The Blakes

The members of the Blakes aren't punks, but the brothers Keim (Garnet and Snow) and drummer Bob Husak (who's heard a Stooges record or seven) teeter on the dirty, babbling gutters of four-chord rock & roll — which isn't to say they can't play pretty or that their songs aren't smart. But no one is checking IQs on the heavy single "Two Times," especially when Garnet brays, "Cocaine, drugs and alcohol!/I don't want nothin' from you!" and sounds like Johnny Rotten strapped to a waterboard. On this year's self-titled album, the Seattle trio's power-pop and new-wave calculations are less tortured (and less riveting), which only means that live it should know what to do: Crank the amps, ditch the Strokes references and let the spit and trash fly.