Motherhead Bug
Zambodia

The Motherhead Bug, formed in 1989 thanks to David Ouimet, were in fact a small band. Their lineup actually included eight members, to which occasional guests were added from time to time. I use the past tense because the Motherhead Bug no longer exists. "Zambodia" is their only testament in the rock annals, as they disbanded immediately after the album's release.

Their sonic arsenal was worthy of American marching bands. Accordion, trumpet, saxophone, violin, trombone, percussion, oboe, in addition to bass and guitar, are used to create a sound that might be the most bizarre expression of folk in their time.
Their "cabaret-like" approach unfolds between the sad and the cheerful, between the joke and the funeral oration. Ouimet sings with an obsessed tone, a perfect hybrid between a madman possessed by the devil and a drunken wanderer through the alleys of the old city (in some ways reminiscent of our Vinicio Capossela in his more lively episodes).

The tribal percussion of the opening "My Sweet Milstar" lays a perfect groundwork for the fierce brass fanfares. The atmosphere is almost like a diabolical Music Hall, a dramatic and profoundly "folkloristic" bacchanal. The progression of the pieces is never linear, the gags are always lurking, and that's why even when the tracks reach six minutes, you never get bored, quite the opposite.
The longest track, for example, "Demons Erections," skillfully mixes a lugubrious violin theme with the infernal polka pace at the end, where the instruments triumph enthusiastically with full breath. Suddenly, you find yourself catapulted between the Eastern European markets with "Pinola," a bizarre folk dance, like a village fair, complete with a tavern chorus.
The song that gives the album its title is also delightful, with a gypsy rhythm and Western duel trumpets alternating with a crescendo of strings only to finish together in a sound orgy that seems like the soundtrack of our animated hero.
And what about the demonic waltz of "Shabooba"? Here we are truly in Capossela's territory (though with more class). Ouimet babbles verses that seem to be spat rather than sung, wrapped in the coils of a romantic violin.

A shining example of pure "folk" energy, "Zambodia" certainly represents one of the happiest and most original episodes of the '90s. Unmissable.