal moment in his early career.

Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, is releasing Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 4 in digital, CD and cassette configurations with the digital edition of Season 4, Volume I premiering online today. Season 4, Volume II (featuring all of Volume I plus additional music from the season’s closing episodes) will debut online Friday, July 1.

Legendary Cuban guitarist Compay Segundo was born in 1907; collaborating with the likes of Sindo Garay, Miguel Matamoros and Benny Moré, he emerged as one of the most respected musicians of the pre-revolution era, and in the late '20s invented the armónico, a guitar customized with a double third string to fuse the tonal qualities of the traditional Cuban tres guitar and its Spanish counterpart. Following Fidel Castro's rise to power, Segundo worked as a cigar roller before returning to music during the late '80s; in his early nineties he attracted worldwide attention in 1998 for his contributions to Ry Cooder's wildly successful Buena Vista Social Club album, issuing the solo Calle Salud the following year. Buena Vista Connection was issued in fall 2000. Flores de la Vida followed later that same year; Trova Cubana surfaced in early 2001. The torrent of releases, both new and reissues of classic pre-fame Segundo sessions, continued throughout 2001 with Yo Vengo Aqui, Que Lio Compay Andres and into 2002 with Yo Soy del Monte and Dos Leyendas de Cuba. On July 13 of the following year Compay Segundo died of kidney failure at his home in Havana. ~ Jason Ankeny

Malignant is an upcoming American horror thriller film directed by James Wan from a screenplay by Akela Cooper based on an original story by Wan, Ingrid Bisu, and Cooper.Malignant is scheduled to be released theatrically and on HBO Max in the United States on September 10, 2021, by Warner Bros. Pictures under the New Line Cinema banner.

I Love You So F***ing Much is the upcoming fourth studio album by English indie rock band Glass Animals, scheduled for release on 19 July 2024 through Polydor Records. It was preceded by the single "Creatures in Heaven", released on 3 April 2024. and it will be their first studio release in almost four years since their 2020 album Dreamland.

Expanding the original Limited Edition release to a full double-LP/single-CD set, Unlimited is very much a dog's breakfast – albeit a highly entertaining one – of previously unreleased performances. Suzuki and Mooney take the spotlight on some songs, while on others the key foursome go at it in their usual way. A number of songs are mere snippets, like the vaguely tribal-sounding "Blue Bag," while one tune, the 20-minute "Cutaway," from 1969, is a sprawling pastiche of oddities. (Keep an ear out for the very formal request to keep modulations in frequency with other bandmembers!) Five cuts are listed as part of the band's continuing Ethnological Forgery Series, on which they recreate or interpret a variety of world musics through their own vision. The majority of songs come from 1968-1971 – manna from heaven for those interested in the band's roots. Many cuts show off the varying abilities of the players. Leibezeit plays wind instruments on five separate cuts, while Schmidt is credited with "schizophone" on the Mooney-sung funk-soul of "The Empress and the Ukraine King." Though a few tracks are seemingly here to fill space, a lot of what's present easily stands up on its own, and with the band's legend as well. The opening cut, "Gomorrha," recorded after Suzuki's departure, is quite fine, an understated but still epic piece with lovely keyboards from Schmidt and intoxicating Karoli guitar. On the Suzuki-era cut "I'm Too Leise," Leibezeit's medieval flutes and light percussion add to a half-folk/half-something-else vibe. Mooney gets an interesting moment of glory with "Mother Upduff," a spoken-word tale of tourists in Europe that turns increasingly strange after the encounter with the octopus.

Singer, Songwriter and guitar slinger, Greg Sover, is set to release his newest recording, HIS-STORY, on July 21st on Grounded Soul Records. The ten-song LP features eight blues, roots, and rock-tinged originals and Sover is joined by iconic Band of Gypsies bassist, Billy Cox, on Jimi Hendrix’s seminal “Manic Depression” and rarity, “Remember.” The album was recorded in Sover’s hometown of Philadelphia, co-produced by Sover and Jim Salamone, and includes bass player Kenny Aaronson (Bob Dylan, Rick Derringer, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, Hall & Oates) and drummer/podcast host David Uosikkinen (The Hooters). “It’s all about crossing these boundaries and bringing everyone together, whatever your race, religion or nationality,” Sover says of HIS-STORY.

Deadbeat is the upcoming fifth studio album by Tame Impala, the musical project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. It is scheduled for release on 17 October 2025 by Columbia Records, preceded by the singles "End of Summer", "Loser" and "Dracula".