Rock and pop

Over the last few years the rare and rising talent of local musician William Douglas has gradually but firmly imprinted itself on the consciousness of the Edinburgh music scene. Accompanied by his motley crew The Wheel, he’s built up a loyal and growing fanbase warming to his unique take on 60’s inspired folk, pop and rock. With a second album visible on the near horizon, this prolific singer songwriter is clearly on the ascendant.

Once again, I must admit to being drawn to a band largely on the strength of their name. Carolina Liar - where did that one come from? Well, a little research revealed that lead singer and guitarist - and while we're on the subject of names - the almost impossibly named Chad Wolf, originally hails from Charleson, South Carolina, so we're starting to see a connection here.

It feels good in here tonight, within this grand, wood-panelled chamber. The clock has just struck midnight; the audience are seated and exuding gentle bonhomie. Faint wisps of dry ice flutter from the stage, which is littered with an array of acoustic guitars as well as a set of bongos and hand drums.

The Indelicates are first on stage tonight and they turn a few heads with their Clash tinted, overtly London accented front-man and stationary, piano playing front-woman. The songs are petulant and self-consciously self-aware

The St Andrew's boys are back from their UK jaunt with a string of Scottish shows. As well as enduring a disappointing appointment with Glasgow depressives My Latest Novel - who seem to have travelled into some sonic backwater since a couple of months ago - the audience were subjected to the worst sound quality, as the hundreds of conversations happening in The Queen's Hall swirled around like nails in a tin mouth.

Rock. And. Roll. That is what you get at a Monotonix gig, of the fiercest and most potently pure strain imaginable.

Support band The Ray Summers are actually going down well, but lead vocalist Andy Ure is under no illusions - " I know you've all come to see The Bluetones, so we won't keep you long."

It's pronounced te-le-pa-thy, and indeed there does seem to be some kind of unspoken link between the Brooklyn duo of Melissa Livaudais and Busy Gangnes, as if they were one being split in two.

There are two branches of opinion on the ex-shelf stacker-come-beat-mogul's appearance at The Edge festival. The uncompromising nature of what has become ‘brand Harris' tends to bring out a definite ‘marmite reaction' in people. But tonight, for the most part, it sways in his favour.

Multi-talented Kate Robbins entertained her substantial first night audience with an hour of songs and tales of her upbringing in Birkenhead before crossing the Mersey and experiencing the life and humour of Liverpool.

Having not really ever listened to The Sounds before - after sampling a few brief snippets of their songs on myspace and browsing through their live pictures, I assumed that they were perhaps a band who were probably better live than on a record.

Chris Townsend, a relative newcomer supporting David Sneddon, opened the show and gave a confident performance. He has a strong voice, tuneful in the upper range, with a pleasingly gruff edge when he projects at a lower register. His guitar style is robust but does not drown out his singing. Whilst performing, he created on-the-spot layers to his music by line-looping on a synthesizer to produce background bass, guitar and drums.

I've watched with interest over the years a promising Dutch rock scene being overshadowed by the heavier metal rock scene of neighbouring Germany with only a handful of bands ever really breaking it in this country.