i think there's every reason to be skeptical of a band that's big in LA and not too popular anywhere else. this review makes them sound harmless enough, i suppose.
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The live performances of '70s proto-punk bands such as the Stooges and the New York Dolls offered brawn, swagger and risk, with each chaotic gig seemingly promising to be their last. Living Things, which headlined Sunday at the Black Cat, sounds like one of those bands, but isn't. Playing to an understandably sparse audience on an icy night, the Things delivered their 40-minute set with the precision and predictability of a well-tuned stadium-rock act.
Formed in St. Louis and based in Los Angeles, Things is composed of three brothers -- singer and sometime guitarist Lillian Berlin, bassist Eve Berlin and drummer Bosh Berlin -- and an unrelated guitarist. Flanking the singer, Eve Berlin and Cory Becker looked like stray rockabilly cats, while the rail-thin, long-haired Lillian Berlin cultivated an androgynous glam-rock look. (His bell-bottoms and matching vest could have come from the women's department, although his bare chest and tight pants were unambiguous.) In addition to his mild gender bending, the singer courted controversy by denouncing the current administration, in his between-song remarks and in rockers such as "I Owe." The latter's string of acronyms -- "FBI, CIA," etc. -- had less impact than the band's snappy but indecipherable shout-along choruses.
If the band seemed a little sedate, that was at least in part because it couldn't draw on the energy of a large, lively crowd. Still, based on this performance, it doesn't seem likely that the Things will ever achieve transcendent mayhem. Where its models merited adjectives such as "cataclysmic," Living merely earned "likable."
-- Mark Jenkins
