From the Netherlands, Union Town came in under the radar in early August to play a handful of low key UK dates. I caught their Brighton gig, and was suitably blown away. This, their debut LP, purchased at said gig, has been racking up serious mileage on my turntable ever since.
At their core, Union Town are very much under the influence of mid Eighties D.C. hardcore, with Embrace, Gray Matter, Dag Nasty springing to mind, and by definition well crafted songs that are built around taught and passionate music that I instantly connect with. As witnessed by their live set, the four players in Union Town are very accomplished musicians, and that’s evident in the final delivery of these 9 songs, where they take the fundamentals of their roots, and then inject a mighty powerful shot of their own rocking style and inspiration. The production is incredibly sharp, and the end result is very much a Euro-sounding record. If names like Sink, Seven Sioux, Brambilla or K-Line mean anything to you… then I suggest further investigation on your part is required.
Check out opening track “Regenerated” on the player… this is easily one of my favourite records of 2008 so far.
Pete Craven
Muse have been in the studio, with several tracks already written for a new album. The band started work on the follow up to 2006’s ‘Black Holes and Revelations‘ earlier this year.
Ever since The Pixies reunited for a world tour and download-only single, ‘Bam Thwok‘, in 2004, the possibility of a new full length caused quite a stir.
So Finch are back after a hefty hiatus which no doubt saw them work menial jobs and realize what they were missing out on having jacked it all in. The band played a couple of explosive sets when in the UK for Give It A Name and seem to ease between the material from each of their vastly different two albums these days where there was a definite separation between the albums in days gone by. 
The very idea of Bad Religion releasing a ‘Deluxe Edition‘ CD is ridiculous enough in the first place, let alone that the album was originally released a year ago, and now fans are being enticed to shell out their hard money again. Why not give people the option first time around to make their decision… regular or… deluxe! But I’m no businessman, and in these rocky times for the music industry clearly record companies have got to do what they can to shift those all important units.
A blogger was arrested on the 27th August under the suspicion of leaking tracks from Guns ‘N’ Roses forthcoming album, Chinese Democracy. 
The Nightwatchman, a pseudonym of Rage Against The Machine‘s guitarist, Tom Morello, will be releasing his debut solo album, The Fabled City, on the 29th September.
The Datsuns are to release their fourth album, Head Stunts, on Monday 6th October. 
We The Kings debut self-titled album is ready to be released on the 8th September through 
“If Woody Guthrey, Doc Holiday, and the Pied Piper were looking to play a game of spades, Doc would ring up Cecil Otter.”