Oh Yeah Contenders: New Sounds from Northern Ireland Vol 1, Oh Yeah Music Centre ***

Compilations such as this one showcase the wealth of Irish talent that is bubbling up without a whiff of manufacture or hype. The 12 acts from the North were chosen by a panel of some 30 music industry folk, and are, mostly, so good you'd wonder what's in the water up Norn Iron way. The opening two tracks (The Wonder Villains' Ferrari and Rams' Pocket Radio's 1+2) shine bright in the way tracks from the North usually do: an innate sense of melody is fused with a level of musicianship in these bands that belies their age. Low points include Clown Parlour's Heat the Cold Heart( Spike It with Love), a baroque oddity taken to silly extremes, and Here Comes the Landed Gentry's Badboat, which sticks rabble beside rouser and ends up with rubbish. That said, the North does indeed rock. Again.

See ohyeahbelfast.com

Download tracks: The Wonder Villains, Ferrari; Bellwether State, Safe Spaces