Undiscovered Islands: Week One
Tonight! 10:00 PM · Galapagos Art Space
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society celebrating the release of Infernal Machines on New Amsterdam Records
“Infernal Machines [is] a seven track marvel of imagination." --Time Out New York
“a fully integrated sound world as current as it is timeless" --All About Jazz
“one of the finest jazz records I've truly ever heard." --The Big City
7:00-9:30 - Kickoff party @ Rebar
10:00 Darcy James Argue's Secret Society
Tickets: $10
Tonight at 10:00 PM, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society will kick off the first-ever Undiscovered Islands festival, co-sponsored by New Amsterdam Records and Galapagos Art Space. The show is the record release event for Infernal Machines, the band's new album that has been met with overwhelming praise from critics around the country. Here's what some of them are saying:
All About Jazz
“The critical acclaim lavished upon this eighteen-piece ensemble since their first gig in 2005 has been entirely justified...His harmonically rich blend of contrapuntal horn voicings, atmospheric electronic textures and post-minimalist rhythms surpass the early fusion experiments of his predecessors, yielding a fully integrated sound world as current as it is timeless...Although the halcyon days of the big bands are long past, Infernal Machines stands defiant, updating the big band tradition for the new millennium while presenting exciting possibilities for the future." - Troy Collins
Newsweek
“For a wholly original take on big band's past, present and future, look to Darcy James Argue, a 33-year-old Brooklynite who has composed a batch of manifestoes that draws on past legacies, and adds a little postpunk energy to boot...Argue's tunes can command your attention anywhere - no small feat in our media-saturated world." - Seth Colter Walls
Village Voice
“a complex yet viscerally persuasive meditation on big-band movement...It's maximalist music of impressive complexity and immense entertainment value, in your face and then in your head." - Richard Gehr
Time Out New York
(Five Stars) “a seven-track marvel of imagination" - David R. Adler
WBGO Checkout Listening Session
“some of the freshest new big-band music in New York." - Josh Jackson
NewMusicBox
“Despite having made the rounds, and despite also having been exceptionally generous at providing downloads of almost all of the band's live gigs on his website, Argue hasn't released anything commercially until now. This leave-them-wanting-more patterning of behavior has even led to a certain amount of hype for Argue's first release, a term that pretty much only otherwise occurs in new music writing when it's being horribly misused. Nevertheless, Argue's tactics-intentional or not-pay off for Infernal Machines, Secret Society's debut release on New Amsterdam Records. It was worth the wait." - Trevor Hunter
The Big City
“This is a seriously great band, with a tremendous rhythm section, a beautiful blend of brass and winds, chops and enormous reserves of power. The soloists are outstanding, particularly Ryan Keberle's tasty, funky trombone on 'Zeno' and Ingrid Jensen's searching trumpet on 'Transit.' The album comes to an intense and unresolved end, not unlike Mingus' 'Black Saint and the Sinner Lady,' which just leaves one reaching for the replay button. Because, to repeat something else, this is a seriously great record, one of the finest examples of new jazz I've heard in the past decade, one of the finest big band records ever made, one of the finest jazz records I've truly ever heard." - George Grella
Jazz Chronicles
“An exciting stylist with an abundance of ideas, Argue deserves his place alongside Schneider, Hollenbeck and other contemporary big band arrangers who are looking beyond traditional notions of what a large jazz orchestra should, and can, sound like." - James Hale
The Hartford Courant
“Darcy James Argue has fashioned a recording that fulfills the promise heard in the many live sessions on his website. Treat the CD like a favorite book or movie, one that you return to time and again, containing music that with each listening, something new stands out even as you are comforted by sounds you recall." - Richard Kamins
Darcy was also nominated for awards in two categories from the Jazz Journalists Association: Up and Coming Artist of the Year, and Large Ensemble of the Year (along with such classic standouts as the Mingus Big Band, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, and the Charles Tolliver Big Band). We at New Amsterdam congratulate him on this well-deserved honor.
Click here to hear preview tracks from Infernal Machines! Click here to purchase tickets for tonight's show, or any of the Undiscovered Islands events, including Nadia Sirota's record release, with the Chiara Quartet, itsnotyouitsme, and more; the premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider's Penelope, with Signal, Rachel Calloway, and Steven Mackey, along with So Percussion premiering a new work by Dan Deacon; and the premiere double bill of Song from the Uproar, by composer Missy Mazzoli and filmmaker Stephen Taylor, with NOW Ensemble and Abigail Fischer, and William Brittelle's Television Landscape, with a 14-person band.
Galapagos Art Space is located at 16 Main Street (click link for a map) in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood, just across the East River from Manhattan. For more information, please visit galapagosartspace.com. The record release show starts at 10:00, and is preceded by a festival kickoff party at Rebar, located at 147 Front St., just down the block from Galapagos.
Tonight! 10:00 PM · Galapagos Art Space
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society celebrating the release of Infernal Machines on New Amsterdam Records
“Infernal Machines [is] a seven track marvel of imagination." --Time Out New York
“a fully integrated sound world as current as it is timeless" --All About Jazz
“one of the finest jazz records I've truly ever heard." --The Big City
7:00-9:30 - Kickoff party @ Rebar
10:00 Darcy James Argue's Secret Society
Tickets: $10
Tonight at 10:00 PM, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society will kick off the first-ever Undiscovered Islands festival, co-sponsored by New Amsterdam Records and Galapagos Art Space. The show is the record release event for Infernal Machines, the band's new album that has been met with overwhelming praise from critics around the country. Here's what some of them are saying:
All About Jazz
“The critical acclaim lavished upon this eighteen-piece ensemble since their first gig in 2005 has been entirely justified...His harmonically rich blend of contrapuntal horn voicings, atmospheric electronic textures and post-minimalist rhythms surpass the early fusion experiments of his predecessors, yielding a fully integrated sound world as current as it is timeless...Although the halcyon days of the big bands are long past, Infernal Machines stands defiant, updating the big band tradition for the new millennium while presenting exciting possibilities for the future." - Troy Collins
Newsweek
“For a wholly original take on big band's past, present and future, look to Darcy James Argue, a 33-year-old Brooklynite who has composed a batch of manifestoes that draws on past legacies, and adds a little postpunk energy to boot...Argue's tunes can command your attention anywhere - no small feat in our media-saturated world." - Seth Colter Walls
Village Voice
“a complex yet viscerally persuasive meditation on big-band movement...It's maximalist music of impressive complexity and immense entertainment value, in your face and then in your head." - Richard Gehr
Time Out New York
(Five Stars) “a seven-track marvel of imagination" - David R. Adler
WBGO Checkout Listening Session
“some of the freshest new big-band music in New York." - Josh Jackson
NewMusicBox
“Despite having made the rounds, and despite also having been exceptionally generous at providing downloads of almost all of the band's live gigs on his website, Argue hasn't released anything commercially until now. This leave-them-wanting-more patterning of behavior has even led to a certain amount of hype for Argue's first release, a term that pretty much only otherwise occurs in new music writing when it's being horribly misused. Nevertheless, Argue's tactics-intentional or not-pay off for Infernal Machines, Secret Society's debut release on New Amsterdam Records. It was worth the wait." - Trevor Hunter
The Big City
“This is a seriously great band, with a tremendous rhythm section, a beautiful blend of brass and winds, chops and enormous reserves of power. The soloists are outstanding, particularly Ryan Keberle's tasty, funky trombone on 'Zeno' and Ingrid Jensen's searching trumpet on 'Transit.' The album comes to an intense and unresolved end, not unlike Mingus' 'Black Saint and the Sinner Lady,' which just leaves one reaching for the replay button. Because, to repeat something else, this is a seriously great record, one of the finest examples of new jazz I've heard in the past decade, one of the finest big band records ever made, one of the finest jazz records I've truly ever heard." - George Grella
Jazz Chronicles
“An exciting stylist with an abundance of ideas, Argue deserves his place alongside Schneider, Hollenbeck and other contemporary big band arrangers who are looking beyond traditional notions of what a large jazz orchestra should, and can, sound like." - James Hale
The Hartford Courant
“Darcy James Argue has fashioned a recording that fulfills the promise heard in the many live sessions on his website. Treat the CD like a favorite book or movie, one that you return to time and again, containing music that with each listening, something new stands out even as you are comforted by sounds you recall." - Richard Kamins
Darcy was also nominated for awards in two categories from the Jazz Journalists Association: Up and Coming Artist of the Year, and Large Ensemble of the Year (along with such classic standouts as the Mingus Big Band, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, and the Charles Tolliver Big Band). We at New Amsterdam congratulate him on this well-deserved honor.
Click here to hear preview tracks from Infernal Machines! Click here to purchase tickets for tonight's show, or any of the Undiscovered Islands events, including Nadia Sirota's record release, with the Chiara Quartet, itsnotyouitsme, and more; the premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider's Penelope, with Signal, Rachel Calloway, and Steven Mackey, along with So Percussion premiering a new work by Dan Deacon; and the premiere double bill of Song from the Uproar, by composer Missy Mazzoli and filmmaker Stephen Taylor, with NOW Ensemble and Abigail Fischer, and William Brittelle's Television Landscape, with a 14-person band.
Galapagos Art Space is located at 16 Main Street (click link for a map) in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood, just across the East River from Manhattan. For more information, please visit galapagosartspace.com. The record release show starts at 10:00, and is preceded by a festival kickoff party at Rebar, located at 147 Front St., just down the block from Galapagos.
Photo Credits
Lindsay Beyerstein
Visit Website | Purchase Tickets
For more information contact All About Jazz.
