I was listening to the newest CocoRosie CD this morning. I dig these girls because they're sound is so unique -- "avant-garde," I'm sure, is the designation de rigeur for arts journalists. Every song is a sort of conscious dream woven together by all the sounds heard when one makes his way through a day -- from cats' meows to waves to the phrases courtes of a passerby on the street -- but it's all given a rhythm and a flow.

Another reason I like their music is that I'm a lyrics person. On more than one occassion I hear a group that really tickles my fancy, then I listen to the lyrics and their singing about hamburgers, bad haircuts, or some other banality. I just can't stand that (the one exception to the rule being Primus, who can sing about beavers and racecar drivers and still I love them).

Well, today, as I said, I was listening to the newest CocoRosie CD for the first time (I don't like it as much as their first one), and I heard something very disheartening: Anthony, from Anthony and the Johnsons.

I saw Anthony for the first time on French television. I think he might have been on Taratata (better than any live music show I've ever seen in the States). In any case, I couldn't stop laughing.

"Is this a joke?!" I asked Fanfan who was looking at both Anthony and me in disbelief.

I still like to think that it's a joke, but, if it is, it's on a huge scale. Anthony gets praise from the foremost echelon of the musical elite: Lou Reed, Philip Glass, Bjork, Rufus Wainright, etc. Some very talented people shower this guy with praise -- things like "Every emotion on the planet is in that gorgeous voice" -- yet I only feel like I'm listening to a parody of every melodramatic, dark, artist in the world.

There's plenty of videos of AATJ on youtube. You can look at them yourself, or go to his site...

I just had to get this off my chest.

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