Faithful to its vocation and its credo, DixieFrog continues to sign blues talents from all horizons, for the greatest happiness of the aficionados. This time, it's in Italy, near Brescia, that the French label has unearthed an atypical duo, Superdownhome. And nothing better than a compilation to welcome the Lombards in their new family. "No Balls, No Blues Chips" is therefore a best-of of the best tracks released on the four albums they have released since 2016.
At the time of the all digital and productions polished in every corner, Beppe Facchetti and Henry Sauda are almost like resistance. Their thing is minimalism. A bass drum, a snare drum and a cymbal for one, a cigar box and a diddley bow for the other, and let's get on with the music. No need for more to play the blues, and it is not their main hero, Seasick Steve, who will say the opposite. Back to the roots, to the cotton fields and to the original blues. At least in the spirit. Because in the letter, of course, almost a century has passed since Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. And in the meantime, the guitarists invented the saturation. If many will qualify the music of the duet of rural blues, we will prefer, as for us, to allot to him the label of garage blues, with regard to this dull saturation, often at the limit of the fuzz, present on all the pieces.
It is this garage spirit (which reminds more than once the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) which makes all the charm of the music of Superdownhome, in particular on the excellent covers of 'I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man' of Willie Dixon, of 'Homework' of Otis Rush, of 'Kick Out The Jams' of the MC5 and especially of 'Stop Breaking Down Blues' of Robert Johnson, reworked in the ZZ Top style, on which Popa Chubby comes to lay down his guitar. It is allowed to wonder if it is not when they take back old standards that the Italians are not the best. Because even if some tracks like '24 Days' or 'Long Time Blues' are good, others are much less inspired ('Bad Nature', 'I'm Broke' and its reference to the Black Keys) when they are not simply covers in disguise. It is notably the case of 'Booze Bloodhound' which resembles a lot the 'Got My Mojo Working' of Muddy Waters.
Anyway, "No Balls, No Blues Chips" is an excellent gateway to discover the music of Superdownhome. If the blues of the Italians has nothing transcendent, the garage spirit with which it is executed is original enough to make it fresh and sympathetic.