Barrelling out of Dalston like some sort of tequila-drenched nightmare, The Urban Voodoo Machine take you to places that no Lonely Planet guide would care to mention.
With ease and stealth they hot-foot it between the swampy Southern US blues of the Howlin’ Wolf-esque Cheers For The Tears and the Dr John/Tom Waits-inspired Lightning From A Blues Sky and the gypsy Balkan swing of SOS (Sink Or Swim), before downing a tray of shots on the Tex-Mex border against a backdrop of lovingly replicated mariachi sounds.
Such trans-continental musical exploration isn’t easy, but The Urban Voodoo Machine do it with style and swagger, aided and abetted by guests including Hanoi Rocks/NY Dolls’ Sam Yaffa, Son Of Dave and former drummer and founding member Jim Jones. On Off To Rehab frontman Paul-Ronney Angel even manages to sounds like a Vaudevillian star who’s staggered into the 21st century by accident.
It all makes for the most exciting, Technicolor racket since Gogol Bordello first hit the UK half a decade ago.
