throughout his california childhood, while trying to come to terms with his sexual identity, antony hegarty, the "antony" in antony and the johnsons believed he was the ultimate "odd egg" until he first saw boy george on the cover of culture club's 1982 debut album.  eight years later, antony moved to new york, where he was more accepted for his avant-garde sensibilities and androgyny.  music writer john hodgman once described antony's voice as "somewhere between male and female, between childish innocence and weary adulthood, at once ethereal and earthy".  i would arrogantly describe his styling as simone-esque.

in 2000, he formed his current band, antony and the johnsons.  soon after, he toured with lou reed, appearing on two of reed's albums.  lou returned the favor on antony's 2004 e.p., the lake.  in 2005, antony won the mercury prize, an annual music prize given to the best album from the united kingdom and ireland.  i know, i said antony is from california.  he is, but was born in the u.k.

on january 29, 2009, the band released their third l.p., the crying light, an album he describes as being about "landscape, the future" and nature: flowers, streams, mountains, etc.  "i'm a human being," antony said. "i was born out of the earth, made of the same stuff as the rest of the earth, as those things you mentioned, like water and sunlight and elements and dust, mountains... obviously, it's a poetic flight of fancy in a way, but at the same time, it's very much grounded in reality."

click here for a set recorded on february 3, 2009 by whyy's fresh air.  click here to listen to a morning edition interview originally airing on october 12, 2005 on npr's morning edition.  click here for a february 05, 2009 interview recorded by day to day.  click here to watch the band's videos streaming off of their website.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

antony and the johnson's  are knee deep in a european tour.  check here to view their tour schedule.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.