[Colleague Frank Farrar catches up with local favorites the Like:]

Fans showing up to hear old favorites from the Like at Spaceland on Wednesday were out of

luck. But there didn’t seem to be too many disappointed faces after the still-young

group’s energetic set cast entirely of new material.  It’s been a couple of years

since the Like’s debut album, “Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking,” came out — and that

CD recast songs on earlier EPs. No surprise, then, that the trio reveled in playing some

new stuff.

At one point during the typically casual, amiable show, singer-guitarist Z Berg

responded to an inquiring mind by promising that a new album “will come out after we

make it.” However, after the set, she said she expects Geffen will release it next year,

and the Spaceland set was just the second of two shows the band wanted to do before

going to Europe in October to record with producer Youth (the Verve, Crowded House).

Some of the new songs may have felt a little underdeveloped, and the first ones were

marred by a sound mix that came off like Rock Night in an underwater grotto. But once

that got cleared up, the band’s strengths came through: the Blondie-fied ’60s girl group

allure of “Release Me”; Charlotte Froom’s confident bass playing, especially on the

evening’s closer; Tennessee Thomas’ increasingly vital drumming (she sure likes those

toms); and Z’s upper-register vocals, which can give the music a particularly memorable

signature touch as it cascades from throbbing garage psychedelia and mid-’60s pop to

visions of prog and even a lilting, tamed-down ska line here or there.

“We’ve got a thousand new songs,” Z joked after the show. OK, narrow it down to the

500 best and you’ll have something.