Posted on: November 26, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

The trio’s self-released album has been spritzed up and retooled, but there’s no containing the primal, giddy energy that crackles through it. Careening back and forth between desperate/lovesick and drunk/predatory, the band turns raw, conflicted desire into instantly addictive pop gems and scorching, swaggering rock. The band’s hearts and influences are on full display, but the results are wonderfully contagious. For an ideal example, delve into the winningly bouncy, vaguely dirty “Don’t Bother Me.” “Don’t bother me / I’m caught up in your legs and I don’t want to get out,” singer/guitarist Garnet Keim pleads. “Stay in our own world / We just want to make out.” It’s innocent and raunchy, wide-eyed and tunnel-visioned, all at once. The band is in their third week out on the road in support of their self-titled debut, out now on SeattleÂ’s Light in the Attic Records.For a full list of tour dates, please visit: www.myspace.com/theblakes Words of praise for The Blakes: “Soak the Kinks in cheap booze, reignite the StoogesÂ’ strutÂ… gritty-yet-hazy rock music.” – Spin.com “…this Seattle trio revs up the kind of early ‘70s R&B that Light in the Attic often expertly reissues, and uses it to light a fire to the hops-pop the Brits have been flooding us with as of late.” – CMJ “The Blakes are incredibly hard workers, earnestly committed to their craft, and practically academic in their obsession with executing the perfect pop song.” – Hannah Levin “With messy arrangements and a theatrical drummer fond of the both-sticks-in-the-air poses, their bluesy-cool rock brought a bit of a dirty nightclub vibe to the sunny afternoon.” – Pitchfork “… a dirtier version of the Strokes, or what the Libertines could have sounded like had Pete Doherty not gone completely off the rails.” – Cortney Harding “In a year of great Northwest rock albumsÂ… this might be the best of all. Their sound is more versatile than most, ranging from raw, noisy garage-punk and propulsive, Strokesish jangle to New Wave-influenced dance-rock and even a sweet, poignant ballad, but whatever the style, their instantly memorable songs are ridiculously catchy and remarkably well-crafted.” – Don Yates, KEXP Music Director

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