Made for Chickens by Robots – ‘In A Semi-Mental Mood’

Australia’s lone ragtime six-string picker and meat-n-tobacco bluesman Anto J. Macaroni, whose one-man band project is better known as Made for Chickens by Robots, has just released a greasy new 7″ platter of lo-fi chicken-fried cartoon blues and experimental junkyard ragtime on Off Label Records. This time around, however, his songs come with side orders of guest artists, with whom he does strange yet tasty duets.

Side A begins with “Dirty Water Hotdogs,” which is a slow-moving stomp-n-pick tune, complete with his distorted vocals accompanied by the vocals of the one and only Mojo Juju. The man in the chicken helmet is a hotdog pusher, but the lady has no interest in hotdogs and just wants donuts instead. Interpret the song as you will, but it certainly seems as if the “hotdogs” and “donuts” serve as euphemistic representations of other “things”. After “Dirty Water Hotdogs” comes Made for Chickens by Robots all by himself, playing and singing his song “Put It On Yr Bacon.”

Side B starts with “What’s That Smells Like Chicken?” This cut o’ raw poultry ragtime and pop weirdness features guitar and vocals by the Chicken man himself, together with the phenomenal voice of the ever-soulful Kira Puru. Next is an old-timey jaunt that is mostly instrumental and sounds like a broken acoustic guitar’s noise fed through a vintage record player.

In A Semi-Mental Mood by Made for Chickens by Robots is available through independent German outfit Off Label Records.