Anyway, it was a vinyl kind of day today - as any rainy day is - and Saddam Webcam’s album “Excès de beurre & Ruine morale” was on the turntable of love. Time to see if the AC synchronous motor can spin some quirky music out of these grooves.
Saddam Webcam are most certainly quirky. Manic in an entirely endearing way, they play music consisting almost entirely of sharp edges and over the top artistic intent and top it all off with the kind of Gauloises smoking philosophical pondering that can only mean that they are French (as they indeed are). The female vocals – by the delightfully dramatic Jessica Martin Maresco – veer between the excesses of jazz and the avant-garde with near psychotic ease whilst always confidently guiding the listener on a journey through the coffee shops normally overrun by the arthouse crowd towards the castle of madness wherein genius lives.
All the above makes “Excès de beurre & Ruine morale” into a family size chunk of gloriously oblique art rock that has been decorated with the best of post punk angularity. Don’t forget that there is humour in amongst the slice and dice and the barking mad “I Need a Good Book” will most definitely raise a smile amongst those who watch too many B movies.
Saddam Webcam are the kind of band that make the world a better place. They follow their own path from the madhouse all the way to your front door and I find that both refreshing and entertaining. Should I flip the vinyl and play this album again? I think that I will do just that.