Little Joy
Little Joy
Release Date: Nov 4, 2008
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Rough Trade
Music Critic Score
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Album Review: Little Joy by Little Joy
Very Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Attempting to compile a list of good side-project albums by drummers of successful bands is a task that will have you stumped almost from the beginning. It appears that Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti has done the impossible, though, with Little Joy, the band he formed in 2008 with Rodrigo Amarante of the Brazilian band Los Hermanos and Los Angeles singer/songwriter Binki Shapiro. Fab doesn't do the singing, but he wrote (or co-wrote) all the songs and provides a good portion of musical backing for Amarante and Shapiro's restrained vocals.
Based on rating 3/5
While the Strokes are on hiatus, drummer Fabrizio Moretti's new three-piece still manages to incorporate some of his other band's jangly garage elements. [rssbreak] He also finds plenty of room for a hangover-laced take on exotic lounge and South American folk that conjures as many palm trees and sandy beach sunsets as it does dimly lit cocktail bars from another era. There are some really gorgeous moments here, as on sleepy waltz Don't Watch Me Dancing and beautiful lazy closer Evaporar, but overall the album comes off as an incomplete and thrown-together hobby project.
Opinion: Excellent
Sick Scenes finds Los Campesinos! raging against the passage of time and all it entails. But while the band is getting older, it's ferocious energy, earworm melodies and crackerjack lyrics are as fresh as ever. The debut studio album by British grime MC Stormzy gives a voice to both the street and religious sides of his life. He is not the best pound-for-pound spitter, but he is certainly climbing the ladder and getting close.