Brooklyn band Life in a Blender have been around for twenty-five years, creating their unique blend of vaudeville, rock and Americana. Their seventh full-length is entitled Homewrecker Spoon. Songwriter Don Ralph has a sardonic outlook on life, creating vignettes and stories about hustlers (Go To Man), troublesome drug-stained cutlery (Homewrecker Spoon), and a great Scotsman (Sean Connery).
The music sounds like The Kinks in their Preservation Act phase, with a bit of Tom Waits, the B52s and David Bowie thrown in. Life in a Blender is not above throwing a spanner in the works, inserting a snippet of If I Can't Have You into the album's most remarkable song, The Rain Makes Me Thirsty, which also gives a nod to acoustic jazz maestro Django Reinhardt.
Music geeks can have a field day jotting down the references and influences. Casual listeners can just sample the goods from this candy store of storytelling odds and ends that all fit together somehow.
Life in a Blender:
Al Houghton: guitars, banjo, organ, piano, backing vocals, percussion
Ken Meyer: drums, cymbals, percussion
Don Ralph: vocals
Mark Lerner: bass, mandolin, banjo, backing vocals
Rebecca Weiner Tompkins: violin, viola
Dave Moody: cello, live tambourine
The Colony Collapse Horns
Jackie Coleman: trumpet
Kevin Moehringer: trombone
Gavin Smith: alto sax
Homewrecker Spoon is released on Fang Records. Buy it from the band's website.
Tracks:- Go To Man
- Homewrecker Spoon
- The Answer
- Kill the Bottle
- Sean Connery
- Hoot Owl
- The Juiciest Plum
- The Rain Makes Me Thirsty
- Summer Goes Too Fast
- Silver Spoon
- Does the Lady?
- Stranger's Foot
The First Hit Is Free, Baby
The band have put together a free sampler. The First Hit Is Free, Baby contains a track from all seven albums, plus a hidden bonus track - spoiler alert: Lay, Lady, Lay (Bob Dylan cover).
No comments:
Post a Comment