Petey Menz ’11
A&E Editor
When did dance music take over New York?
Probably around 1979, but nobody cared because the frenetic dance mutations of James Chance and the Contortions, Was (Not Was), and Cristina were too good to complain about.
Rather, the question is: why is New York dance music so homogeneous now?
Even the great New York dance bands- LCD Soundsystem, Hercules & Love Affair, the Rapture- thrive on pastiche and homage. It’s telling that most of the bands are classified as neo-disco. And when you can’t rip the ’80s off as artfully and satirically as those three, everything can start to sound the same. The only really distinctive dance song of the 21st century is Black Dice’s “Cone Toaster”, which pastes a 9 minute noise collage over a 4/4 beat. “House of Jealous Lovers” by the Rapture makes a close second, mainly because of Luke Jenner’s atonal vocals.
And when Black Dice is getting progressively weaker with each album, only one member of the acclaimed Animal Collective is still living in New York, the distinctive sound of TV On The Radio is going down the tubes, and manic noise rockers Liars are recording their best work in Berlin, where are we supposed to turn for a great New York band not infatuated with dance music?
If you guessed Vampire Weekend, wrong answer.
No, rather Antony & the Johnsons, the baroque pop group fronted by transsexual singer Antony Hegarty, will remain the one brilliant non-dance New York band; though Antony made guest appearances on Hercules & Love Affair’s self-titled 2008 album, Antony & the Johnson’s remain almost diametrically opposed to dance music with their newest album, “The Crying Light.”
This album, simply put, vindicates the Smiths, whose singer Morrissey has had the greatest impact on every emo band of the 21st century; the emo bands, not having Morrissey’s skill for lyrics, simply appropriate his self pity and play loads of horrendous music.
Antony & the Johnsons, by comparison, build on Morrissey’s lyrical template, creating strikingly personal songs that manage to comment on a variety of weighty topics; first single “Another World” focuses on environmental devastation. Of course, the music also holds up nicely.
For a group so well-suited for rainy days, there is not a single unbearable dirge on The Crying Light, and indeed there are even moments of happiness that balance the overall melancholic feel of the album. The songs, namely “Another World” and closer “Everglade,” contain terrific melodies, but as mentioned before, these songs have a weight that causes them to remain with the listener, and not just because they’ll get stuck in one’s head.
While “The Crying Light” is a remarkably consistent and affecting group of songs, it just about flunks in the musical growth category; the sound of the album is highly similar to the band’s previous album, “I am A Bird Now” (2005).
This would be acceptable if any deviations from the formula resulted in disaster-think the Ramones doing anything but their signature three chord barrage- but The Crying Light’s best moments come when instruments beyond a piano and strings are featured; Aeon in particular sticks out for its prominent use of a guitar. That said, the piano and strings still retain the impact they had on “I Am A Bird Now,” and if Antony & the Johnsons begin to use more varied instrumentation, their next album will be fantastic.
