After their first raw blues album One Batch of Blues, Automatic City are making a bold step towards some bongo percussion, voodoo & caribbean rhythms, space echoed jumpin' blues, tremolo and slide guitar vibrations, while still keeping the sound rough and gritty. That is one of the ingredients of their trademark, as is the use of instruments more unusual to the blues music genre, like sanza, miscellaneous percussions, and some primitive electronic instruments like stylophone, theremin or the rhythm ace drum machine.
Captured live in a session that lasted only a couple of days, the same quartet led by Eric Duperray on vocals, Emmanuel Mercier on guitars and production, with Raphael Vallade on double bass and Zaza Desiderio on percussions is creating it's very own versions of gems from the songbooks of Willie Dixon, Billy Boy Arnold, Billy Emerson, plus Havana Moon by Chuck Berry and a hypnotic version of RL Burnside Going Down South. Last not least a cover of Crawfish, which was Joe Strummer's favorite Elvis song from the Kid Creole movie.
For the first time Bongoes & Tremoloes also features some original material like Resolution Blues, a one man-footstomping soulful blues recalling the style of some John Lee Hooker recordings. Or Evil Eyes On Me, partly inspired by Fred Mc Dowell slide guitar works, as well as original instrumentals that create a unique sound and feel.
As initially said, a bold step forward in the career of this unique blues outfit.
Tracklisting:
1. Spaced Out On The Sticks (Emmanuel Mercier)
2. I Wish You Would (Billy Boy Arnold)
3. Crawfish (Fred Weiss/Ben Wiseman)
4. Bongoes And Tremeloes (Emmanuel Mercier)
5. Resolution Blues (Eric Duperray)
6. Evil Eye On Me (Eric Duperray/Emmanuel Mercier)
7. Satisfied (Billy Emerson)
8. Mellow Down Easy (Willie Dixon)
9. Moonshine Twang (Automatic City)
10. Havana Moon (Chuck Berry)
11. Goin’ Down South (R.L. Burnside)
12. More Spaced Out On The Sticks (Emmanuel Mercier)
13. Puppet Made of Shipwreck Wood (Eric Duperray/Emmanuel Mercier)
