The All England Club: June 2010

I saw The Like a couple of years ago and I was not impressed. I think that for the most part Mark Ronson has produced their new record and for the record I think he's actually very overrated, and a bit of a follower rather than a creator. And maybe the commenter on this Refinery 29 article is right and these gals are poseurs who just have good stylists. I have no real issue with them being famous progeny, and them being well-heeled and well-to-do (Joe Strummer was an ambassador's kid, ya know), but the whole LA retro scenester thing I find much more damning. So I am loathe to recommend this, but... look at them. I'm a sucker. I know this. Bangs, false eyelashes, mary janes and Mary Quant and I'm smitten. But I do have standards and it takes more than that to convince me to recommend them here.

The thing is, the new single... it's great. It puts the Pipettes to shame, and really has to make Duffy and Kate Nash cry. It's got much more shimmy and shake and really takes out the twee that seems to ruin most of the music that reaches for this era. The thing about girl groups is the fact that they were inherently pushing the envelope by simply being on stage. There's inherent danger in them, at least in the best ones. More like the Shangri-las or even Tuscadero, The Like know how to make you think that the quiet ones are perhaps the wildest ones. Maybe it is too overproduced and too professional, as compared to folks like Dum Dum Girls and The Splinters, but when I listen to those bands I keep thinking that they are confusing "lack of singing/playing ability" for "lo-fi." The Like sound like they aren't just trying to be better, they just are.

Get some free music from The Like at RCRDLBL.com: http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/The_Like/music

And barring all of the stuff in my first paragraph, when it comes down to it, great rock and roll both sounds AND looks good. And right now, The Like look and sound good to me.