Even though they are from East Los Angeles and have close ties to Los Lobos, there are few repertoires that scream “Gulf Coast” like Tremoloco’s. No matter whether the language is Spanish or English; the style honky-tonk, Tex-Mex or rock and roll; the dance a two-step, zydeco stomp or slow drag, Tremoloco plays it with a mastery that makes most of our local honky-tonk heroes sound like weekend warriors at best. The accordions whir, the guitars smoke and the blues is the blues no matter the language. To properly listen to ‘Loco’s magnificent debut, Dulcinea, one needs the clinking of ice in glasses, the low barroom hubbub of voices and laughter and the occasional Freddy Fender “ay-yay-yay.” The material ranges from the hilarious “Mi Novela” (my soap opera), in which a macho husband can’t get enough of the daily Latin television dramas, to “Tremoloco,” a super-cool instrumental track that should be on a tape loop in every bedroom in America where clothes are on the floor and the sheets are tangled. With Los Lobos drummer Cougar Estrada, Dave Alvin alum Rick Shea on guitars and Tony Zamora’s earthy lyrics and vocals, this band should rapidly become favorites here in H-Town, where belt buckle polishing is part of the genetic code. Throw Tremoloco on the jukebox anywhere between Los Skarnales and Clifton Chenier, between Freddy Fender and Los Lobos, between Ruben Ramos and Bill Black’s Combo, and you’re on Tremoloco’s musical terra firma, a robust Tex-Mexican Americana.
