Franz Nicolay
What are your top five albums that were released in 2011? (in order 1-5)
- Mischief Brew "The Stone Operation"
- Tom Waits "Bad As Me"
- Pearl And The Beard "Killing The Darlings" (full disclosure: I co-produced this. It'd be one of my favorites anyway.)
- Frank Turner "England Keep My Bones"
- Good Luck "Without Hesitation"
What band did you discover in 2011 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
I don't know about a significant impact, but a band I saw for the first - and probably only - time that blew my mind was a group called Jagwa Music, from Dar Es Salaam. They're a kind of underground street band, a five-piece with three percussionists (a tambourine, a bucket, and a small stool played with sticks); an unbelievably energetic singer, and a guy playing a two-foot Casio keyboard, hand-held and plugged into a tiny, overdriven guitar amp. Apparently, they mostly play generator-powered street parties (or - in the usual irony - giant world-music festivals) and all their releases are on cassettes I couldn't find in Dar or Zanzibar, just these couple tracks on a Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/jagwamusicmchiriku) and some YouTube videos.
How will you remember 2011 (in terms of music)?
I'll remember going to the U.K. a lot, including an amazing tour with Ben Marwood and Frank Turner, who wrote my newest entry in "Songs I Wish I Had Written" with his "Balthazar, Impresario." Tom Waits reminding me how far he is ahead of everyone else. I'll remember all the people through the years telling me "You've got to check out Dave Dondero" and finally seeing what they were talking about.
What can we look forward to from you in 2012?
A new record! I start work on "Do The Struggle" in January, produced by oktopus from dälek (www.deadverse.com). Should be out mid-year. And I'm planning a literal world tour, including Russia, Mongolia, and China. Every day an adventure...
What records are you looking forward to most in 2012?
Tim Fite (timfite.com) has a new one called "Ain't Ain't Ain't" on Anti- in March. His last, "Under The Table Tennis," was the first best protest record of the Great Recession.
What did you expect to be huge in 2011 which never made it?
Never say never -- any album that's not a hit is just one waiting to be discovered. More people should be talking about the Mischief Brew & Pearl And The Beard records though.
