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Rising starlets
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Shortly before Los Angeles trio the Like made their local debut upstairs at the Middle East a week ago Wednesday, a friend from LA e-mailed me some advice: "Don’t go to see them just because they’re cute teenage girls, even though they are." Indeed, the Like aren’t just any high-school-age female trio: Singer/guitarist Elizabeth Berg, bassist/singer Charlotte Froom, and drummer Tennessee Thomas are respectively the daughters of producer/A&R honcho Tony Berg, producer/musician Mitchell Froom, and Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas. Their lineage — along with the fact that they are indeed cute teenage girls — would be enough to start a bidding war. But their show at the Middle East last Wednesday suggested they’ve got the goods to back up the buzz. In fact, the Like just may be the next great pop group to come out of LA. The trio were the openers on a bill that featured two better-known acts — faux French indie-pop chanteuse April March and the hook-loving Starlight Mints. With Berg up front in a flowered prom dress, the Like looked charmingly self-conscious when they hit the stage; this probably wasn’t a put-on, since it was their first-ever show outside LA. But that didn’t stop them from playing a tight set and creating an edgy kind of beauty that brought to mind indie-pop influences like Scrawl and mid-career Throwing Muses. Froom’s lyrical bass lines carry most of the instrumental weight, and Thomas looks a bit like her equally tall dad as she towers over her drums, though she favors a solid backbeat instead of his manic fills. The songs, most of them written and sung by Berg and nearly all on the moody side, offered more depth and regret than one might expect from a 17-year-old. "Mrs. Actually," which appears on the second of the band’s two homemade CD-R EPs, cries out to be a hit single; it’s a slow-building wounded love song with a gorgeously curling melody. "27 Days," from the same EP, hitched some Costello-esque turns of phrase ("Now you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind, but still you know that I’m your property") to a giddy chorus. The Like were greeted by little or no fanfare — the crowd probably didn’t know how well-connected these girls are. Bur it was a rare opportunity to see a promising young band before the hype machine kicks into gear.
BY BRETT MILANO
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