Last night saw the NYC debut of Little Joy–the side project between Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes, Rodrigo Amarante of Los Hermanos, and Binki Shapiro–at a sold out show at the Mercury Lounge.
The band plays solid, catchy music that’s charming and full of… well… joy. I have to say, out of all the Strokes’ members side projects (Albert Hammond Jr’s solo ventures, Nikolai Fraiture’s band Nickel Eye), Little Joy is perhaps the most refined and eclectic. It’s no doubt that Rodrigo Amarante’s notable career as an accomplished singer songwriter has had a dynamic and positive effect on the band’s mature sound.
Drawing band support from long-time Strokes compadre Matt Romano (drums) along with guitar power from Michael Ian Cummings and Matthew Borg from opener The Dead Trees, the band had an impressive, complete sound. Perhaps it’s testament to the individual experience of each of the band members, but was hard to believe that this band is on it’s first live tour–although there were some starts and stops, for the most part the performance was a well-oiled machine, where the music flowed freely and easily from their instruments and mouths.
They also dished out a new untitled song. Check it out in the video of the song below. Try to ignore the girl with the camcorder… she was up there the whole time w/ her video cam:
Little Joy @ Mercury Lounge, NYC from l on Vimeo.
Fellow NYC musicians Albert Hammond Jr. and Steve Schiltz of Longwave were on hand to cheer their buddy on.
Definitely a charming debut for this fun new little band.
Continue reading “Little Joy and The Dead Trees at Mercury Lounge, NYC 11/13/08 – Video and Pictures”