It's quite difficult to pin to the music of Life in a Blender, but smart, high-brow, jazzy cabaret rock comes close. They have been at it for 25 years and when main man Don Rauf assembles the troops for another album expectations are always high. Happy Enough lives up to the band's standard with two songs inspired by Kurt Vonnegut novels, as part of the sessions for the Bushwick Book Club, which requires its members to compose a song inspired by a book. Rocket to Love You is a powerpop anthem based on Galapagos and the vaudeville meet The Beatles' Revolver-era rock song What Did You Hide in the Potato Barn? came from Bluebeard.
Not all songs requires a degree in English,, but it surely helps to have a working knowledge of the canon of literature or the ability to appreciate the wordplay in a freak rocker like Submarine. A Celtic violin hoovers above guitar and bass channeling They Might Be Giant in Winner Takes All. O, and the title track is actually about trouble in the guts department. Happy Enough is a geeky indie cross-genre album that will put a smile on the face of those in the know.
Life in a Blender:
Don Rauf: vocals
Dave Moody: guitar, cello, backing vocals
Mark Lerner: bass, backing vocals
Al Houghton: guitar, backing vocals
Ken Meyer: drums, cymbals, sound effects
Rebecca Weiner Tompkins: violin
Ralph Carney: clarinet on "Umbrella"
Happy Enough is released on Fang Records. Buy it from the band's website
Tracks:- Happy Enough
- Trust
- Let the Baby Cry
- Rocket to Love You
- Underneath the Banyan
- Umbrella
- Submarine
- Tiger Pudding
- What Did You Hide in the Potato Barn?
- Winner Takes All
HCTF review of We Already Have Birds That Sing.