Bobby Conn

Hard-to-describe Chicago art-rocker Bobby Conn has built a career from his off-kilter perspective on just about everything. Often sporting heaps of makeup, he toes the line of art and androgyny. He’s been compared to Prince and Scott Walker, and his albums tend to reach for the epic. In fact, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox called his 2001 record The Golden Age “the most defining album of the last decade,” which speaks volumes about Conn’s reach into recent rock. 2007’s King For A Day was accompanied by videos directed by Usama Alshaibi, whose grainy, ’70s-soap-opera feel rubs Conn’s dramatic orchestration in appealing ways. His latest record, Macaroni, is self-described as “a delicious bowl of cheesy noodles served up for a world of war, riots, greed, and revolution,” whatever that means.

Updated 05/16/2012