Welcome to the November edition of Beats Per Minute’s monthly playlist BPM Curates.
Why would you need Spotify Wrapped which just tells you what you already know you’ve been listening to? Why not enjoy November Wrapped from us at BPM, which tells you what you should be listening to? Enjoy it below.
Below is the track list and some notes from our team about why they’ve selected them for this month’s playlist.
Cate Selna – “my way”
LA artist Cate Selna has a magnificent voice that will remind many of Caroline Polachek. This song is an under-two-minutes gem, and its celestial harmonies are the perfect day-starter in these troubled times. – Larry McClain
Charli xcx – “House” (feat. John Cale)
Strings are IN. Of course, they never went out of fashion, but we’re definitely experiencing a moment; first Rosalía, now Charli xcx. About as dramatic a left turn as you could get after the wall to wall bangers on BRAT, “House” meekly enters. The lights are low, the stage bare; scratchy staccato strings appear as candlelight flickers. A fascinating taste of her new album Wuthering Heights, the track plays out like a pure theatre, John Cale’s weathered and heavy voice ushering the listener to the side. “Can I speak to you privately for a moment? / I just want to explain / Explain the circumstances I find myself in,” he requests, a sincere and reserved desperation trickling out. As the strings build, so does a wails of distortion and a drum track. Charli enters with a desperate plea alongside Cale. “I think I’m gonna die in this house,” they repeat. It’s captivating, an overture to what will be one of the most exciting albums of next year. – Ray Finlayson
Craven Faults – “Far Closes”
Mysterious English producer Craven Faults’ EPs stretch the boundaries of what an ‘extended play’ is, usually turning out album length – so when he announces an album, you know it’s going to put the long in long player. That’s exactly what we expect from his new record Sidings, arriving in January, and lead single “Far Closes” adds evidence to that hunch. The 15-minute-plus polychromatic synth drive is quintessential Craven Faults; layers of pulsating, arpeggiating synths over wan blankets of other electronic tones, ebbing and separating subtly over the course of a quarter of an hour in a way that’s indescribably spellbinding. – Rob Hakimian
De La Soul – “EN EFF” (feat. Black Thought)
Seems the new De La Soul album is fated to be oddly underrated, but those checking in to the Cabin in the Sky will be lucky to enjoy a generous, spirited, and deeply heartfelt offering (and tribute to fallen member Trugoy) from one of the greatest groups to ever do it. Picking a single track for our purposes here is difficult: “Patty Cake” feels like a warm morning in NYC when the sun hits the steps just right. “YUHDONTSTOP” and “Good Health” saunter by with classic De La playful swagger. I could go on. Still, today, I’m going with “EN EFF”. DJ Premier lacing the album with three tracks just feels special, and here in particular he’s at his very best with those signature Premo cuts and the sampled chorus, which is to not even mention a brilliantly chastising verse from the always reliable Black Thought. Classic. – Chase McMullen
Ella Eyre – “Space”
“Space” arrives at just the right moment, a brass-backed, soul-tinged anthem from Ella Eyre that carries both punch and vulnerabil ity. It’s glossy, yes, but it’s also raw: the song refuses to let you escape the tightness of heartbreak or the sting of self-doubt. On her new album everything, in time, “Space” stands out as a track that balances strength and fragility. The way the horns swell under Eyre’s voice, confident, slightly husky post-surgery, full-bodied, flips the typical breakup-drama into something more defiant: a demand for distance, for breathing room, for clarity. It’s not just a song about leaving someone behind; it’s a song about reclaiming yourself. In a year where she’s re-emerging with purpose, “Space” feels like Ella saying: ‘I’m back, I’ve changed, and I’m steering.’ – Mary Chiney
Hirta – “Book of Ships”
With “Book of Ships” from the upcoming Soft Peak (out in February 2026), Alistair Paxton, a.k.a. Hirta, asserts his brand of psychedelic folk. Built around a reverb-y vocal à la Alex G or Damien Jurado, well-placed atmospherics, and a fingerpicked acoustic, “Book of Ships” navigates the space between dream and waking, between grief and hopefulness, between desiring to leave a legacy and accepting the reality of oblivion. – John Amen
Lamisi – “No Orgasm in Heaven”
Ghanaian artist and activist Lamisi, assisted by producer and LGBTQ+ rights activist Wanlov the Kubolor, offers “No Orgasm in Heaven” (from her upcoming LP, Let Us Clap, out in February 2026). Lamisi’s compelling voice – mixing protest, plea, and lament – is bolstered by infectious percussive sounds, electronic flourishes, and traditional clapping. The song stands as a confident rejection of patriarchal oppression, unjust social norms, and the longstanding distortions often sold as part and parcel of a “religious” message. – John Amen
Leni Black – “Back In Boston”
On this song, Nashville artist Leni Black takes us on a nostalgic tour of some of the many places she’s called home, including Boston and Beijing. Leni’s work this year, plus the great new album from Flock of Dimes, is spearheading a contemporary folk revival. – Larry McClain
Mandy, Indiana – “Magazine”
I was fortunate enough to see Mandy, Indiana at one of their handful of live shows this year and – while it was certainly great – I was a bit disappointed that no new material was played, more than two years on from their debut record. Well, perhaps we just weren’t ready for it, because the industrial dance punk act have a whole new record ready to go and the first taste, “Magazine”, is not for the feint of heart – you need to be sitting down when you first hear it. A sonic onslaught of wailing atmospherics and pulverising drums, “Magazine” gives vocalist Valentine Caulfield space to attack her attacker in the most raw and unbridled fashion imaginable – and it’s hair-raising. – Rob Hakimian
MAVI – “Typewriter” (feat. Kenny Mason)
Yin and yang. Of course it’s an oversimplification, but you can somewhat divide acclaimed rappers of a certain age (or era) to two schools of thought: the likes of Earl, MIKE, Mavi, on one end, shrugging off “mumble rap” complaints while toiling away at their often melancholy craft, and guys like Denny Curry, JID, and Kenny Mason on the other, popping off at the mouth with stylistic flourishes and technical whimsy.
When they come together? You already know. Mavi and Mason make the most of it here, their perspectives on the nature of MCing itself offsetting perfectly. Not content with that surface level juxtaposition, their lyrics dig into those differences as well. Mavi? “I remember how to read a book / Forgot how to write a hook / At the typewriter with my sugar / She done made a fighter pilot out a crook.” Kenny? “I remember how to be a crook / Forgot how to read a book / At the mic talkin’ to my granny / I know she in Heaven listenin’ to the hook.” Gotta be glad they came together to make this happen. – Chase McMullen
Pink Siifu – “Onyx’!”
Silly me, thinking the “Deluxe Hip hop album that’s actually properly another album” trend died out in 2020 sometime between PTSD and Music to Be Murdered By. Then again, defying conventional wisdom is perfectly on brand for Pink Siifu. Surely he’d recoil at the concept of a “brand”, just as he’s recoiled (or at least retreated from) the warmth of the still forward thinking, but largely inviting GUMBO’!. Since It’s Too Quiet..’!! he’s been pulling in increasingly fragmented directions, as unpredictable as ever.
If BLACK’!ANTIQUE was often alienating, the title track of its “deluxe” follow-up, ONYX’!, is overtly hostile. Revolving through a metallic, aggressive soundscape, Siifu is all barbs and venom, flinging out acerbic, lethal missiles. Yeah, yeah, it’s often said, but it bears mention: there’s no one else doing it like this. – Chase McMullen
Rosalía – “Divinize”
In an album that is just rapturous moment after rapturous moment, early LUX highlight “Divinize” stands out – and not just because it’s the one where the Spanish star sings in English, appeasing the Anglocentric mob. Its a four-minute tour-de-force of everything Rosalía does well – elegiac pianos, onrishing electronics, daring string arrangements and her voice effortlessly showing both musical and emotional range. It is truly divine. – Rob Hakimian
Sweet Nobody – “Forget Me”
As far as swerving expectations go, Joy Deyo has got it down. “I think it be best if you forget me / Not because you ever loved me / But because I regret ever talking to you,” the lead singer/guitarist of Sweet Nobody warns on “Forget Me”, a highlight from their recent album Driving Off To Nowhere. At first it seems like sweet warding off after a breakup, but Deyo turns sours with the next line, driving a nail through the coffin. With a dose of Mitski melancholia in the delivery of the lyrics and the pensive guitar, “Forget Me” feels like washing away the smell of someone from your sheets. There’s no moment to linger in sweetness here. “It’s a terribly sad refrain,” Deyo adds in the verse, self-aware but not no longer caring. – Ray Finlayson
Listen to our BPM Curates: November 2025 playlist here.
