Itty-Bitty Review: The Bestest of the Best - Dog on Fleas

Is it uncharitable of me to say I don't understand why Dog on Fleas hasn't had greater popular success? I mean, that statement implies a) that Dog on Fleas hasn't achieved tremendous success, and b) the American family-music-buying public is clueless (or, alternately, c) that I'm clueless). All the things that are part of the family-music success of, say, Dan Zanes or Elizabeth Mitchell -- the organic musical arrangements, the rescuing of lost parts of the American and world songbook, the hooks -- are right there. And certainly fellow musicians such as Mitchell and Uncle Rock know the Fleas and its chief songwriter Dean Jones and hold 'em in high esteem. I'm hoping that The Bestest of the Best, the perfectly-titled greatest hits compilation of the New York band will help rectify the situation with the general public. It's a 20-song collection of tunes stretching all the way back to the first Fleas' album, Fairly Good Songs for Fairly Good Kids, and a fine introduction to the band's happy blend of folk, pop, and other funkier styles. I gravitated towards the selections from my favorite Fleas' album, When I Get Little, but there are other excellent tracks from other albums there, too -- the jazz-hipster "Dig" from Fairly Good Songs, for example, or the sweet, lazy, indie-pop of "Clouds" from Hoi Polloi. The album also includes 3 newly re-recorded versions of old songs plus their great rendition of "Buffalo Gals" with Elizabeth Mitchell and Daniel Littleton from the overlooked High Meadow Songs release. In best Dan Zanes fashion, the Fleas' music is most appropriate for kids ages 3 to 93. You can hear samples of the tracks here or full versions of some of the songs here. Depending on how many Dog on Fleas albums you own, The Bestest of the Best, may merely be, well, fairly good. But if you don't have any Dog on Fleas, please get this album and find out what some lucky others already know -- listening to this band is a very pleasurable and joyful experience. Recommended. Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.

Review: See! - Holly Throsby

One thing that's been striking to me is the relative absence of an independent Australian family music scene, at least viewed from the American vantage point. One might think that the tremendous success of four nice blokes in bright t-shirts might have spurred a lot of imitators and counter-revolutionaries, but that doesn't seem to have been the case. In fact, you can argue that the Wiggles have had a lot more influence on the American kids music scene, either through imitators (the Fresh Beat Band), people headed in the opposite direction (many of the artists on this site), and folks with their feet firmly planted in both camps (Yo Gabba Gabba!). So I'm glad to see that Australian indie-folk musician Holly Throsby has peeked her head into the relatively small Australian scene and offered up See!, which is one of most captivating family music albums I've heard this year. Recorded at an old church south of Sydney, the album kicks off with the sound of a horn heard off the coast as the intro to "Putt Putt," a gentle tune about going out into the ocean with a small motor boat. From there, the album moves to "Fish and Mice," which starts out with what sounds like a Casio drum keyboard and eventually leads to an infectious sing-along chorus with a bunch of kids singing interjections ("Fish!"... "Bike!"). This looseness in musical production is carried on throughout the album. It's all very impressionistic -- moods and feelings and lyrics that aren't totally straightforward narratively, as on the winning Americana-by-way-of-New-South-Wales "Diamonds Are So Shiny" ("I have a deck of cards / And I'm in love with the two of hearts / I dug a hole with the ace of spades / I found a bone and some clay / And an old golf ball / That I hit around with my four of clubs.") She even includes an 11-second "Drum Lesson" that simply introduces a handful of drum sounds. (Also, I'm happy that on "What Turns?," Throsby finally writes a second song for a kookaburra, who, frankly, was probably getting tired of sitting that that old gum tree.) The 28-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 8. Right now it's only available as an import or from here -- either way, it'll cost ya about $30 Stateside, so I'd definitely recommend checking out 3 of the tracks here, as well as "The Seasons" here. But See! might very well be worth the $30. It's a combination of Frances England's dreamy songwriting and Elizabeth Mitchell's appropriation of sounds and melodies from everyday life (with a little bit of Stephen Cohen's Here Comes the Band atmospheric tone thrown in). It is described as "experimental," though to American kindie ears it won't sound experimental at all. It is merely delightful in big ways and small. Definitely recommended. Disclosure: I received a copy of this album for possible review.

Review: Mind of My Own - Frances England

Whatever daydreams I had of becoming a rock star when I was a young turk have long since faded away. But I have wondered about recording some basic, traditional songs for my kids, if only for them to have a record of the songs we sang when they were kids. And then there's Frances England, who has gone from recording the fine Fascinating Creatures as a DIY project for a preschool fundraiser almost five years ago to recording her third album Mind of My Own with kindie uber-producer Tor Hyams and getting Mates of State to sing with her on her Topspin-approved album. Those are pretty good rockstar daydreams. One of the key charms of England's first two albums was the lo-fi intimacy England achieved that fit her folky sound. But if on those albums she was willing to make the recordings be akin to a secret shared between friends, on the new album she's a proud 4-year-old, sharing the news with all the world. The good news is that she's done that without sacrificing the charm of those first albums. She mixes both straight-ahead Americana pop-rockers, such as the title (and leadoff) track and "Jacques Cousteau" and laid-back folktunes such as "Red Balloon." England's songwriting is much stronger, with more hooks while finding more similes and getting to the heart of the song in as many words as it needs, and no more. The songs tend to be more about feelings and friendships than concrete events of childhood -- no songs about learning to brush one's teeth here. Sonically, England's band and numerous guest performers (such as the Jellydots' Doug Snyder) perform admirably. Hyams gives the recording a warm, clear sound and brings out musical textures (the violin in "Do You Hear the Birds Singing?," the whistling and bike bells on "Bicycle") to keep the songs sounding fresh. And that song with Mates of State ("Place in Your Heart")? Every bit as awesome as you'd expect. The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can listen to the entire 37-minute album using the widget below. (And, yeah, the artwork is still England's handiwork and is quite lovely to look at.) In my review of Fascinating Creatures, I said that I didn't think the CD or Frances England would stay secret for long, and that has proven to be an accurate prediction. Even better, she's gotten better as she's become well-known. She still has a sound all her own, while making room for an increasing number of friends. With Mind of My Own, Frances England makes clear her family music career is no daydream -- it's here, and that's a good thing. Highly recommended. Disclosure note: I was given a copy of the album for possible review.

Itty-Bitty Review: Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots) - The Crayonettes

I think we can agree that England -- the entire United Kingdom, actually -- has not carried its weight in the kids music new wave. Few artists have attracted any attention here in the States, and even those artists would admit that the independent family music scene is as small there as it is large on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Into the breach comes the Crayonettes' Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots). The Crayonettes are a new project from singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams, who actually has a little experience in the genre having contributed a track to the Colours Are Brighter 2006 kid-comp, and Anna Spencer, formerly of the punk band Delicate Vomit. Although the album's overall sound won't be too surprising to regular readers of this website, used to hearing all sorts of songs for all sorts of kids, its folk-electronica music and some out-of-left-field lyrics aren't entirely typical of the more polished kindie sound. "Robots in the Rain" leads off the album with drum tracks, bleeps and bloops, and a mellow song about rusty robots. "Disco Teeth" channels "Odelay"-era Beck to offer this pearl of wisdom: "Toothpaste / Toothpaste is great / 'Cause it cleans your teeth / Disco bright." My favorite tracks are "Emergency," which effectively uses the whah-whah-whah of emergency vehicles as a musical motif and "Illegal," which combines a little trip-hop with a snaky violin and various prohibitions ("Don't pour lemonade in the fishbowl / Don't take the fish for a walk"). I also liked "Spooky Way Home," which is just scary enough for a 4-year-old at Halloween. Having said that, some of the songs don't sound polished enough and sometimes the lyrics are a little too precious (I'm thinking here about "Sweet on the Floor," about not eating, well sweets on the floor). The 30-minute album will be most appreciated by kids ages 2 through 6. You can listen to samples at the UK iTunes page for the album, or listen to "Disco Teeth" here, "Robots in the Rain" at the One Little Indian Facebook page, and an outtake for the price of an e-mail. The Crayonettes' mere existence shows there's hope yet for the UK family music scene. While it's not a perfect disk by any means, Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots) has a number of tracks suitable for dancing, lounging or being creative to. Recommended for families who are fans of Kimya Dawson's Alphabutt and (to a lesser extent) Saint Etienne's Up the Wooden Hills EP, and for any family willing to be more adventurous in their musical selections.

Review: "Kids" - Keller Williams

Upon first report, Keller Williams' eagerly anticipated debut album for kids seems to reveal a paucity of imagination. A kids album titled Kids. Really? Can't we get something with a little more creativity from someone dipping their toes into the family music pond? But then you inspect the thing, and listen to it, and those frustrations melt away. The cover is a good indication of the humor tucked away inside. The "Kids," of course, are those cute-as-a-button... goats, a theme carried through to Williams' kids' website. That sly humor carries through to the music itself, such as on "Mama Tooted." ("It was one of [us] three," sings the narrator to his child, "I'm going to tell you who / It was Mama / Mama tooted / She may say that she did not and she is probably right / but I am going to blame it on Mama.") I particularly liked the gleeful way Williams leads a chorus in singing parts of "Good Advice" in Chinese. Many of the song lyrics include a somewhat exasperated parental narrator, which should definitely help rope in the adults in the audience. And animal husbandry isn't generally a kindie topic, but there it is (obliquely) in "My Neighbor is Happy Again." As for the music itself, Williams noted in an interview here that Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's Not For Kids Only, an album of folk and bluegrass tunes for families, was a particular inspiration. You can definitely hear that on songs like "Grandma's Feather Bed" (written by Jim Connor a number of years ago) and Williams' own "Lucy Lawcy" and "Taking a Bath." But whereas that earlier album has a gentle vibe almost to the point of dozing off, Williams' mixture of more modern sounds, such as with the tape-looping on "Hula Hoop to da Loop" and "Soakie Von Soakerman," keeps the listener more engaged. Kids ages 3 through 7 will most enjoy the album, which you can hear samples of here. Kids is an album that could've been made for all the wrong reasons, but was definitely made for all the right ones -- music-making with family, retaining a sense of playfulness, not giving up the musical skills that drew fans to Keller Williams in the first place. It's a solid album, and families with a sense of humor will find much to groove to here. Recommended. Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review. I also world-premiered a track off the album.

Review: This Is Fun! - Caspar Babypants

If it's November, it must be time for another album from Chris Ballew's family-music alter ego, Caspar Babypants. Last November it was More Please!; this year he continues to confound Fids and Kamily voters and their Nov. 1-Oct. 31 voting year by releasing This Is Fun!, his third album for families. The title suggests that Ballew is finally feeling comfortable in this his new skin of family entertainer. And while you never would've known that he was uncomfortable after listening to his first two tons-of-fun disks, it is a clue that Ballew has begun to figure out his calling. That calling? Focusing on preschool-aged kids and younger. It's a group that's tended to be overlooked by many of the artists in the kids music new wave, leaving Laurie Berkner to clean up. But songs like the zippy album opener "All You Pretty Babies" and the gentle punk-in-a-bouncer "Baby's Getting Up" are all about movement and music. Handclaps are big, too, such as on "Look at All These Elephants," which is just rhythm and words. The album is often little more guitar and small percussion (e.g., shakers), though it remains fresh for the most part throughout. But lest you think the album is just a small music participation class for 2 year olds, This Is Fun! has more than its fair share of earwormy tunes for all ages. Ballew gives old songs new life -- his takes on "Shoo Fly," "The Cuckoo," and "Buckeye Jim" shake off the cobwebs and make them safe for tired parents. Of course his pure pop sensibility is still there on kid hits like the hyper (for this project anyway) "Googly Eyes" and the sweet "Little Ditty." And Ballew knows how to pick guest artists -- Elizabeth Mitchell and Charlie Hope lend their voices to "Dark of Night" and "Mister Rabbit" while the unmistakable bassline of Nirvana's "Sliver" is played by Nirvana's bassist Krist Novoselic. The 47-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 1 through 5, though older kids will certainly enjoy the melodies and goofier tunes on the album. You can listen to the album at the Babypants homepage (or samples at its CDBaby page). With This Is Fun!, Chris Ballew has now produced three Caspar Babypants albums and had three successes. Call it a hat trick, perhaps, but the optimistic album title his latest is indeed appropriately named. Highly recommended. Disclosure: I was provided with a couple of the album for possible review.