Have a listen to our exclusive playlist of some of our favourite Northern acts who are appearing on July 25 at the small but massive Glasgowbury festival in Draperstown, County Derry.

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TRACKLISTING:

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1. SKRUFF – ‘This Is Not Ok’ An exuberant foursome from the Maiden City, live favourites Skruff bring all manner of playful embellishments to bear on their music. They flirt brazenly with funk and dance, but it is the surefooted melodic sensibility and pop-rock nous displayed here that is their great strength.
2. GRAINNE O’NEILL – ‘Wired’ Schooled in classical and traditional forms, O’Neill’s stylish alt-folk betrays her musical pedigree. A relative unknown in her native land, she’s been causing something of a stir across the water, winning the E4 School Of Performing Arts show. However, it’s only a matter of time before the good word gets out on this most talented of performers.
3. HERE COMES THE LANDED GENTRY – ‘Lightness & Weight’ Derry’s foremost musical outlaws, Here Comes The Landed Gentry deliver a stunning mix of bittersweet, whiskey-soaked odes and good-time stompers. Their songs mine the rich seams of classic country, blues, punk and rockabilly to create truly alchemical sounds. Oh, and their live show is pretty special too.
4. AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR – ‘A Little Bit Of Solidarity Goes A Long Way’ Instrumental rock behemoths, And So I Watch You From Afar never fail to bring an awing barrage of sound and fury. This is a truly epic track, even by the unfailingly majestic standards of their eponymous debut album. The song’s title should give you some idea of the North Coast quartet’s ethos, whilst the music itself encapsulates their unbridled brilliance.
5. YES CADETS – ‘Charm Offensive’ Some bands take their time to befriend you, others such as Belfast-based Yes Cadets shoulder charge their way straight to the head of the queue through brazen tunefulness. This is sheer sonic wizardry, the sparring vocals, intriguing left-turns and hook-laden loveliness sure to leave the listener well and truly entranced.
6. FIGHTING WITH WIRE – ‘My Armoury’ Signed to the mighty Atlantic Records internationally and the mightier Smalltown America in the UK, alt-rock juggernaut Fighting With Wire are one of Northern Irish music’s most notable recent successes. And it’s little surprise, given that their debut album Man Vs Monster is chock-full of bruising anthems of the quality of ‘My Armoury’.
7. LAFARO – ‘Tupenny Nudger’ ‘Tupenny Nudger’ is the signature tune for one of the North’s most deliriously abrasive bands. Here, frontman Jonny Black’s tar-chewing vocal is laid atop a riff sent from the rock gods, guitar buzzing around like the biggest, filthiest bluebottle you ever did see. Catchier than a pandemic, it’s a bona fide brilliant slice of scuzz-rock.
8. MOJOFURY – ‘Shooting For A Living’ Currently looking to deliver their debut album, Lisburn’s mojoFury have been stalwarts of the NI scene for a number of years. Their ferocious live show, awesome 2008 EP Visiting Hours Of A Travelling Circus and the blood-raw rock of earlier tracks such as ‘Shooting For A Living’ explain why there’s such an appetite for that long player.
9. SWANEE RIVER – ‘Baby Better Lady’ Chiseled from the quarry of classic rock, Swanee River’s recent Kick Off Yer Clogs EP found them evoking such luminaries as Led Zeppelin, Free and Rory Gallagher. That they can make the sounds of past decades seem so utterly relevant is indicative of the vigour and unfettered enthusiasm of the Derry band’s playing.
10. FURLO – ‘Tell Computer’ Jerking like a puppet on a string, the post-punk indie of Limavady’s Furlo recalls such latter day heroes as The Cribs and Bloc Party. The band plunders with brilliant panache, branding songs such as ‘Tell Computer’ with their own inimitable melodic hallmark. An act firmly in the ascendant.
11. WE ARE RESISTANCE – ‘PSA’ From the ashes of the much-cherished Mantic comes We Are Resistance, a multi-faceted funk-rock leviathan. Melding the brain befuddling intricacy of The Mars Volta to the psychedelic pranksterism of Frank Zappa, WAR produce a dynamic sound, one that entwines sleazy grooves with ear lacerating riffage.
12. BUILDING PICTURES - ‘Hidden Agenda Types’ The alias of the esteemed John Gribbin, ‘Building Pictures’ finds the young musician in inquisitive mood, tentatively and tenderly exploring all manner of new sounds. Taken from the fresh-minted Like Minded People EP, this song highlights his restlessly questing spirit and assured songcraft.
13. CASHIER NO 9 – ‘When Jackie Shone’ Prowling the Americana wastelands with a fistful of sonic dynamite and a heart full of punk rock passion come Cashier No.9. The bastard brainchild of the much-travelled Danny Todd, they are one of the most visceral and exciting bands to have come out of Northern Ireland in recent years. ‘When Jackie Shone’ is the perfect introduction to their ominous oeuvre.
14. JUNIOR JOHNSON – ‘Colder Ground’ If the treacle rich voice doesn’t get you then his tear-stained alt-folk surely will. Feted by the mighty Shane MacGowan and formerly crowned L.A. Music Awards Folk Artist of the Year, Randalstown’s very own Junior Johnson is an artist of rare ability and peerless style.
15. THE Q – ‘Magpie’ A feisty bunch of rapscallions from Derry, The Q are intent on spiriting the evergreen sounds of the Sixties and Seventies into the modern era. With an untamable sense of mischief and boundless vigour, their music struts down the sunny side of the street, all chest-out attitude and untamable riffs.
16. OONAGH CLARKE – ‘Observation’ Plucked from her recent In So Many Words EP, ‘Observation’ is a precise distillation of the fledgling singer-songwriter’s talents. It’s an affecting and intimate song, the sort that seems to whisper straight to your soul, its message at once sweet, vulnerable and gloriously affirmative.
17. THE GOOD FIGHT – ‘Landslide’ For a band still in their relative infancy, The Good Fight are obscenely accomplished. Soaring on eddying blasts of guitar and heavens-scraping vocals, the four-piece create the sort of impassioned indie-rock that has made the fortunes of Coldplay and Snow Patrol.
18. SILHOUETTE – ‘Under My Skin’ Silhouette is the aptly given moniker for the side project of Poets Pocket Symphony’s frontwoman, Shauna Tohill. Here the songstess is free to flaunt her more experimental side, the music shrouded in a sense of mystery, the songs taking diversions down those paths less frequently travelled.