Connan Mockasin and LA Priest make some of the most peculiar modern-day pop-funk, and so a collaboration was always going to be oddball. Together, they present an Iggy and Bowie-ish pairing, except with trembling falsetto, dolphin mating sounds and rippling electronic effects. But it’s unclear whether they are sending up macho male sexuality by contrasting pervy lyrics with their wimpy bare chests and luscious locks, or just using their “weirdos, us!” image as an excuse to be a bit Bloodhound Gang. Relaxed Lizard sets out their stall with slippery psychedelic pop, as Mockasin rebuffs a younger love interest (“I’d love to fuck you but I’m older …”).
In Love is their answer to Iggy’s Tiny Girls, its submerged sax not quite matching Bowie’s arrangement, but the lyrics about fancying “Japanese/Chinese girls” living up to its grim message. Lying Has to Stop strikes a better balance, where silly tales of “babes and wine” and how they’ll “never touch your bum” meet loopy synths, cooing and groovy underwater whammy effects. Delightfully weird and yet unmistakably icky.
