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The Exquisite Agony of Antony & The Johnsons

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It may be the chill that has crept into the air as of late, or perhaps that coupled with the surprisingly clear weather in the South Sound for the past week or so, but something is drawing me, nay, pulling me to the embrace of Antony and the Johnsons. Which record? Oh, all of them. I have a particular affinity for "Cripple and the Starfish", the second track off Antony's 2000 release; a song that, like the popular "Fistful of Love" from 2005's near flawless I Am a Bird Now, romanticizes, begs for, domestic violence.

I am happy, so please hit me; I am very, very happy, please hurt me

Such is the way with Antony and the Johnsons; pain and memory (though what is memory, if not, so often, pain?), sweet nostalgia, plaintive cries for love, of love, for violence, of violence. It's heartbreaking, and breathtaking, and uplifting and inspiring' all of this delivered by Antony's deep yet reedy vibratto laid over piano driven, distinctly non pop music. Think a less wry, less coy, less prideful Rufus Wainwright, and you're very close.

In fact, Wainwright made a guest appearance on I Am a Bird Now, along with many others, including Lou Reed, Devendra Banhart, and Boy George. Antony is also no stranger to the guest spot, having made appearances on Coco Rosie's debatable second record (Noah's Ark), singing on the stunning and lamentably spelled "Beautiful Boyz". Most notably and recently, Antony has appeared with Bjork as the voice of "The Conscience" on "My Juvenile", off her recent release Volta. (This is the introduction to a more mainstream American audience, though the Brits had the good sense to award him the prestigious annual Mercury Prize in 2005 for I Am a Bird Now.)

There's something warm and wonderful in Antony and The Johnsons that works as well on a chilly night spent in by yourself as on a perfect spring evening, windows open to a warm breeze, prostrate on the couch with a cocktail in hand. It does lend itself to heartbreak, but it's just so stunning and dynamic that it can't really inspire anything but a sense of wonder. Go ahead, pick up a record, any record, and give it a go. (Assuming that it's an Antony and The Johnsons record, I mean, it wouldn't work with, say Spiceworld; well, it would, but not the same.)

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