Preview: The Blakes, The Ripe, and English Teeth [Tonight at The Mohawk]

We’ve all been there: you’re trying to talk a friend into checking out a new band, and when inevitably asked what they sound like, you sort of half-cock your head to one side, squint, and purse your lips in a signal to pave the way for what you’re about to lay down- something so unexpected it’s almost perversely clever.

Well, folks, that ain’t gonna happen with The Blakes, who don’t have a schtick to wax clever about. They’re just straight-up gritty Seattle garage rock. They sing tweaked rock songs about misbehaving that sound like they were recorded in a toolshed. If we’ve gotten to the point where that sound comes off as retro, it’s more a quirk of our times than the Blakes’. After all, there aren’t many places better for making music than a garage.

Fittingly named local pop outfit The Ripe have a fresh, swooning vibe, all the better to showcase their summer-crush worthy vocals. Unsigned as of yet, our guess is that you’re going to be hearing more from them, so tonight’s Mohawk show is a good chance to secure yourself an “I heard them back when” experience.

The English Teeth were featured on the soundtrack to FUBAR: The Movie, a Sundance Festival favorite in 2002. But they credited their songs to nonexistent bands instead, perhaps in one of those calculated efforts to be noticed working to remain obscure. They lay jutting, boyish lyrics over jangling brit-pop riffs, with a decidedly throwback, carefree result.

The Blakes [Official][Myspace]
The Ripe [Myspace]
English Teeth [Myspace]