exploremusic

Two people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, include a friends daughter named Santana, (naturally I had to get her an autograph from Carlos), and another lovely girl named Aja, (pronounced Asia), after the classic 1977 album by the great Steely Dan.

Both girls, thankfully, embrace their unique names, as so many of us have embraced the music for which they’re named. 

Their 6^th album, Steely Dan’s Aja remains their best selling and most celebrated, in 1978 having taken the Grammy for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, and in 2003,  ranked number 145 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

You can learn all about the album on the documentary from the series known as ‘Classic Albums’ (available at retail).

On April 6, 2011, Aja was deemed by the American Library of Congress to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important”.

Now WARNING!  (I’m stopping just shy of skull and cross bones, just)   If you love the way the the album AJA by Steely Dan sounds, and have so since the first time you heard it, there’s a pretty good chance this new version of it, by a different band, will NOT be for you.   Think loud guitars, sped up tempos, not the chill scene Steely Dan gave us.   Like the original, this is very time and place, to me. It may have no time or place for those attached to the original.

That said, it has it’s moments, “Home at Last” among them.  Reminds me of Jeff Buckley a little, and Coldplay, with rougher edges.

And so this is a sort of tribute to Aja, a new presentation as they put it,  by the Canadian band, from Toronto known as THE DARCY’S, who are currently on a cross-Canada tour.

The Darcy’s self-titled debut, came out this past October, as the first in a trio of planned full-length records.  Second in the trilogy is their interpretation of AJA, out today (Jan 24^th), including on limited edition vinyl, and it’s getting rave reviews already from The Globe and Mail and The National Post.

I’m about to listen to it right now, and offer you the same opportunity (below), plus the album will be available for Free Download at thedarcys.ca,  today (Jan 24, 2012), and you can order a copy on 180 gram vinyl and there are tour dates listed below.

The Darcys – AJA by Arts & Crafts

Touring with ARKELLS (Canada) and BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB (USA)!

THE DARCYS will be touring Canada with ARKELLS this month followed by a US tour with BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB! 

(01/19   Guelph, ON   // PCH *)

(01/20   Hamilton, ON // Hamilton Convention Centre *)

01/27   Kingston, ON // Ale House *

01/28   Montreal, QC // Petit Campus *

01/31   Moncton, NB // Manhattan *

02/01   Fredericton, NB // The Ballroom *

02/02   Halifax, NS // Grawood *

02/03   Charlottetown, PEI // The Wave *

02/04   Antigonish, NS // The McKay Room *

02/09   Kitchener, ON // Elements *

02/10   London, ON // London Music Hall *

02/14   San Diego, CA // The Casbah ^

02/15   Los Angeles, CA  // El Rey Theatre ^

02/16   San Francisco, CA // Popscene @ Rickshaw Stop ^

02/17   Portland, OR // Doug Fir ^

02/18   Seattle, WA // Crocodile ^

02/20   Vancouver, BC // Commodore ^

02/21   Kamloops, BC // Blue Grotto ^

02/22   Calgary, AB // Republik ^

02/23   Edmonton, AB // Starlite ^

02/25   Winnipeg, MB // West End Cultural Centre ^

02/26   Minneapolis, MN // 7th Street Entry ^

02/27   Chicago, IL // Subterranean ^

02/29   Columbus, OH // The Basement ^

03/01   Toronto, ON // The Mod Club ^

03/03   Brooklyn, NY // Music Hall Of Williamsburg ^

03/05   New York, NY // Bowery Ballroom ^

03/07   Washington, DC // 930 Club ^

03/09   Boston, MA // Middle East ^03/10   Philadelphia, PA // Union Transfer ^ * w/ Arkells^ w/ BBC