Icarus Phoenix: Boiled Peanuts, misheard

Singer-songwriter Drew Danburry tackles the thorny subject of failing to communicate, either on purpose or by chance on Boiled Peanuts, misheard, the new single he wrote for his band Icarus Phoenix. Starting of each verse with either E minor or A minor the sadness is almost palpable, although there also some anger bubbling under the surface.

He feels like he is running around in circles - "Every conversation becomes the same // Everything I knew has been replaced // So many tongues are choking me". A beautiful melody can be used as a vessel for something that really hurts. Maybe that is why he reached out to fellow songwriter Alex Coleman (Chasing Mice) to lend a hand with the backing vocals.

Morgendust: King of Lonely Souls

Dutch '80s inspired quintet Morgendust are back with a slightly rougher sound. Founding members Marco de Haan (vocals, guitars, drums) and Iwan Blokzijl (keyboards, production) and new guys Goemel van Tienhoven (guitars) and René Westra (bass) plan to release three EPs this year - the first one, Monumentsof Men, drops on March 27 - and if the new single King of Lonely Souls is an indication of what this new line-up is capable of, they have a bright future laying ahead of them. The guitars have some nice call-and-response going and the vocals have reached a new level of urgency with this dark tale of a fight with an unnamed nasty entity.

Sugar Horse: Ex-Human Shield

Sugar Horse know how to get mad at injustice. The progressive noise metal band goes all out on their new single Ex-Human Shield, making tough industrial music sound tame in comparison. They could have written a strong-worded letter to the editor of a newspaper, but instead of a pen they picked up an axe to cut down racism and rampant capitilamism, both of which don't give a fuck about injustice and corruption. Like with their previous single Secret Speech they used banned Soviet animation for the video.

King Crimson: "Live - Penn State University 29 June 1974" for Record Store Day

A fabled King Crimson concert will be released as a 2LP for Record Store Day (April 18). Live - Penn State University 29 June 1974 first became available as a download in 2007. Two tracks - Easy Money and It is for You, but Not for Us made it unto The Great Deceiver 4CD box set in 1992.

2000 copies worldwide on 200-gram audiophile vinyl, with a recording of 21st Century Schizoid Man in Central Park as a bonus track.

I am Oak: show in Obdam

Dutch musician Thijs Kuijken bring his indie folk project I am Oak to 't Brakenkerkje in Obdam on October 26, a good opportunity to see him perform songs from his latest album Time Drifts: "The pandemic put an end to the usual grind of album > tour > album > tour grind of being a recording artist. Left to his own devices, he had the opportunity to rethink his music and lyrics. The crumbling social cohesion shines through some of the new songs. Those are, although still highly personal, also dealing with the shenanigans and clusterfucks happening in the outside world."

» iamoak.com

HCTF review of Time Drifts