Franz Nicolay is a musician and writer living in New York’s Hudson Valley. In addition to records under his own name (“a natural-born star”—Pitchfork), he was a member of cabaret-punk orchestra World/Inferno Friendship Society, “world’s best bar band” the Hold Steady, Balkan-jazz quartet Guignol, co-founded the composer-performer collective Anti-Social Music, was a touring member of agit-punks Against Me!; and recorded or performed with dozens of other acts.
His first book, The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar, was named a “Season’s Best Travel Book” by The New York Times. His second book, the novel Someone Should Pay For Your Pain, was called “a knockout fiction debut” by Buzzfeed; and was named one of Rolling Stone “Best Music Books of 2021” (“finally, the great indie-rock novel…like Dostoyevsky in a DIY punk space”).
https://franznicolay.com
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St. Lenox is the music project of Andrew Choi. AllMusic notes that Choi’s “creative pursuits have resulted in some of the most unique and unconventionally thrilling pop music in the late 2010s.” His debut, Ten Songs About Memory and Hope, received critical acclaim from NPR, NOISEY and CMJ, with NOISEY editor-in-chief calling the single “Bitter Pill” one of the 10 Best Songs of 2015. Follow up, Ten Hymns From My American Gothic, received one of the highest Metacritic ratings for a new release in 2016, and was called one of 14 Criminally Underrated Records of 2016 by Salon. Single “Thurgood Marshall” appeared on Best Songs of the Week lists at Consequence of Sound and Vulture, and is referenced as part of the pop culture history of the late Supreme Court justice in Time Magazine. Stereogum calls Choi’s voice “one of the most striking instruments in music today.” His third album, Ten Fables of Young Ambition and Passionate Love, was ranked #43 on PopMatters Best Albums of 2018 list, and was listed on AllMusic’s Best Indie Pop and Indie Rock Albums of 2018.
https://stlenox.com
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The French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once wrote: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away,” That quest for the elemental led to the creation of John & Dan, a duo that spang out of the experimental avant-rock group Barbez (Tzadik, Important Records). John & Dan features Barbez founder Dan Kaufman on guitar and the group's longtime drummer John Bollinger on vibraphone, bass, and drums. Currently working on a debut album with the master producer and engineer Martin Bisi, the pair explore a vast sonic terrain that encompasses both tenderness and ferocity.