The Rakes Progress
You probably know the Rakes, y'know, they're that band which did the song where they talk about stuff people can relate to like jobs in the city and drinking and clubbing, you know real issues for real people. Okay, so there first album was a pretty mundane affair and their singles of late have been pretty apalling, so why is this hack so excited about their new album?

I'll tell you why you dunderhead, it's bloody brilliant, I haven't been this blown away by a record for....well quite a while really. I would even go as far as to say it's the album of the year so far, or at least equal to records by Field Music and the Klaxons. Sometimes you just get captivated by certain guitar riffs or imagery in the lyrics that just seem to totally click. I found this to be the case with the song 'Suspicious Eyes', a song all about the London Tube Bombings which I guess struck a chord with me being a Londoner and all. The riff from the song is so rich and yet has this unnerving quality which sums up the underlying fears still embedded under the surface of London life following the July 7th attacks. The lyrics are both thoughtful and questioning, with Donohoe taking various guises to emphasize different Londoners attitudes towards Muslims and terrorism in general, what makes the track interesting is the inclusion of a verse from a young Muslim Londoner about the anti-Islamic attitude emanating from parts of the Media, "people are assuming who I am but there wrong, I've got a beard and a bag so they think I've got a bomb". Another song which showns the maturity (erggh, horrible word...am sorry) of the band shining through is album opener 'The World Was a Mess but his Hair Was Perfect', which in its original form was over 17 mins long as it was written to soundtrack a Heidi Slimane fashion show. Again the song manages to retain a catchy edge whilst entering more experimental territory from the Rakes' previous work. It's strange really as most of the lyrics on the album seem to be largely on the same theme as the last: going out, drinking, the monotomy of work and yet they seem as fresh and zeitgeisty as ever .
Recently I had a conversation who'd been backstage at a recent Rakes gig, he spoke of how the band were surrounded by groupies, industry types and various hangers-on and how they seemed so uncomfortable with it, and the thing about this album is that it sounds like a record made by a band who are pretty bored really with a indie scene where the highlight of the night is 'a Budweiser and smoking Malboro Lights'. It's strange to think that the Rakes came to prominence as the thinking man's punk band back in 2002, this tags seem to be lost along the way, and the new album flexes a bit more the Rakes' intellect than the first album, particularly in songs like 'Tom Cruise Cries' which paraphrases the ideas of French author Baudrillard.
So yes, this album is a more than passable softmore effort and is proof that the Rakes are more than just another band with post-punk influences.

I'll give it a 82%.....


The Rakes' new album 'Ten New Messages' is out on March 19th on V2 records

Go Pre-order it: here