I feel like I’m running to stand still in playing catch up, but there are so many great new singles out in the wild that I wanted to capture them all, for my own benefit more than anything else. April was another strong month for emerging Scottish talent, alongside more established Scottish bands, as well as singles from far and wide, including a rare appearance from Finland with a new Teksti TV 666 single from their new EP.
Pedalo continue to excel as one of Scotland’s finest purveyors of majestically soulful dream pop with the irresistible groove of Hate Me. Charlotte’s soaring gossamer smooth vocals belie the tale of a broken relationship where the desire to even receive negative emotions would be better than nothing at all. This is top quality sophisticated pop with clever wordplay goading the subject of the lyrics “I’d take a punchline right to the jawline, on my count babe after three.” I look forward to their sophomore EP coming later in the year.
Not a new single but The Tenementals have produced a video for A Passion Flowers Lament. Inspired by the statute on the Clyde, La Pasionaria, which represents anti-fascist Dolores Ibárruri, also known as the passionate one/the passion flower, famous for her quote:
“it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
The anti-fascist song, which reflects on the Spanish Civil War and those who travelled from these shores to stand up and fight against fascism and dictatorship, is a timely reminder ahead of May elections that the right is on the rise again “once more the jackboot seeks to recruit.” No pasarán – pass they shall not.
Another cracking single from Y, Duplicate reveals itself with a slow, dramatic cinematic intro before this fades to be replaced by a jittery urgency, a frenetically charged saxophone laced rhythm soundtracking the sole repeated lyric “I’m going to duplicate myself” which increases in desperation as the song reaches its furiously spirited zenith. A comment on the demands of 21st century living?
I missed Awful Eyes at their recent House Guest set, but by all accounts it was a riot, one of their best gigs to date, it’s hardly surprising when they have tracks like the emphatically compelling Snakes and Ladders, a song that deserves to be played at full volume. On this song the band coming together in an explosion of raw energy, with a thunderous beat, muscular bass lines, lacerating guitar riffs and a vigorously insistent vocal. I’m too old for a pit but this song would maybe give me the impetus…
Burnt Log aka Andrew Smith is on a roll in 2026 with yet another thought provoking single based on news stories of the day. I Don’t Need to Be Beautiful Now is “a song about how referencing cultural icons can become problematic and the hypocrisy of social media backlashes. Please enjoy but be careful and exercise due diligence.” Listening to the single and it’s lyrics, I’m pretty sure at least one of the reference points refers to the death of Brigitte Bardot and the subsequent reactions on social media that caused consternation due to her increasingly dubious right wing bigoted and racist leanings.
Burnt Log will be releasing an album, Feed, later in the year
I was immediately hooked the first time I listened to Dog, the latest single from Grandmas House, which the band says “is about a feeling, written whilst struggling with a chronic illness that no professional could explain. We all have something that burdens us in life, be it mental health, chronic illness, grief, trauma or heartbreak. It’s always there, waiting around the corner.” It’s immediate insistent driving beat propelled itself straight into my auditory cortex and burrowed itself in my hippocampus, with the other element that resonated with me being the multi-layered, uniquely textured vocal style, the low drone with complementary harmonies used to great effect.
Novelistme return with a new infectiously insistent indie/slacker rock single in the shape of Huh Huh Huh, which, despite his UK roots, is more akin to US based 90s noise rock/no wave.
From the hotly anticipated new Trashcan Sinatras long player, Ever the Optimist the new single Bad Husband is the second taster from the album. As you would expect with this most alluringly charming of bands, it is packed with richly mellifluous warm and welcoming guitar lines which sing with a resounding chilled out calming energy. Then of course there is Frank’s golden euphonious dulcet tones to increase your feeling of blissful gratification, and as a bonus there is the addition of subtly enchanting additional vocals and harmonies from none other than Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell. I’m certainly feeling overtly optimistic about the album…
Due to my stupid brain, I didn’t go to see The Limiñanas supported by Scorpio Leisure when they played Slay in Glasgow, I was reliably informed that I missed a belter of a gig. In the absence of any return date planned, I’ll need to make do with their album Live in Beaubourg when it arrives in June. In the meantime, I will remain hypnotised by the brilliant and mesmerically brooding single from the album, One Blood Circle, with it’s entrancing underlying synth line and intense driving guitars.
The follow up to last years Sludge single, Comfort Girl‘s latest offering is the immensely powerful Dominance, a justifiably angry anthem against coercive behaviour and abuse meted out by abusive men. The power of the lyrics is matched by guitar riffs which are both urgent and brutal, to match the indignant and explosive rage from Andy as they deliver the lyrics with an incandescent ire. I’m pleased to see that I see a much higher percentage of bands with female, non binary or queer members in the gigs I go to, but that in itself is only part of what needs to happen. It is time more men in music spoke out against abuse, especially in a dystopian world where it was recently revealed that a terrifying number of men have accessed an online rape academy. It is not acceptable for women or the non-binary/queer community to walk around in fear, it is down to men not to rape, to call out unacceptable behaviour and to bring up their sons to be decent human beings who respect all genders.
PVC were a big draw at the recent House Guest Fest, packing out upstairs in Sleazy’s and providing one of the highlights of a packed day. One of the highlights of their exuberantly received set was their latest single Genevieve, the song, which now comes with a beautifully shot video that sums up the sentiment of the song perfectly, is an exploration of what it means to be a woman growing up in a society which judges women on the way they look and throws them on the scrap heap if they don’t have the “right look” or are deemed too old.
Another triumph from Savage Cut this time collaborating with singer Lisa Kowalski on Stand providing an understated but still powerfully stirring soundtrack to showcase her soaring emotive vocal.
Following on from Eat My Dust, Dead Pony continue to slay with the hard ‘n’ heavy nu-metal rush of Freak Like Me, packed with soaring melodic vocals and boisterously crunching guitar riffs this one will be sure to create a raucous pit on their upcoming tour dates.
Tyhjäntoimittaja (don’t even ask me to attempt to pronounce that correctly – apologies to any Finnish friends out there…) is the new single from the EP “4” from Finnish legends Teksti TV 666 who first came to my attention in 2018 while I was writing for Louder Than War and reviewed their Aidattu Tulevaisuus album. The band have a knack for writing a highly riveting and mesmeric melody, with charismatic vocals (who cares if I don’t know what they’re singing!) atop a sonorous melee of driving guitars paired with soaring synth lines.
There is something about Social Distortion that just makes me smile, I don’t know if it is the distinctive rasping vocals from Mike Ness, the driving punk n roll guitars or the atmosphere of intense gravitas that their widescreen mesomorphic sound exhibits? Whatever it is, Partners in Crime is another monster track from their new album, Born to Kill.
NYC noiseniks Lip Critic single Talon is a jarringly disquieting listen as the band blend elements of jagged post punk with grating synth noise, alongside elements that recall the likes of. Nation of Ulysses and and a topping of dark gothic screamo metal just for good measure.
Where Are the Heroes is a boisterously rollicking thrill ride with some punky guitar riffs that has Colin In reflective mode taking inspiration from Bob, the grandfather of collaborator Dan Richards, who worked on the Great Western Travelling Post Office between Bristol Temple Meads and Plymouth. The single comes from Mull Historical Society‘s new album In My Mind There’s a Photograph
The third single to be released from Verse Metrics debut album Descents, due to be released in June, Oceanic Supergiants lives up to its name, with a monstrous thundering backbeat and chiming guitars announcing it’s arrival before the rest of the instruments layering to create a Brobdingnagian wall of colossal sonorous noise.
The Anchoress will be releasing her new album As We Once Were on Last Night From Glasgow later this year, from whence this incisive cutting synth gem comes. A collaboration with Gwenno, I Had a Baby Not a Lobotomy is a barbed takedown of all the patronising, misguided and ill judged comments directed at new mothers, based on her own personal experiences.
thistle. – follow up pieces with a short sharp assault on the eardrums, pylon is a melee of stormy sub-shoegaze crunching distorted guitars with a velvety fuzz of dual vocals low in the mix.
Mid-Morning Breakdown is the stirring new single from the new line up of Glasgow alternative rock band 4 Outta 5, and I’m delighted to report it is an instant earworm from the moment the opening salvo hits (which incidentally somehow reminds me of Terrorvision’s Perseverance), from then on it’s a hook laden joy ride, with soaring edifying vocals from Marcy and some sweet riffs deserving of some living room air guitar moves.
At their recent triumphant single(s) launch gig in McChuills, Emmy pointed out the humorous unintended pun with the simultaneous release of two new Big Girls Blouse songs, Clean & My House. Wry smiles aside, the songs show the breadth of what the band do, Clean is powerfully assertive, building to a huge bombastic sound with sweeping guitar lines, a glorious bassline and solid backbeat while My House is a delicate and quietly pensive track that includes a segment of lyrics in French, Emmy’s first language. The band will be out touring soon with another of the bands in this months round up, Conscious Pilot (who Emmy also plays guitar with.)
My favourite of the trio of singles from Middle Class Guilt‘s forthcoming album Their King of Comedy, Skald is a love song of sorts to the Shetland Isles, from where half of the band originate. I say love song of sorts as the song is packed with light and shade, more of a love/hate relationship as Joseph lists the pros and cons of island life to a choppy volatile melody. The second half of the song shifts its tempo creating a more jocund mood, as a feeling of wellbeing settles as he sings “I love you and I miss you, and I wish I was with you now” even with the caveat that “you sting my nose and tear my heart out every chance you get.”
Gypsy Pistoleros released another single, King of Almost Everything, from their latest album Dark Faerie Tales and as ever the song is a joyously over the top dramatic and theatrical glam punk banger.
Probably the most upbeat song I’ve heard from Bottle Rockets, haven’t seen you in a while hits the ground running with an energetic pulsating rhythm that soon opens up into a lilting soaring melody that ascends to the heavens, cresting and intensifying in it’s edifying, mood boosting tone.
Tom Waits may well be a divisive artist due to his vocal delivery, but in teaming up with Massive Attack on 21st Century protest song Boots on the Ground, which pretty much attacks everything that is wrong in the dystopian United States, and further afield, his lyrics and stark vocal delivery really hit the mark.
With Liminal Ayrshire’s Oscura take powerful hard rocking riffs, a pounding back line and a pronounced bassline groove and blend them with an earnest heartfelt vocal to create a song packed with a raw emotive energy.
Dead Pioneers team up with The Interrupters on the third single from forthcoming Wagon Burner album. Never Alone is a blisteringly optimistic anthem of solidarity for the lonely and disaffected, it highlights the power of songs, and shouts out to those who find a commonality through music, those who find their people who will stick by them through thick and thin.
The third single to be released from Carla J Easton’s forthcoming indie guitar pop album I Think That I Might Love You, Let’s Make Plans for the Weekend is in her words, the ubiquitous synth pop banger on the album, and banger it is indeed. She really hits the groove with an accomplished soulful disco funk pop vibe, which is now living rent free in my head. And is it just me who could imagine someone like Janet Jackson performing this back in the day?
Like Big Girl’s Blouse bogle is another band with two new songs released in April, with their singles Dying Art & Lost. The former has a velvety textured laidback sixties US East Coast vibe perfect listening for lounging around in the sun, while Lost takes that template and increases the urgency, adding an element of layered hazy shoegaze vibes, reminiscent of early Ride to their blissed out harmony laden 1960s groove.
Just Love follows its equally heartfelt predecessor Dreamager for Reluctant Bob & the Lonely Lovers, the song has a sentiment and sound akin to GQ favourites Sloan Brothers with a nod to melodies that channel the Trashcan Sinatras.
Amanita is the second Burnt Log single in this round up, and another commentary of news stories of these time, this time Andrew’s deft lyrics are influenced by the peculiar Australian case where Erin Paterson killed guests she’d invited to a dinner party with a Beef Wellington laced with toxic mushrooms.
The Bobby Lees impress again, this time with their take on one of my favourite PJ Harvey songs, 50ft Queenie. Their version, called simply 50ft, has their fingerprints all over it, grunging it up and giving it a Bobby Lees makeover with a huge dirty bassline at its core and sounding like they’ve had a great time in recording it, given the chuckle as the song ends.
Shanghai Treason are probably the only band that could get away with using Scallywag, along with rascal and rapscallion, however unusual these words might feel in 21st century language, these are words that really fit in with the old-skool vibe of their revved-up Pogues influenced Celtic punk swagger.
The third single in as many months from the excellent Conscious Pilot, ahead of their album Human Poultry, and the more I listen to these latest singles, the more excited I get about their upcoming Glasgow date with Big Girl’s Blouse and Bikini Body, a triumvirate of excellent bands. Face Down has a bit of a different vibe from the previous two singles, less of the frenetic jagged angular post punk and more of a relaxed Zen-like spirit. Despite the grim nature of the songs subject matter, death and mortality, the song has an uplifting driving toe-tapping melody to it.
If you thought Braes last single, envy, was good, just wait until you hear Kafkaesque, a song which probably gave me similar shivers up and down my spine as when I first heard Oedipus and the Mama;s Boys Stretched/Kitchens. The dual vocals are a perfect foil for each other, with Ross vocal increasing in a fervent intensity as the song builds, while Mia provides the contrast with a sylphlike grace to her parts.
Opus Kink join forces with The New Eves on the second single from their forthcoming album The Sweet Goodbye. The Head Tree is an intoxicating and invigorating blend of styles taking on a dark alt-folk undertone with an element of sea shanty and a nod to gothic Nick Cave murder ballads, add the bold resonance of a gloriously piercing brass section and you’ve got a unique soundtrack to the spellbinding story of Alice Molland, hung as a witch on the Head Tree in 1685, her tale being told in mesmerising style in this formidable song.
NYC dark post punk collective London Plane return to these pages for the first time since I reviewed their Bright Black album for Louder Than War in 2022. Ahead of a yet to be confirmed release date of a new album, they have released a re-imagined version of the Bronski Beat classic Smalltown Boy, the annotation of the songs title, (A Refugee Song), should give a clue to the nature of this re-imagining. The band have taken the original message of the song with a young gay man running away from home to find somewhere he could find safety and a sense of belonging, and transposed it to relate to the similar plight of refugees in 2026. As is to be expected their version takes the breezy synth pop of the original and gives it a darkly gothic makeover, hopefully the new album will see the light of day soon.
Vanderlye tackled genocide in one of my favourite singles of theirs Blackened Sky, now, on one of their hardest and heaviest singles to date, Step Back, they tear into right wing politics, press and media who try to dictate the narrative and in doing so trigger the flag shaggers who are provoked by clickbait headlines designed to divide and fragment our society. This type of reporting and politics emboldens the racist bigots and is leading to the rise of thinly veiled fascism in the form of parties like Reform whose one motive is their own greed and a desire to destroy society as we know it. Now more than I’ve seen since the days of Thatcher’s Britain do we need to stand together. No pasarán.
Doss are a force to be reckoned with and this follow up to SUPERSECRETAGENT mixes styles once again, the near spoken word vocals on BIGFELLAFUNK sounds like Jock Scot in a smoky late night Jazz Club taken over by a furious punk metal rage.
Following the glorious collaboration with Lauren Mayberry that was Lonely Girl, Lucia and the Best Boys dropped another taster for their new album Picking Petals with You Look Like Somebody in Love, and like its predecessor, the upbeat feel-good vibe of this song about love and longing gives an instant dopamine hit, with the addition of the emotive sound of the fiddle giving a nod to her Scottish roots and an extra air of joyful elation.
Don’t Trust a Man is the suitably biting and acerbic new single from our Celtic cousins, Shark School hailing from Galway. The single has an urgent insistence driven by brawny jagged riffs soundtracking the repeated line “I don’t trust a man, who can’t control his hands,” the mood of the song is highly vexatious, and there is something quite hypnotic about the caustic repetitious grungy energy exuded.
Casual Drag have the final word in April’s round up with their latest garage punk slow burner, The Talk, smoulders with a brooding energy and a mean and moody vibe before it bursts into life with it’s boisterously emphatic chorus. Weirdly when I was listening to the months playlist on shuffle, this and Dead Pioneers followed each other, and I picked up a bit of a synergy between Richard’s vocal style and that of Gregg Deal… maybe it’s just me.
April Playlist
As always, I’ve added all this months singles to a handy TIDAL playlist (why is anybody still using Spotify?)…