Steamboat Pilot & Today

Antony and the Johnsons
"I am a Bird Now"
Available at All That Jazz for $15.98

I know most people won't like this CD. And yet, I want to throw copies of it out to the crowd from a white-feathered parade float.

This haunting album is the latest by Antony Hegarty, Manhat--tan's giant but fragile performance artist and vocalist.

The album pays homage to the early days of the downtown scene he is now a part of with a haunting cover shot of Candy Darling (of Andy Warhol and "Candy Says" fame) on her deathbed.

Antony moves through the 10 tracks examining notes with his high-voiced vibrato and his lone piano chords. Even after being artistically adopted by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson and performing at Carnegie Hall, Antony still reminds me of a pre-adolescent boy dressed in his sister's taffeta dress and singing to himself in front of the mirror. Even though his music has been idolized by New York's downtown crowd, he still has that "someone could walk in at any minute" vulnerability.

His spare songs sound like diary entries read aloud to an empty room. He sings about his fear of dying and of being abandoned and about his desire to be a girl someday.

Rated: Maybe you will remember Antony from the New York Times Sunday Magazine profile that came out in September.

Animal Liberation Orchestra
"Time Expander"
Available at All That Jazz for $15.98

I first have to applaud ALO's minimal use of CD packaging. There is no plastic and no book-length enclosure of liner notes. "Time Expander" comes in a simple paper sleeve. The packaging, along with the band name, makes a unified political statement before you even push play.

So it shouldn't surprise you when this electric jazz/funk band starts to preach between the keyboard grooves. Their goal of "liberating" their audience gets a little pedantic after too many close listens.

The only way to enjoy this album is to back off the lyrics and relax into the space bed of Rhodes sounds and eight-minute jams and hope someone organized a light show.

Rated: Perfect for the Bonnaroo crowd.

Sugarcult
"Palm Trees and Power Lines"
Available at All That Jazz for $16.98

Sugarcult has an album due out next week, so why not refresh our ears with one more listen to last year's release.

If I was making a musical time capsule of the mid-'00s for someone to pick up a hundred years from now, I would have to include a large pile of steamy mall punk. Maybe a better term is O.C. punk.

However cool this band might be, Sugarcult has been lost in a wave of bands that sound just like them. It sells, but to this writer's ears, the sound is starting to sound canned.

There's a formula. The frontman must be a perfect mix of punk-rock bitter and boy-band sentimental. He must be able to hold his notes at the end of every musical phrase. He must have an affinity for retro T-shirts and hair gel. The drummer must know that one driving beat that rings out over and over, louder than the rest of the band.

They must have hundreds of screaming teenage fans standing in line outside of Tower Records to have their CDs signed.

Sugarcult fits the mold perfectly.

Rated: Too perfectly.