Don't hate them because they're beautiful. And well-dressed. And actual rock progeny. And convey a reserved mystique. And are actually quite good, capable of writing inventive, sleepy rock songs.
The Like happened when two best friends (aww), drummer Tennessee Thomas and bassist Charlotte Froom, met singer/guitarist Z. Berg. All three have well-connected but not actually famous LA music-industry dads, but it is roundly agreed in grumpy music criticese that The Like's career trajectory and credibility warrant no comparison to our dear friend in nepotism Ashlee Simpson. Forming their band as preteens, the girls simply harnessed their J.Lo-sized ambition and got busy.
The band started out by releasing three EPs with impossible names (I Like the Like, . . . And the Like, and Like It or Not), and after signing with Geffen and sharpening their sound on tours with such LA starfucker bands as Maroon 5 and Phantom Planet, they released a full-length, Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? The debut album has some divine moments that recall a classic, woozy-sunrise LA sound, as the band smartly capitalizes on Z. Berg's weary, pretty singing. “What I Say and What I Mean” (totally betraying their teeny-bop status) features gauzy, swooping vocals and good-time drumbeats. In better (and most) moments, the band sounds like Magneta Lane or Rilo Kiley; in less stellar sections, they stumble into Fiona Apple-esque masturburathons, but by the final track, a weird but cool experiment with a looser structure and a drifting melody, they're forgiven 'cause we like the Like.
THE LIKE WITH GINGER SLING AND ARMY NAVY AT DETROIT, 843 W. 19TH ST., COSTA MESA, (949) 642-0600; WWW.DETROITBAR.COM. THURS., JAN. 19, 9 P.M. $8.
