Antony & The Johnsons

Leave it to Antony Hegarty to turn a club-clobbering Beyoncé single ("Crazy In Love") into one of the most heartbreaking things you've ever heard. Not that it's surprising. After all, the Antony & The Johnsons mastermind has been a Downtown NYC icon for decades — the kind of alien but [i]awesome[/i] voice that makes jaws drop like in a [i]Looney Tunes[/i] cartoon. The accompanying songs are some undisputed fan favorites, including a gospel-chased Leonard Cohen cover ("If It Be Your Will"); a disco-diva detour ("Blind"); and a hefty handful of standout selections from Antony's breakthrough album, the Mercury Prize-winning [i]I Am a Bird Now[/i].

As for our Next Steps, they prove that Antony can hold his own against everyone from Yoko Ono to Björk.

While many of Antony's songs are subtle, bittersweet chamber-pop pieces, the singer's pitch-bending vibrato is capable of cutting through just about anything, from the creeping chords of "Aeon" to the flickering feedback, death-march drums and screeching sax of "Shake That Devil." Not to mention the singer's genre-hopping guest appearances, including the echo chamber effects and ambient washes of "Toyboat," the dizzying, multi-tracked Björk duet of "The Dull Flame of Desire," the eye-patch-optional sea-shanty strut of "Lowlands Low," and the nightmarish soundscapes of "Semen Song for James Bidgood." Hell, he even breathes new life into Bob Dylan with a spare, spellbinding rendition of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door."

Don't worry — you're not the first person who's gotten Antony Hegarty confused with the restless, reincarnated spirit of Nina Simone. As Lou Reed once said, "When I first heard 'Cripple and the Starfish,' I knew I was in the presence of an angel." That song was one of Antony & The Johnsons' first proper singles, a show-stopping masterpiece that revolves around windswept strings, masochistic lyrics and minor-keyed melodies. A perfect way to set the scene for the rest of Antony's career, in other words, whether we're talking about incredible collaborations with Boy George ("You Are My Sister"), CocoRosie ("Beautiful Boyz"), and Mr. Velvet Underground himself ("Fistful of Love," a debilitating cover of "Perfect Day"), or such chilling blends of darkness and light as "Hope There's Someone," "My Lady Story," and "River of Sorrow."