Review: Retreat
"This EP is not something that will shake the world, simply because it is too short. But if The Rakes continue to pound out poppy-punkish songs like these, the world will be plenty well shook by the time these four hang up their instruments."

 
V Magazine Fall 2005

 
Artrocker Issue 15

 
Updated 3/3/06
Ghettoblaster Issue 16
The Rakes: Retreat EP
At first listen, it's easy to want to cram The Rakes into the ranks of the 80s recycling imported in bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand or homegrown in bands like The Faint and The Rapture. The original Retreat sounds like Candy O-era Cars forcefully collided into a plump bassline, Alan Donohoe's near sneer, and distorted White Light/White Heat guitar. It's art punk with fangs, what the Strokes might have done fronted by Jarvis Cocker, For a first taste, it's a tempting one: moody, propulsive, a band with rhythms cut on a rusty razor and miles of limey style to spare.

 

"Take a band as stylish and cosmopolitan as Franz Ferdinand, find a frontman with Mike Skinner's cheeky
charm, then throw in equal parts Gang of Four and T. Rex and you'd have yourself quite the infectious little quartet, wouldn't you?"

 

"Never has sounding British and snotty sounded so good since the Jam"

 

Mediumheat.com say,"Now it’s all about young, skinny boys in good clothes with jerky guitar riffs, no keyboards, and – get this – strong English accents"

 

"Retreat, released by Londoners the Rakes, is bloody well likely to make you want to smoke some fags and head over to the nearest pub to grab a pint"

 

"Hot young things The Rakes have announced a UK tour"


"The debut album from The Rakes - 'Capture/Release' - is an assured collection of noisy yet tune-infused knockabout indie with a distinctly London feel courtesy of Alan Donohoe's rasping cockney tones."


"With '22 Grand Job' - a raucous paean to the claustrophobia of entry-level nine to five work - The Rakes are set to take their place at the heart of the new wave of inventive, exciting British guitar bands. Dan Carney caught up with vocalist Alan Donohoe and discovered that, in fact, he quite misses the office environment...

 

The Rakes added to the 99x Sunday School rotation, 8-10pm Sundays

 

Adapt Magazine says, "For fans of Bloc Party, The Kills, Interpol, or Franz Ferdinand, look no further for your newest overseas sensation."

 

"The title track with its haughty "everything is temporary these days" chorus and spastic guitar is the prime indie disco candidate"

 

"The Rakes handle their ennui with cleverness and fatalistically blithe apathy"

 

There’s just something about these guys’ tightly wound Fender jangle that has an immediacy lacking in most bands of the post postwave generation

 

"The Rakes are rougher, more rocking, and aren’t as likely to fall off the edge when the people are tired of dancing and are yearning for something else.

 

Pulsating with energy and worthy of indie-rock IPODS across the globe, The Rakes establish themselves as a buzz-worthy band

 

The intense chorus, spoken rather than sung out will drive itself like a hammer into one’s mind, never to release itself from one’s memory

 

The Rakes seem to be able to diversify their music enough to make each song stand alone without the package

 

 

Their razor-sharp sound will either invigorate you or leave you bleeding in half a dozen places. Go ahead—I dare you not to dance to the Retreat EP