The Rakes have announced a string of four dates around the UK in late October.

Monday 26th October 2009 – Leeds Cockpit (See Tickets)
Tuesday 27th October 2009 – Bristol Thekla (See Tickets)
Wednesday 28th October 2009 – Birmingham O2 Academy 2 (Ticketweb, See Tickets)
Thursday 29th October 2009 – London HMV Forum (See Tickets)

London quartet The Rakes have resolutely plodded on from one album to the next over the past few years despite their post-punk sounds going mostly unnoticed once past the dancefloors of indie clubs across the country. Still, it’s undeniable the band have knocked out some decent tunes in their past five year existence, namely ‘22 Grand Job’, ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’ and ‘We Danced Together’. Therefore I am happy to say the trademark features that helped in the creation of the above tunes – i.e., the poppy guitar riffs, the thumping bass lines and the brilliantly observant yet tongue in cheek lyrics of frontman Alan Donohoe – have all been successfully carried over to the band’s third studio album released later this month – Klang.

The album kicks off with ‘You’re In It’, a super catchy tune with an awesome guitar riff that hooks you 5 seconds in (literally). The angst-filled lyrics of Donohoe (“You are exceptional/At being sexual!”) compliment the tunes ragged beat, making this an excitingly raw tune to open up Klang.

Next up we have ‘That’s the Reason’ – an unspectacular punky tune that peaks with a rousing sing-a-long chorus which sees the band enthusiastically repeating said title of the song. ‘The Loneliness of the Outdoor Smoker’ – the brilliantly titled third track of the album showcases Donohoe’s dark vocal style well (often ala Ian Curtis). It’s undeniable, however, that frontman Alan can verge on quite monotonous sounding at times, yet the edgy riffs coating his voice and the sublime little breakdown midway through the song means this tune’s a decent filler. ‘Bitchin’ in The Kitchen’, meanwhile, boasts a super funky bass line – while the tinkling piano riff amidst ‘The Woes of Working Women’ certainly provides a nice relief from the intense guitars of the album.

Klang picks up with track six, ‘1989′. Unsurprisingly, the band have chosen this tune to be the debut single from the album. The poppy guitar, throbbing bass and ‘la la la’ chorus make this a fun little tune that should gain the band some airplay. Donohoe goes onto vent his anger about the dissatisfaction of working life via ‘Shackleton’ – a raw tune that captures the wrath echoed in the lyrics perfectly through it’s many edgy twist and turns.

Another highlight of Klang is track eight, ‘The Light of Your Mac’ – a foot-tapping tune which sees frontman Alan sing in sync with the sunny retro guitar riff. ‘Mullers Rachet’, meanwhile, would not be out of place on Up The Bracket. The Doherty-tinged tune is a nice little ditty, which once again, has the bass line a lot to thank for.

Klang comes to a finish with ‘The Final Hill’. The track is certainly an intriguing album closer since the tune is nothing spectacular. Dark, speedy riffs combined with the usual droney vocals tainting every Rakes song – it’s an interesting choice to close the pretty decent Klang with such a durge tune. Oh well!

MP3: The Rakes – The Light from your Mac

Klang is released Monday, March 23rd. Pre-order the CD now.

Wow, it seems just about everyone has decided to announce a tour today, with our biggest posting day EVER here at TGTF. We’ve now got over 1,000 posts, which are read by around 15,000 unique visitors each month. So, thanks for stopping by.

We spent part of today speaking to Kyte and Defend Moscow for two interviews which will be going up later this week, once the new tour announcement flurry has died down. Our poor inbox is overflowing with some great new bands and information, so if you’ve written to us recently we WILL get back to you soon. If we don’t, it’s only ‘cos we don’t like you. (Joke!)

Moving swiftly on. We mentioned last Tuesday about The Rakes‘ (pictured right) new tour. Their very nice people have been in touch and pointed us in the direction of a free MP3 you guys can have. The Light from your Mac is one of the first tracks to emerge from their forthcoming third album, Klang (out 23rd March), and features the usual powerful guitar riffs, and great lyrics. Download, enjoy and then get their album.

MP3: The Rakes – The Light from your Mac

I laid my grubby mits on Airborne Toxic Event’s new album yesterday, having first heard their new single “Sometime Around Midnight” (below)  on Saturday morning on Nick Grimshaw’s Radio 1 show. Once I’d got around the fact that the lead singer sounds a bit like Johnny Borrell, I slowly fell in love with their tunes. Then I read a feature on them in last week’s NME… and quite liked them, so don’t be surprised if we write about them more here at TGTF.  Think U2, Editors and Interpol with a dash of Placebo and you’re halfway there.

If you’re a big fan of riff-heavy, fast, dirty, catchy indie guitar rock (any more adjectives to pop in that sentence d’you think?) then you might want to take a listen to Flashguns (pictured top). They’re a London and Brighton fourpiece (and lets face it, who isn’t these days?), but instead of just the same-old-same-old indie by numbers approach they seem to have a bit more talent. Two MP3s are below for your enjoyment. Like them? Love them? Hate them with a passion? As ever, let us know in the comments below.

MP3: Flashguns – Timehouse Blue
MP3: Flashguns – Ro Shambo

Was quite happy with the results of yesterday’s Orange unsignedAct with Sony Ericsson – Tommy Reilly was definately the best one considering one of my favourites, Bo Bruce, was no longer in the running. Hopefully bigger and better things are on the card now for the young Scotsman.

Finally, before we sign off for today, I came across this great advert on youtube (thanks to Howies). How amazing.

Night everyone. Back tomorrow!

The Rakes have announced details of a string of tour dates for late April around the UK.

The band release their third album, “Klang” on 23rd March, which the tour will be in support of.

Tickets are on sale now, priced at £11 each, or £13.50 for tickets for the London date.

Tuesday 21st April 2009 – Brighton Concorde 2
Wednesday 22nd April 2009 – Portsmouth Wedgwood Rooms
Thursday 23rd April 2009 – Manchester Club Academy
Saturday 25th April 2009 – Glasgow Oran Mor
Sunday 26th April 2009 – Newcastle Cluny
Tuesday 28th April 2009 – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Wednesday 29th April 2009 – London KOKO

To find tickets, we suggest you try using Needtickets. Needtickets.com offers you the most comprehensive ticket service in the UK. With one click you can search every nationwide online ticket agent and as a result you can find tickets for any live music event that can be booked online. Every ticket is 100% guaranteed as Needtickets.com only offers links to official agents.

The Rakes have announced details of a suprise gig this Friday 5th October in London.

The band will play the launch of new clubnight Twisted Licks, which is taking place at the 229 in Great Portland Street.

The Bishops and Assembly Now will also play, while the second room will be curated by Man Like Me.

Those tall guys The Rakes have announced a one off hometown show in London in early November.

The fourpiece look set to finish their European tour in the capital on Friday 9th November at the SEOne club near London Bridge.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow (thats Wednesday 5th September) at 9am from the usual sources, or here now. Tickets are £17.50 each.

The event runs from 9pm – 3am across 4 rooms at the club,

So far confirmed to join the Rakes at the event are The Metros, We Start Fires and The Ghost Frequency. The DJ Room will be hosted by Adventures in the Beetroot Field DJ’s Crispin Dior and Casper C and will also feature Terry Hall (The Specials), and the Filthy Dukes.

Those lovely people at iTunes have set up their own “festival” in the centre of London to take place at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) throughout July, with a raft of the best in current bands playing each night.

iTunes will be recording each of the shows and are planning to make songs from the shows available via their music shop. The ICA holds about 350 people, making the shows exceptionally intimate.

The bands include, in date order:

Mika supported by Leon Jean-Marie (1)
Crowded House supported by Justin Nozuka (2)
Travis supported by The Hoosiers (3)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club supported by Nine Black Alps (4)
Groove Armada supported by Mutya Buena and Beardyman (7)
Ash supported by Ben’s Brother (8)
The View (9)
Imogen Heap supported by James Wolff (10)
Editors supported by GoodBooks (11)
Scott Matthews (12)
Athlete supported by Tiny Dancers (13)
Paolo Nutini (14)
Gianna Nannini (15)
Ludovico Einaudi supported by Dhafer Youssef (16)
The Bad Plus supported by Rebekka Bakken (17)
The Pigeon Detectives supported by The Rakes (18)
Beverley Knight supported by Raul Midón (19)
Stereophonics supported by Little Man Tate (20)
Jamie Scott & The Town (21)
Wir Sind Helden (23)
Amy Winehouse supported by The Rumble Strips and Remi Nicole (25)
Just Jack supported by Mr Hudson & The Library (26)
Jack Penate (27)
The Maccabees supported by Goldspot (28)
Duke Special supported by Tom McRae (29)
The Coral supported by Candie Payne (30)

Tickets will be given away free via radio, TV stations and band and fan websites. The specific details of which will be announced soon. Some tickets are already available from the itunes festival website.

Photo taken from Mteson’s flickr stream.