Crazy for You album

Best Coast has a cool name, sound (indie bubblegum) and back story (a 23-year-old singer and her former male babysitter). The L.A. group's gig Thursday at the Triple Rock was fun and encouraging even if Best Coast seemed like a one-trick pony. The performance was short (three or four minutes short of an hour, including encore) and sweet (classic California pop-meets-girl-group with plenty of fuzz and reverb). With her pure pop voice (think a sunnier Neko Case), Bethany Cosentino sings mostly about the same thing: A never-angry assessment of how our relationship isn't working but I don't hate you. Even though her words are as simple as her tunes, she played with her phrasing and used repetition in ways that made the songs more interesting. Musically, the lo-fi Best Coast sounded like Susanna Hoffs' demos to be played for the rest of the Bangles. Cosentino had to sing her own whoo-whoos and oh-ohs as she riffed on her electric guitar. Bobb Bruno pushed the songs on his six-string bass, and Ali Koehler (formerly of Vivian Girls and just added this summer) provided primitive drums. Best Coast did material from its July full-length "Crazy for You," a cover of Lesley Gore's "That's the Way Boys Are" (great choice of a terrific pop tune) and some new numbers (including "Over the Ocean"). The catchy single "Boyfriend" was delivered early. Highlights were "Bratty B," "Summer Mood" and the Gore cover. The crowd dug it, and Cosentino loved the reaction. "You guys are really awesome," she declared near the end. "No offense to colleges but this is way better than [playing] a [bleeping] college. You can hear yourself, you can drink and people give you weed." And maybe someone gave Best Coast some munchies after the show.