Under the radar: Next leg of the festival circuit takes Broken Records northwards

• Olaf Furniss and Derick Mackinnon report from the underground music scene in Scotland

EDINBURGH sensations, Broken Records (pictured) have been powering their way through the Scottish festival circuit in recent weeks, attracting large audiences with their excellent blend of folk and rock, with some klezmer thrown in for good measure. The seven-piece band head to the Tartan Heart festival, Belladrum on 8 August (www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk) and are at Edinburgh’s Liquid Room on 17 August as part of The Edge Festival, previously known as T on the Fringe (www.theedgefestival.com).

• Listen to 'Good Reason' by Broken Records, by clicking on the green audio button above.

Despite Tennent’s withdrawing from the Fringe event, a commitment to exciting Scottish talent remains. On the same night that Broken Records take to the stage, Under The Radar favourites Isosceles play their spiky guitar pop at Cabaret Voltaire. Other hot Scottish acts to look out for include Y’All Is Fantasy Island, We See Lights, Woodenbox and Sparrow & The Workshop, who will be performing as part of the Your Sound night on 15 August. For those who prefer something electronic, leading Scottish Dance label Soma Records will feature Slam, Decimal and Octogen on 22 August.

Still in Edinburgh, the PRS Fringe Sunday (www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/fringesunday) tent in the Meadows will feature a diverse line-up in its free music afternoon on 10 August. The nine – whittled down from more than 500 applications – include Dave Acari, Luva Anna, We See Light and Punch & The Apostles.

The family-friendly Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum, near Inverness, on 8-9 August, will save Highlanders the trip to the capital if they want to check out a vast range of Scottish acts, both old and new. Among the veteran stars are The Waterboys, Edwyn Collins, Justin Currie, Salsa Celtica, Idlewild and Old Blind Dogs. They share the limelight with Frightened Rabbit, Twighlight Sad, Attic Lights, Big Hand, Sergeant and local heroes Lowtide Revelry, as well as international acts including The Lemonheads, Scouting For Girls and er, Jefferson Starship.

Loch Lomond takes its turn in the limelight on August 2-3 (www.liveatlochlomond.com). Headliners are The Sex Pistols, Groove Armada and Ocean Colour Scene, with support from Idlewild, Attic Lights, The Haze and King Creosote.

While Scottish authors such as Ian Rankin, Irvine Welsh and Christopher Brookmyre are all music fans, fellow scribe and recent Born To Be Wide guest Kevin Williamson has gone a stage further – he now hosts an online radio show also available to download at www.radiofreescotland.webhop.org. This week’s programme previews this weekend’s Wickerman Festival.

Also set to give exciting Scottish talent a boost is a new online venture called Ten Tracks (www.myspace.com/10tracks), a subscription service which provides music fans with ten songs a month for just £1. The proceeds are split evenly among the musicians, chosen by promoter Ed Stack and Dave Kerr and Rupert Thomson, editors of The Skinny event newspaper. The first ten artists include Broken Records, Found, Steve Mason (ex Beta Band, now Black Affair) and Joe Acheson Quartet. To mark the launch Thomson, Mason and members of the Joe Acheson Quartet will be DJing at Born to be Wide on 7 August, where they will be joined by local promoter Chris Knight.

• Olaf Furniss and Derick Mackinnon run Born to be Wide ( www.myspace.com/borntobewide) where bands and people involved in the music industry are invited to play their favourite records (but not The Smiths or Joy Division). The night takes place monthly at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms.