If you like the Butthole Surfers, you will probably like this.
Dead Horses, a three-piece experimental cowpunk band from the Ferrara province in Italy, have nailed deconstructed blues. Their new track “No Wahala” from Ballad For Loser is like Keiji Haino’s Black Blues gone country. The group’s three players—Agnese, Zufux, and Mauro—employ a minimal drum kit, an acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar—that’s it—but simple instrumentation in no way indicates simple composition. In the song, a plodding rhythm propels spindly, precise guitar work as incanted vocals float atop the track’s aggressive swagger. Dead Horses have been called the Italian Butthole Surfers more than a few times, though it’s less about their exact sound than, as they say, their “mix of influences and live show.” Which is to say, if you like the Butthole Surfers, you will probably like this. (As for “influences,” no, I would not rule out the influence of drugs.)
Ballad For Loser is out soon on Maple Death Records.