Hoorah, at last The Strokes have competition. And what a competition this could turn out to be, with blood and tears galore. Hailing from London, the quartet known as The Rakes release their debut album Capture/Release, and what a debut album. With the sound of a modern sex pistols the rakes inject their punk/indie sound into the music scene. From the opening of Strasbourg to the new single Work, Work, Work, there is not one bad tune on this album. The best song on the album is for me definitely 22 Grand Job, closely followed by Animals which has a distinctive 80s riff, the intro reminds me of Footloose and everything by Hall and Oates. However The Guilt is a great song as well and the reggae feel to Violent makes for yet another great tune. Hang on, wait a minute,

I can’t actually narrow down my favourite song on the album I’ve realised because there are just too many to chose from. There is a definite 80s vibe to this album and this in apparent in the latter part of the album, but it is carried off to a high standard. For a debut album this can not be faulted. I would say its perhaps competition also for the debut album of Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV, released earlier this year. These London lads can only get better and as far as I am concerned the only way the rakes can go is up. A must for fans of the strokes, the sex pistols and anything with a punk flavour. A necessity for every music collection in the land, well worth the tenner it will cost to buy it and if anyone disagrees then they just do not have a great taste in music

http://www.therakes.co.uk

Joanne Nugent