Sculpture Magazine

Since this Brit Pop movement of 2004 or so I been less than underwhelmed with the cadre of bratty high energy boy bands popping out of this scene like post punk weeds. Bloc Party seemed to have the most potential until they drowned in their own sincerity, and the early XTC-like rants on the first Kaiser Chiefs album left me expecting more than what they've come to deliver. Throw in the Artic Monkeys and Libertines, Maximo Park etc. etc. and my god, is this genre saturated or what? Well, fuck it, my favorite is still the Rakes.

I've never quite understood the Clash comparisons (they are too dress conscious for one thing, and Joe Strummer is rolling over in his grave over their literate working class-lite tales), but the Rakes seem to come out of a more punk-influenced vein than the most of the others, and at their finest, such as the clever 'The Light from your Mac,� they come across as a post punk Pogues more than anything.

Klang just might be this genre's finest, albeit brief, moment. The music is consistently loud and uptempo, the vocals snarling through each song with an aggressive precision, and if there is a misfire you won't find it on Klang. Each of these ten tracks is a polished, focused musical business decision the Rakes have made to prove their point. And they do it well.

Songs such as “Loneliness of an Outdoor Smoker�, with its guitar punches and the Strokes-like precision of “The Woes of the Working Woman� are pretty illustrative that hiding away in France left this band focused on what they were shooting for. Nice flourishes of piano abound and the unrelentingly beats come with a caustic precision.

I also find them damn funny at times, whether its their silly opening song “You're in itâ€� where Alan Donahue stumbles through a testosterone rant or the faux-sincerity he exhibits exhorting the chorus, “I am born again!â€� in “Shackleton,.â€� The Rakes know their way around a pop song, and on Klang anyway, they avoided what many of their contemporaries seemed to be doing on their second and third albums--taking themselves god awful too seriously. (I mean really? Which one of these aforementioned bands is going to do a Rock Opera next? Pete Townshend surely could produce it...)  

Track List

01. You’re In It

02. That’s The Reason

03. The Loneliness Of The Outdoor Smoker

04. Bitchin’ In The Kitchen

05. The Woes Of The Working Women

06. 1989

07. Shackleton

08. The Light Of Your Mac

09. Mullers Rachet

10. The Final Hill