Little Joy: Little Joy : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Along with Albert Hammond Jr.'s restless solo career, Fabrizio Moretti's new band suggests that Strokes side projects are an astonishingly great idea. Named for an L.A. cocktail lounge and sounding like one, the trio are fronted by Rodrigo Amarante, a polyglot Brazilian rocker who comes off like a languid Julian Casablancas. Binki Shapiro is the group's Nico, adding delicate vocals and glockenspiel to the lullaby-ish "Don't Watch Me Dancing" and the reggae-inflected "The Next Time Around." With Moretti on guitars, drums and backing vocals, the vibe is closing time at the Beachcomber: songs that conjure mid-20th-century pop with Jamaican, Hawaiian and bossa nova flavors. Like Vampire Weekend, it's indie rock getting its global groove on.