Lissy Trullie @ Santos Party House

Photo Credit: Faith-Ann Young
Lissy Trullie "Self Taught Learner" - mp3

The buzz has been slowly building around Lissy Tullie for a few months now, and her set Monday night at Santos Party House proved that, not only was she good enough to justify it, but that said "buzz" was reaching new levels.

Lissy came on around midnight...
More photos and words after the jump.

Openers, The Rumble Strips, hit around 11 p.m. Mark Ronson (who tickled the vinyl later) has already agreed to produce their next record, and it seems that that album will also come out on Ronson's label. While sporting a fantastic lead singer, the 'Strips didn't deliver as I had hoped. The bald keyboardist was a little freaky, and their horns... well, let's just say they were more LeRoi Moore (RIP) than Dap Kings.

Lissy came on around midnight to a packed house that contained Little Joy/Strokes drummer Fab Moretti and Britt Daniel from Spoon along with numerous Amazon looking women towering over a certain blogger (also in attendance.) Trullie played in a not wholly original style, channeling visions of downtown NY's rock past. Yet, there was something strikingly legitimate about it all. From her capable guitar playing, to her slightly-androgynous look and voice and well crafted songs...I kept saying to myself, "wow, she's really pulling it off!" And she did. She was just, well, cool. Her band was good and she put on a tight show.

Then Adam Green came out. Crowd surfed. And I didn't care.

Tullie is label-less, and record-less. Yet, according to a publicist, she has an EP due sometime in 2009. Based on Monday's performance at Santos, it's clear there is something good going on with Lissy Trullie -- it's only a matter of time before she assembles the right team and makes her entrance into the mainstream. Keep your eye out in 2009.

Go ahead music writers -- make your own Trullie/Truly puns. Whose gonna be the first?? Not us.

Little Joy Video - "Next Time Around"

While we're trying to get that Dodos video link below to work (damn you baeble,) here's a video from Little Joy (that other band that Fab Moretti is in.) The video captures pretty accurately the tone of their new eponymous record. It's made for sitting around in a room somewhere warm and hanging out -- not much more. But damn if we still don't love it. The full record is still streaming at their myspace.

Little Joy

Little Joy (Rough Trade)
Release Date: Nov. 4, 2008
Rating 78%

Little Joy - "Keep Me in Mind"

With several tracks that sound like one-time candidates for the Room On Fire tracklist, and lead vocals that bear startling resemblance to those of Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas, (or possibly a more chipper Jake Bellows... anyone?), Little Joy is nothing you haven’t heard before. Still, if you’re like me, that shouldn’t cheapen your enjoyment of this strong debut from Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes, Binki Shapiro, and Rodrigo Amarante (singer/guitarist of Los Hermanos) --production by the talented Noah Georgeson (Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom,)

According to the band’s Myspace page, Amarante and Moretti met through a chance encounter at a Portuguese festival in Lisbon -- both kept in touch while Amarante recorded with Devendra Banhart a year later. Binki Shapiro, L.A. native and musician, was introduced to the two through mutual friends and Little Joy was born. If the Strokes are quintessentially New York, Little Joy is their Cali counterpart; warm, happy melodies abound as the album channels beach fun and bare feet. Still, it’s not an incongruous release for November, and even strictly seasonal listeners will be able to enjoy this one with snow on the ground. Shapiro’s vocals on several tracks add a 40s-vintage feel while simultaneously reminding you that this isn’t a Strokes record after all.

There are many different reasons to love a record. I happen to like this album for reasons completely opposite from those that compel me to love Animal Collective records (sorry Andrew). In other words, people who love to hate on an easy-to-love, pop-rock record (you know who you are) might find this album an easy target, but that’s lame. Little Joy isn’t innovating, they just refuse to fix what’s not broken, and there’s no shame in that.

Tara McCarthy—Stark Contributing Writer