We’re nearing the end of November and the singles keep on coming, with another motley bunch hitting the airwaves since I out pen to paper for the last batch… once again there is sureky somethonh here for every taste, with the young Scottish crew making an impression, and another few songs vying for the title of Single of the Month for November.
First up in this part is the latest single from Jo Carley and the Old Dry Skulls side project Carley’s Wreck and Ruin, Jo’s familiar vocal capturing me under her spell immediately as her bewitching voice repeats the song’s title Devil’s Got The Poison. The beguiling nature of her vocal paired with the hypnotic nature of the underlying swamp trash blues is a match made in…the underworld. There is an adage that says the devil has all the best tunes, it’s not wrong
Meanwhile, If hook laden boisterous hard rock with huge bombastic riffs is your bag then the new single from Massive Wagons Everywhere We Go has your name written all over it.
The first of this part of the November singles round up from the Glasgow YT comes from Heedz. Pigs in the Park, a public service announcement…with guitars, basically saying that if you breathe wrong these days you’ll get fined or arrested. Just ask all the peaceful Palestine protesters. Pigs in the Park is a rambunctious riot of raucous guitars and roaring vocals with a thunderous backbeat.
Also on the Tidal playlist for November is Closed Doors, the final song from the magnificent Son of the Right Hand EP Pscenic Root which I reviewed on these pages (both EP and live launch at the Glad Cafe.) The song is a divine and emotional closer for an epic EP, a song that builds and layers to a sonic peak, before taking its final bow.
Glasgow indie stalwarts The Just Joans dropped a taster for their forthcoming new album, Romantic Visons of Scotland, which is due out in January. Here Come the Rugby Boys has them at their boisterous best, pairing their wryly humorous observational lyrics with soaraway indie-pop rhythms and harmonies.
The last track from Gutterblood‘s EP/Album Good Dogs Will Never Die, reviewed here, is the hard hitting near industrial heavy driving beats offered up by instrumental New Man and it has been given the video treatment here ahead of their official launch gig in Edinburgh’s Bannermans on the 27th. The band pay their first ever Glasgow gig in Bloc+ on the 3rd of December.
Dumbarton’s David Byrne recently released his solo single T Shirt, with a clever observational lyric and commentary on the world we live in through the messages emblazoned on people’s shirts “its the only way I can talk to you”. In unrelated/related news, there is a must see gig in 2026, The first ever David Byrne/Talking Heads tribute night in Dumbarton Harp Social Club, Byrne’s Night is on Friday 15th May features Lung Leg, The Beat Poets, The Cords and Radhika with DJ Suzy Kidd.
“”Venting his frustrations with the kind of algorithmic invasions we all find ourselves subject to at the hands of tech-companies on a daily basis, frontman Ben Robinson put pen to page and the poetic lyrics at the heart of “FUK ZUK”” The single from Hello Cosmos comes across as just that, a stream of consciousness rant against tech companies and how they use our interactions and our content. This is a well thought out rant though, as he spews out his vitriol over a a soundtrack of beats and crunching guitars, His closing dig… “Tech Companies are terrorists…”
Clocking in at just 59 seconds Bad Nerves latest single Loner is a breathless headrush which kind of picks up the baton from Hello Cosmos – “since the lyrics deal with paranoia, media manipulation, and wondering what the truth really is.”
One of Ireland’s most in demand song-writer/composers Neil Hannon releases a Christmas single in the form of All the Pretty Lights with his band The Divine Comedy This is a heavenly slice of pure Neil Hannon, as he recounts misremembered childhood days and observations of those around him taking in the festive sights of London.
Tamoo Trance is the latest hard n heavy fuzz punk single from The Baby Seals, a must listen for fans of the likes of Bratakus, Panic Shack and The Twistettes, the song bemoans the evils of online consumerism and the purchasing of useless items when caught up in the moment. No idea who they could be referencing…
Hater Liquidator is the latest single from self-confessed gypsy punks Gogol Bordello and is the follow up to their September single We Mean It, Man!, which is also the name of their new album coming in February next year. Both singles indicating good things to come from the album…
Who Wants to See the World from Ireland’s Keeley has to be a contender for single of the month as the single-minded (in a good way) Keeley Moss continues to celebrate the life of Inga Maria Hauser with this mesmerising multi-textured development in her bands already sublime sound. The single has the band creating a luxuriously complex and many layered soundscape taking its inspiration from shoegaze, and channelling the dreamy indie pop of the likes of Lush, with an equally exquisite gossamer vocal floating gracefully in the ether. Those who follow Keeley will know all about her muse, and the video aims to recreate some of the journeys she took in 1988, shot to recreate a VHS look and feel and filmed on location in Marne, Stranraer and Glasgow. This is the first single recorded with the now familiar band of Keeley on guitars/vox, Lukey Foxtrot on bass and former Morrissey drummer Andrew Paresi. While I’m here, a reminder you’ll thank me for later. Put this date in your diary now, 28th February in the Hug and Pint. This will be a show you’d be daft to miss and which is sure to live long in the memory as Keeley returns to Glasgow for the first time since supporting Northside in King Tuts in April this year.
Another single of the month contender is from Glasgow’s indie-folk band Lacuna who released Nest from their upcoming EP. The single is an exquisite taster for their upcoming second EP, it’s hauntingly mysterious introduction smouldering evocatively as it builds in intensity, “it’s on fire” is the breathily intoned line, the lyric repeated throughout the song. Their multi-vocal harmony approach that is one of the many qualities of the band and this kicks in as the music builds to a crescendo, “there’s something shiny on my front step…” the vocals reveal, instruments squalling beneath… a triumphant single. The band play an instore in Assai Glasgow at 5pm on the 5th of December to support the release of their new 6 track vinyl EP “What If I Told You I’d Been Lying the Whole Time” on and have a headline Glasgow gig in King Tuts (with Isabella Strange and waverley supporting) on the 12th of December
Florida Man is the second single from The Balboas album Bite! Blood! Repeat! due to be released on 5th December. The surf-punk band’s second single from the album, following up early release Bury It With You, is an atmospheric deep down and dirty sleazy trashy blues number that invokes the spirit of The Cramps.
Leaving you with a full on sonic beast of a tune courtesy of Scott Matthews alongside Maddie from Sister Madds and her “other” band Iwanttobeontv. The band recently released their second single, to follow up Snake Eyes, the in your face punk-electro-clash assault on the eardrums that is Ride or Die. The duo celebrated the single’s release with their first headline gig in Glasgow’s Hug and Pint, with many more to follow hopefully.
Here is the latest updated playlist for November – on Tidal, because, why the fuck would anyone give money to Spotify?