Back in March (previous article here) when we were basking in a heat wave Team Belladrum 2012 announced an impressive array of emerging acts for this year’s festival.

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We are delighted to hear that the immense sounding Bronto Skylift are heading out on the road and making a couple of stops up here in the Highlands.

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On Saturday 5th May on a farm just outside Inverness the inaugural Brew at the Bog Festival is set to take place featuring some of the finest established and emerging acts from Scotland and beyond.

It’s fair to say we are pretty excited about this wee festival and it’s lush line up, so much so that we have dedicated a full length podcast of music and chat to all that is Brew Bog!

Jamie met up with Festival Director, Yvonne Murray for our latest podcast to talk about how the event was conceived, future plans and that all important and exciting line up!  Also on the podcast Jamie and Marathon Man Murray introduce you to (or re-aquaint you to) some of the acts appearing at Brew at the Bog with a selection of some of their finest tracks.

Brew at the Bog takes place on Saturday 5th May at Bogbain Farm, just two minutes from Inverness.

As always one of the best ways to discover new music is to listen.  So go on, plug in now!

The other way is to actually head on down to the farm!

Tickets for the day long extravaganza of new music and new beer are priced at just £45 and are available here. Limited camping is also available. Campsite opens at 1pm on Friday 4th May and closes on Sunday at 1pm. Camping tickets are £10 and gets you in from Friday until Sunday.

For further information, tickets and line up visit www.brewatthebog.com

The line up of acts who will be appearing at goNORTH 2012 has been announced and it could be their strongest line up to date!

There’s a fair few new names on the list which will be great to discover, a number of well kent faces and some acts that are bubbling around in the scene just now that will add a real buzz to this year’s showcase.  We are particularly pleased with the acts from the Highlands and Islands that will be showcasing, and more about them on the podcast soon!

This year’s goNORTH will take place across Inverness city centre on the 6th and 7th of June.  The live programme includes acts from the Highlands and Islands, across Scotland and also brings a diverse selection of wider UK and international acts together for this the twelfth goNORTH showcase.

“We are delighted with the list of artists invited to showcase at goNORTH 2012”, said Director for Music, Shaun Arnold. “We received a great response to our submission call and it proved no easy task to establish the final list. Once again this process highlighted the quality and diversity of new music being created across Scotland and we would like to offer a massive thank you to all the acts that submitted their music this year”.

goNORTH originally started out offering artists from the North of Scotland a much needed stage to showcase for the industry and media folk on their own patch.  It is now seen as one of the key events on the music calendar in Scotland if not the UK and includes the wider remit from screen and broadcast to designer fashion and publishing.  In addition to the showcase gigs the event will deliver a series of seminars during the days of 6th and 7th June.

Last year goNORTH introduced the goNORTH Festival Tour, which saw a range of acts appear at a selection of festivals.  This year the goNORTH Festival Tour will include Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, The Wickerman Festival, Loopallu, B-Fest and Summer In The City 2012.  The introduction of the Festival Tour means a significant volume of goNORTH showcase artists will also secure additional slots across the touring schedule.

goNORTH 2012 is an impressive line up of over 60 acts and it’s really difficult and perhaps unnecessary to single out any acts at this stage (apart from the videos on this page!) but we will be featuring tracks and interviews from a selection of the goNORTH acts over the coming weeks on our podcast.  Also keep and eye out for NewMusicMonday on our Twitter page and add our Facebook page as I am sure we will drop some tasters and teasers for you between now and goNORTH 2012.

More importantly there will be an official goNORTH 2012 Compilation featuring a selection of showcasing artists that will be released direct to people in the music industry via Music Week.

goNORTH organisers have also announced that in conjunction with their partners EmuBands they will be offering goNORTH delegates a FREE single release worth £24.95.

As EmuBands don’t charge any ongoing fees, this is a completely free release, earning you 100% of royalties generated while retaining 100% ownership and control of your rights; so you can have your music available through the world’s leading digital retailers like iTunes and Spotify completely free of charge.

This offer will be open to all registered delegates and vouchers will be available from the EmuBands Stand in the main registration foyer.

goNORTH 2012 Showcase List

Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher
Aaron Wright
Blindfolds
Blue Sky Archives
Brown Bear and the Bandits
Cafe Disco
Campfires in Winter
Cancel The Astronauts
Cherri Fosphate
Chris Devotion and The Expectations
CLEAVERS
DARC
Dead Boy Robotics
Esperi
Fat Goth
French Wives
Galleries
Grace Weber
Graham Brown
Honningbarna
Iain Mclaughlin & The Outsiders
Ilona
John Wean
Jonathan Sebastian Knight
Lady North
Letters
Make Sparks
Mass Consensus
Matt Norris & The Moon
Maydays
Michael Cassidy
Miniature Dinosaurs
Miss Irenie Rose
Nelson Can
Olympic Swimmers
Open Swimmer
Oskar Empire
Pioneers of Love
Plum
Polaroid Fiction
Pronto Mama
Quickbeam
Red Kites
Sebastian Dangerfield
Selective Service
Smoothiesforme
Stanley Odd
Star Wheel Press
Team Kapowski
The Little Kicks
The Machine Room
The Mirror Trap
The Mixups
The Stagger Rats
The Whisky River Band
The Winter Tradition
Them & Us
This Silent Forest
Vigo Thieves
Washington Irving
We Came From Wolves
Where We Lay Our Heads
Xavia
Yusaf Azak

News that our friends Homework and Stanley Odd are coming up North again popped into our happy in box today! They will be part of a programme of live acts providing the party Downtown for the rockyroads.net UCI Mountain Bike World Cup across the 9th and 10th of June 2012 in Fort William.

Boasting a selection of the finest new and established artists in Scotland, Downhill Downtown will see King Creosote, The Phantom Band, Admiral Fallow, Stanley Odd, Bwani Junction and many more make for the outdoor capital of the UK this summer.

Connecting the best music in Scotland with one of its premier sporting events in the Year of Creative Scotland, Downhill Downtown is guaranteed to be the best party in Lochaber this year.

“We are delighted to have secured some of the most exciting and respected artists in the country for the inaugural Downhill Downtown”, said Event Manger Michael Lambert. “There is a natural synergy between mountain biking and music, and we are thrilled to be programming a line up that celebrates the quality and range of the Scottish music scene at one of the country’s key sporting events”.

Homework. Photo - J.Macdonald

All live activity will take place at The Nevis Centre, Fort William.

Friday 8th June 2012:
STANLEY ODD plus more

Saturday 9th June 2012:
KING CREOSOTE/ THE PHANTOM BAND/ ADMIRAL FALLOW
BWANI JUNCTION/ THE LITTLE KICKS/ HOMEWORK plus more.

Regular listeners to our podcast will have heard some of these acts before but just in case here’s a reminder of some:

Weekend: £17.50/ Friday: £6.00/ Saturday: £15.00

**Discounted tickets will be made available to Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup ticket holders.

For tickets and full event details: WWW.DOWNHILLDOWNTOWN.COM

For more information on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup: WWW.FORTWILLIAMWORDCUP.CO.UK