Macaroni
Lunatic genre hopping by a middle-aged
luddite drag queen with a deep rooted leftist political agenda? That’ll be my second favourite album of the
year, then. Bobby Conn has apparently been plying his trade for decades in
his native Chicago, but this is my first taste of his work. And it’s wonderful. The T-Rex
meets Bloc Party title track opener
is just the start of a really rather crazy journey. 60s stomp, falsetto-funk, disco, vocorders,
Beatles-hippy, violins played through crazy effects, electro, pop and full on metal
riffs. It’s all here. And it’s all blended to make a musical whole.
Lyrically, this is heartfelt and
considered, and has no small amount of bile and righteous anger. Anti-government, anti-youth and anti-capitalist. In heels.
Thematically coherent within itself but utterly incomprehensible when
compared to anything else, this album reminds me of the insanity of my 2010 list topper, the Archie Bronson Outfit’s Coconut.
Whilst being nothing like it.
Given the deep political content at the
heart of this record, it is wholly incongruous that it was called Macaroni and featured a cartoon drawing
of said cheesy pasta on its cover. But
that incongruity is in itself entirely fitting.
One of the most unique records of this or any year. How this only came second I’ll never
know. I’ve played it numerous times
every single week since the spring. Get
it.