22 Grand Job

The Rakes
Rough Trade East, London

Short in-store tonight for The Rakes, promoting their third album, Klang. The band relocated to Berlin to record, inciting some decent hype by proclaiming the British music scene dead. (Unfairly.) However, the shift did help them return to their old ways and take a step back from the gloom that overcame their sophomore album, Ten New Messages. Klangsounds sharper, witter, and more Rakes-like than the previous release.



The in-store was a fairly quiet affair, less unpleasantly corporate than the HMV ones I've attended, which reflects Rough Trade's status as one of London's indie institutions. It was so low key that I had a chance to browse the shop's eclectic selection of vinyls and ended up snagging the new White Lies single, Farewell to the Fairground. (The b-side is their terrific, tongue-in-cheek, gloom-rock rendition of Kanye West's Love Lockdown. Ten thousand times better than the original.)

The Rakes showed up relatively on time, suits, sweaters, and polos keeping up the vaguely nerdy, buttoned-down aesthetic that characterized their first album's focus on office life. The set, technically tight, was a surprising mix of new and old material, considering most bands play exclusively from the new album they're promoting at in-stores.

Set list:
You're in It
We Danced Together
Retreat
Open Book
That's the Reason
The Woes of the Working Woman
22 Grand Job
Shackleton
Strasburg
The Light from Your Mac
1989
The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect



The Light from Your Mac is by far my favorite track from Klang, with it's stripped-down verses, it reminds me a lot of The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect. We Danced Together comes across well live, the slicker sound is less harsh than some of the more angular guitar tracks like Retreat (although that was also a good one). The crowd was most excited (well, there was some nodding, and the one really overenthusiastic guy danced a lot, unfortunately Rough Trade attracts a crowd that is much too cool for dancing, smiling, or moving) for breakout single 22 Grand Job and Retreat, although I was personally happiest that they played The World Was a Mess, which has been my favorite Rakes track since the transcendent version that they played live for a Dior Homme show, which extended the musings on lackluster nightlife to 17 minutes. You're in It was a great opener for the set.

In spite of an acoustically less than ideal setup, The Rakes did well. (Also in spite of the fact that the lead singer didn't blink for the entire set...interesting.) Klang definitely reflects the bleak modernism of Berlin, and is as accurate a portrayal of the city as the band's older albums were of London. The Rakes have always been about boredom, from office jobs to their hometown, but they make it more interesting than anyone else.

Bonus question:

This was on top of their amp and seems to migrate around Rough Trade. Also saw it on an album cover there. Any idea what it is??