Ströer Bros. & Fine - Voodoo Travel mp3 album

It's been a long time since that April in 1986 when the winds of Chernobyl blew through Munich, spoiling the milk for a week (they said) and the sense of safety one felt laying out naked on the grass of the English Garden with a pretzel and a beer. That was the year when the Stroer Bros. and Howard Fine unleashed their last album together, Nomaden, on the public. Their new CD, Voodoo Travel, begins with a little space age chamber music and by track two it is clear the DNA of that powerhouse band in 1986 is still intact. The brothers can still work it out like sparring helicopters and Howard Fine has lost none of his conspiratorial immediacy. After 24 years I assumed he was either in an ashram or was a victim of spontaneous combustion. The music is bigger this time, occasionally cinematic and still difficult to categorize. Percussive operetta? Spoken word funk? Poetry and music have rarely fused well in the past but when it works it is sublime. Successes include John Giorno with Glenn Branca (Stretching It Wider) and Allen Ginsberg with Marc Ribot (Refrain.) Stroer Duo and Howard Fine are in good company. This isn't the music you write email to, this isn't even the music you text to. It commands the room. On track five we hear the group can still walk the dreamscape with the familiarity last heard on Nomaden. Put it this way, if you think you have heard all the music in the world and it was a great ride but hey, you're over it, then Voodoo Travel will be a welcome surprise.