Derek Branscombe '70s-styled radio rock - the sort marked by tight multi-part harmonies, guitars that go from chunky rhythms to smooth leads like the peanut butter aisle, and a laid back sort of pop songcraft that's inviting like a pitcher of beer on a hot Summer's day - has been back in style lately, and no one's done a better job of repping it locally than Zeus . Their 2010 debut Say Us won them plenty of fans both across Canada and abroad. Somehow amidst all the touring [...]
Frank Yang It probably amounts to some sort of Can-rock heresy, but I think I actually like Bry Webb on his own more than I ever did with Constantines . I fully acknowledge why many hold the Cons up as one of the greatest Canadian rock acts of the past however many years/decades/centuries - I've seen them live , I know what they were capable of - but the fact is, his solo debut Provider has captivated me more than any of the [...]
Download covers of every song on Steely Dan's 'Aja,' brilliantly performed by Toronto quartet the Darcys.
In re-imagining Steely Dan 's 1977 classic album Aja , Toronto art rockers The Darcys breathe new life into songs I've heard perhaps 500 times. The Darcys render these songs not grooveless, but grounded in a mostly minimalist, modern electronic landscape. They typically maintain vocal melodies but update the music by removing the pristine jazz-influenced approach of the original work and replacing it with bleak and angular electronics, regimented guitar, and metronomic percussion. That's not to say the vocals sound similar to the original, though; voices are frail and subdued, standing in stark contrast [...]
As bad a wrap as the jazz-influenced smooth rockers get from the hipster generation, as witnessed by the portrayal of Donald Fagen as a mush-mouthed buffoon on the popular Yacht Rock shorts . Under the high-gloss sheen of studio innovator Roger "The Immortal" Nichols, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker assembled intricate progressions interlaced with brilliant lyrical moments of dark witticism, in the process achieving a level of perfectionism that may never again be matched. That being said, the task of covering one of their tunes is in itself one of the most daunting undertakings a band [...]
Killbeat If we were to spool up the Wayback Machine to November 2006 , you'd find a post where I confessed that sending me a lovely slab of vinyl was a pretty good way to get to the top of my "to listen to" pile... something that apparently still holds true over a half decade later. But as I pointed out even way back then, a listen is not the same as a writeup so I find it comforting to know that Camp Radio still has the goods to impress in whatever format they're [...]
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet. Today's free and legal mp3 downloads: Adios Amigo : free and legal Adios Amigo album [mp3] search for more Adios Amigo posts at Largehearted Boy Bellwire : free and legal (name your price) Waterbed album [...]
Moody, dense and textured, AJA is an exploration of physical and emotional space and the real a nd imaginary divisions within it. The decision to interpret the album in full was made during a period in which the band struggled to comple te its self-titled sophomore record. With no label and mixing stalled, The Darcys were unable to track new material, instead embracing the challenge of reshaping the collective favorite and presenting it to the world as a dark, but bold declaration of self-sufficiency. "We did it because we could," the band's [...]
There have been so many notable new releases that dropped in the past week that music lovers have plenty of great, new music to keep them busy, and which explains partly why we're late with this post (this week's releases will be posted soon, but first the really good stuff). While January is usually a [...] Read more, get songs or stream the entire mix on Indie Rock Cafe
![The Darcys – Aja [review]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4020769_lg.jpg)
This is the first album review of 2012. It comes from Toronto's The Darcys . Aja (pronounced Asia) is their second album on Arts & Crafts . From what I read that Aja and the self-titled album are part of a companion trilogy set. Not sure what the themes are? Having released their self-titled album three months ago . This comes to no surprise and quickness of the second album. Aja consist of seven tracks. The majority of the tracks are brand new [...]
by teepoo Here is this week's most visited single-song posts! Man that Gary Clark Jr. song has been on chart forever and it can still rock the top. Hope you find love in a song that someone else has loved. Position Last Song Link 1 5 Gary Clark Jr.- Bright Lights post [...]
'AJA' is the second in a trilogy of releases from Toronto art rock quartet The Darcys. Taking a song-for-song reinterpretation of the classic 1977 Steely Dan record, The Darcys have done a lot to modernized the sound of the originals, but may have dated themselves in the process. Read more »
Frank Yang Though his punk credentials are beyond reproach thans to his tenure in Propagandhi , John K. Samson has always cut a bit of a curious figure in front of The Weakerthans . While his bandmates are more than willing and able to play the part of rockers in turning out muscular guitar riffs and solos, Samson by comparison has always been a bit slight of stature, reedy of voice, sheepish of grin; the thoughtful and verbose folksinger who somehow ended up fronting a rock band. I don't know if the [...]
![[Listen/Download] The Darcys- Black Cow](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4011315_lg.jpg)
by teepoo Seems like The Darcys are always giving us free goodies! Well today, they released another set of songs called AJA which they have released for free download in exchange for an e-mail here . The 7 songs are soulful pieces of distorted rock and a take on Steely Dan's 1977 album. The Darcy's music is never void of sound and AJA continues to prove this point. The Darcys- Black Cow
If 2012 is really the apocalypse, we'll at least be serenaded by lots of great music as our world goes up in flames. Yes, it's another great week of new releases filled with KEXP favorites, new and old. In fact, we've long been fans of Nada Surf , who return with their sixth album this week, which according to our Music Director, Don Yates, "finds them injecting some welcome additional energy and aggression into their melodic pop-rock sound via quicker tempos and some bristling electric guitar lines." Fans needn't fear that the New York band is trying to recapture [...]
I've never really been much of a Steely Dan fan. I've only ever taken in a handful of their songs, but none of them ever really clicked with me in a significant way. But I am a fan of The Darcys , and the gentlemen of that band seem to fall distinctly on the other side of the Steely Dan fence. So much so that they went as far as covering the entirety of Steely Dan's breakthrough 1977 record, Aja , as the second of three planned full-lengths making it out this year through their new home at Arts [...]
To celebrate today's crop of releases, here are new mp3s from the Darcys, Laura Gibson, Reversing Falls, Standard Fare and Grace Woodroofe. Also, vote for your favorite of today's new releases.
Though you may not think it at first, seventies jazz-rock pioneers Steely Dan are probably one of the hardest bands out there to cover. How difficult it is to do justice to Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's zealous studio perfectionism and heavily layered sinister undertones. Yet that didn't stop Toronto prog-rockers The Darcys from deciding to try and reinterpret the entirety of Steely Dan's seminal 1977 album, Aja . As we noted in yesterdays review of AJA , The Darcys "sonically unearth Steely Dan's buried lyrical darkness" with their meticulously tuned noise that [...]
Okay, I'm sick and tired of writing and rewriting this review. So you tell me, what do you need to know more: a) how in God's name did The Darcys end up covering the whole of Steely Dan's Aja , or b) how good (or bad) said cover album is? If you said a): Picture it: Toronto, early 2010. The Darcys are a week away from playing an anticipated Canadian Music Week when their singer Kirby Best ups and leaves the band. Boom! [...]
When an Aja -loving friend heard that Toronto band The Darcys were releasing a track-by-track tribute to the classic Steely Dan record, he e-mailed me, " Aja … cannot be duplicated or reinterpreted...I couldn't think of a band that would be less appreciative of someone covering their material." Okay, he's right. But the Arts and Crafts quartet can at least be given credit for lending relevance to a band that's unfairly maligned in some music circles. Furthermore, The Darcys' take, AJA , actually sounds pretty good. You can download it free on the band's [...]
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