2022 week 8 | aja by steely dan

this week we are going pure, unadulterated 70s jazz-pop nostalgia with steely dan’s Aja, a cassette tape that lived and died in my dad’s white 90’s toyota forerunner, and then heavily rotated in our living room 6-cd changer upon the changing tech. As someone born in 1992, I can’t say if this album is or was underappreciated. Pitchfork gave it a posthumous 10/10 review in 2019 and I’m not here to argue. It feels like anyone I talk to about it over the age of 40 (1) is surprised I’m familiar with it and (2) loves it or tells me their favorite steely dan album is actually Gaucho. Fair enough. I know several huge steely dan fans my own age (who are actually going to see them on tour this May) and I’m here for it! This album fucking rules and I know it backwards and forwards already, but man I needed this week.