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Little Joy

EMAILPRINTby Little Joy

Little Joy reviews
71
8.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 29 votes
Read user comments
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Album Info

Label: Rough Trade

Release Date: 04 November 2008

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Rock, Indie

Summary

The debut album for the rock band headed up by The Strokes' Fabrizio Moretti and Rodrigo Amarante.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

musicOMH.com

A little joy goes a long way--a long way towards one of the more carefree albums you'll enjoy this autumn.

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80

Tiny Mix Tapes

Fab and singer Rodrigo Amarante (of Rio De Janeiro’s Los Hermanos) affect the heavy hearts of coastal lounge singers yet retain the resilience of city kids who can’t be beat. Although backup singer Binki Shaprio is too feathery to really make an impact, the sum of Little Joy’s sincere regret and wide-eyed optimism lend a bedroom intimacy to the group’s debut.

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80

Rolling Stone

Like Vampire Weekend, it's indie rock getting its global groove on.

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80

Slant Magazine

It's a sunny album with low aspirations, which in this case is a compliment.

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80

All Music Guide

A laid-back and easy to digest album with no grand statements to absorb or deeper meanings to dig for, it's made up of simple songs recorded simply and sung sweetly.

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80

No Ripcord

Little Joy makes for a fine, self-contained little album.

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72

Pitchfork

Little Joy is not going to stop the world or change your life, but it's one of the sweetest, most listenable, consistently enjoyable records of the season.

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70

New Musical Express (NME)

Little Joy might not quite have built a castle in the sky, but they’ve constructed a cosy little corner in our hearts.

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70

Billboard

Nothing on the album is as catchy or as memorable as the Strokes' sharpest material, but several cuts sport a sweet Latin lilt, which helps distinguish the music from work by any number of similarly situated acts.

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70

Under The Radar

Producer Noah Georgeson makes all the right decisions in keeping the sound warm, relaxed, and analog to cleverly use the past to give listeners an easy entry point into these pleasant, deceptively simple recordings. [Year End 2008]

70

Spin

Though sometimes courting sleepiness, the debut's barbershop harmonies, Hawaiian strumming, and lovesick melodies transform rock-club jadedness into an aesthetic fit for honeymoons, holidays, and other occasions where you savor small pleasures, even if they're quaintly recycled.

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65

Lost At Sea

While the similarities to Morretti's other group are what make Little Joy so easy to digest, they are also what make it seem somewhat unremarkable.

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63

Los Angeles Times

Little Joy's charmingly lazy songwriting makes no gesture at becoming anything beyond an excellent dinner-party soundtrack. But in these trying times for art and political life, such warm-hearted mood music will at least make your headaches go away.

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60

Mojo

Lovely music, no agendas. [Dec 2008, p.102]

60

NOW Magazine

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.

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60

Hot Press

Despite initial misgivings, our reviewer found that Little Joy's album delivers an old fashioned pop feel with a little DIY indie sound.

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60

Q Magazine

It makes a refreshing change from the studied cool of Moretti's paymasters. [Dec 2008, p.130]

60

Uncut

Ambitions here, you feel, do not extend far beyond ‘a good time, all the time’-–it’s probably telling that the band name derives from a cocktail lounge on Sunset Boulevard-–but then, Moretti probably wouldn’t want it any other way.

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56

Filter

This debut could've, should've and would've been more appropriate as a moody summer release for trips with the car windows down, but instead we're forced to keep 'em up as winter nags at our sleeves. [Holiday 2008, p.100]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 29 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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