Review: Mr. Oscat Says... - Mr. Oscat

Sometimes people hear kids' music and think, "Hey, I could do that!" Sometimes those people decide they'll try their hand at writing and recording kids music of their own. At which point they find out it's lot harder than it looks. (No, I'm not speaking from personal recording experience, just lots of personal listening experience.) Occasionally, though, somebody makes it look, well, if not easy, at least not incredibly difficult, either. Case in point: Bakersfield, California's Mr. Oscat and their debut CD, Mr. Oscat Says.... Inspired by watching Noggin and thinking "I can write songs like that," and by kiddie new wave artists like Dan Zanes and Farmer Jason, Olen Taylor went ahead and did just that. The resulting is a pleasing new CD by a family band in the best sense of the word. The name of the band reflects the initials of the first names of the Taylor family (Olen, his wife Susan, and kids Caitlin and Alison) plus "T" for Taylor, and all four contribute to the disk. Olen does the lion's share of the work, writing or co-writing all but one track, but Susan co-wrote some tracks, and the kids lend their vocals. Olen Taylor used to lead a roots-rock band called the Wichitas, and that roots-rock sound certainly makes an appearance on the disk ("Ducks in a Row," the vaguely Key Wilde-esque "Big Dog," and the Bakersfieldian country swing of "All You Wanna Do Is Play"), but the best tracks have a more pop-rock sound. "Mama Wants You To Dress Up (But You Don't Want To)" has a great singalong chorus ("'Cuz everybody knooooowwwws / what mama says, goes!"). "What's That Smell?" is Postal Service-style techno for kids ("Maybe Daddy's cooking chicken / Maybe he'll let us sample some...") And the best track, "Mr. Oscat Says," melds power-pop, techno, and Americana. The 9 originals here are all well-written songs. The downside of a home-produced CD, though, can be a less-than-fully-realized sound, and there are points here where I was left wishing that Taylor had left the midi samples and Garageband tinkering by the wayside and instead called in some of his old bandmates. In particular, the album's songs reminded me a little bit of Turn It Up, Mommy! from the DC-based band the RTTs, and I was left longing for how that album took a bunch of solidly-crafted songs and added the RTTs bar-band sound to great effect. The album sounds OK, and the vocals are good all around (really, this is one of the better albums out there for effective use of kids and friends), but could have sounded great with a few more instruments in the mix. The songs here are going to be most pleasing to kids ages 3 through 8. You can hear samples at the album's CDBaby page or at the band's website. For an album whose genesis, according to the liner notes, was that "two people challenged us to do this recording," Mr. Oscat Says... is going to be a pretty hard to top. ("We did it. And now we challenge back. Your turn. Make family music.") And while I wish the home-produced aspect of the recording hadn't been so apparent, that's just because the songs here are lots of fun and I think the CD could've approached something near awesome territory. Oh, well, there's always next time. I sure hope there's a next time, in any case, because this first time was pretty good. Recommended.

Review: Lucy's Parade - Jambo

I've been trying without much luck to come up with an interesting hook for this review of Lucy's Parade, the debut CD from the LA-based band Jambo. Which really isn't fair to the band or this album, because both are pretty good. The album is a straight-forward roots-rock album geared at the preschool/kindergarten set. Bandleader Steve Pierson, a blues guitarist, has a knack for writing the happiest blues-inflected tunes you'll ever hear. The standout track here is "Lady Bug Boogie," an infectious and rollicking boogie with ever-so-slightly silly lines like "I like all kinds of corn / But my favorite kind of corn / Is the candy corn." Other fun songs here are the "Where Do They Go?" (a bluesy and slightly fanciful song from the point of view of the preschool-aged child wondering what his parents do during the day) and the strutting title track. "Five Butterflies" is a slow track that doesn't sound a lot like the rest of the upbeat album, but it's a sweet counting song. I should note that the band sounds really good. Pierson's got an appealing voice and plays a mean guitar. Pierson's wife Melinda McGraw deserves special mention here as her harmony vocals add a lot to the songs throughout the album, but the whole band just sounds like they're having fun. Given its lyrical focus, the 38-minute album is targeted at kids ages 3 through 6. You can hear samples from the disk at its CDBaby page or listen/download a few track from their Myspace page. So in the end, I still don't have a hook for this review, which maybe reflects that this Jambo's not breaking any new ground here. But what they've done is put together a solid group of songs, and that's enough for most of us (including me). Lucy's Parade is a well-done CD that's firmly for kids but with a rootsy musical approach that will appeal to a lot of parents. Recommended.

Review: Uncle Rock U - Uncle Rock

Uncle Rock -- AKA Robert Burke Warren -- comes from the roots-rock wing of the Kids New Wave, a wing which has a strong New York contingent -- Dan Zanes, Brady Rymer, Dog on Fleas. Released last month, Uncle Rock U is the third and most recent album from the New York-based artist. He's distinguished himself in a couple ways from these other musicians. First, his recordings have a very home-recorded feel, even looser than those artists who aren't polishing things to a pop sheen themselves. This is not necessarily a bad thing in that I think part of the Uncle Rock charm is the slightly rough-hewn lo-fi sound, accompanied by friends and family. Second, Warren is a lot more willing to vary his approach -- taking on different characters and sounds in a way that many artists just don't attempt. It's not that they're not tackling different musical styles or song-narrative approaches -- just that they don't try it all at once. Here, Warren does. At his best, Uncle Rock combines an understanding of a kids' viewpoint and sense of humor with catchy melodies and fun instrumentation. "The Elephant in the Room" is a mid-tempo folk-rocker that actually explains what that metaphor means, with, of course, a trumpet joining in. It's a great, great song. Other highlights are the James-Brown-meets-public-safety-announcement "It's Hot! (Don't Touch It!)," the roots-rocker "Play Outside Today" and the pun-filled "Polar Bear Over There." There are points where Warren chooses to take different personas, which succeeds to varying degrees ("Predator Dinosaur," good; "Hippie Harvest Kitchen," not so good). And I'm not sure what sense the grumpity "Grumpy Gus" makes stuck between two lovely songs ("The Season of Light" and "Baby Loves the Moon") at the end of the album. It's not that these character songs are really bad -- some are pretty good -- just that they don't blend well with the other tracks. (I suspect they work better mixed into a live show.) It's like 14 extra minutes crammed into a really good 30-minute album. I think kids ages 3 through 7 are going to enjoy the songs and characters here the most. You can hear full songs at the Uncle Rock Myspace page or samples at the album's CDBaby page. On listening over and over to Uncle Rock U, I started to think of Uncle Rock as kids music's Ryan Adams, blessed with many song ideas, many of them wonderful, but maybe with need of an editor. This is a really good album and another album -- maybe even two really good albums -- mixed together with decent results. It's recommended, but your mileage may vary depending on how much you and your like your kids' CDs to be of a more unified whole.

Review: Dressed Up For the Party - Keith Munslow

I have been a fan of Rhode Island-based Keith Munslow since hearing his fun 2005 album Accidentally (on purpose) (review here). But I hadn't heard any of his storytelling until giving his recently-released Dressed Up For the Party a spin. I should have known his storytelling would be every bit as fun (and funny) as his music. There are just 4 tracks here stretching out over the album's 47-minute runtime, nicely sequenced. The opener, "Five Second Rule," is storytelling with some strutting blues bookending Munslow's observations on the eternal food/floor conundrum. It's an amusing appetizer to the main two stories here. The 18-minute "No Token, No Milk" tells the story of a school-aged Munslow losing the token he needs to get his carton of milk. It's the funniest story here. It's followed up by "Marfa the Barfa," a more dramatic story (though not without funny points) with no music about a 13-year-old girl whose fondest wish of going out to sea with her fisherman father is thwarted by her throwing up over the side of her father's boat (repeatedly). At nearly 20 minutes long, you might think that it would drag or fail to keep the kids attention, but my kids (especially the 6-year-old) hang on to every word. I could see where both stories were going (or at least the major plot points), but in storytelling it's the details and the execution (listen to the squeak of Martha's brother's tricycle and its use), and Munslow's got those down pat. The disk wraps up with the title track, an amusing musical number about a kid who doesn't want to, uh, get dressed up for the party. It's a light dessert to the disk. It shows off Munslow's musical chops, along with that of his co-producer, Bill Harley (a talented singer/storyteller in his own right, and a Grammy-winner to boot). With the exception of "Marfa," music is important to the tracks, and even in the comparatively non-musical "No Token," Munslow's use of the African box drum the cajon made my two-year-old dance like crazy. The stories will be of most interest to kids ages 4 through 10. You can read the liner notes and lyrics at Munslow's page for the album or listen to samples at its CDBaby page. Dressed Up For the Party is a solid album of storytelling with some sweet musical accompaniment. In pajamas at home, or in school clothes in the car, your kids will enjoy the disk and you will, too. Recommended.

Review: Field Trip with Enzo - Enzo Garcia

I love what Enzo Garcia does, kids-musically. There are lots of kids' musicians who make great music for listening to, for dancing with, but it warms my heart knowing that flame of participatory kids music -- music that encourages singing along and interacting with the music and others -- still burns bright. Enzo Garcia is one of the best at keeping that fire going. With his latest release, Field Trip with Enzo, his tenth album of original songs, the San Francisco-based Garcia combines his all-hands-clapping approach with an abiding interest in the natural world. Songs about raccoons, squirrels, monkeys, and frogs -- two times -- are found on the disk, blended with other concepts. "Raccoon" is a Garcia original that's a bluesy counting song, while "Monkey Motions" is, as you might guess, a movement song encouraging the mimicking of different animals. "Side of a Mountain Top" is a rollicking movement song. This sounds a lot like prior Enzo disks -- folky, with an array of rustic instruments including banjo, accordion, jaw harp, slide flute, and, yes, the "enzotar." While almost all of the songs have some interactive component to them, there are a few tracks that sound sweet all by themselves -- Garcia's hypnotizing "Hand Over Hand" and the concluding lullaby "When the Sun Goes Down", and his duet with Erin "Mimi" Lucas on the traditional "The Green Grass Grows." The album will appeal most to kids ages 3 to 7. For the moment, it's just available at the Pokey Pup (hear samples here), though I believe that will change soon. You can also hear "Monkey Motions" at Garcia's Myspace page. I should also mention that longtime Zooglobble reader Deb in SF gets a nice shout-out from Garcia in the liner notes. As with all of Garcia's previous kids' CDs, Field Trip with Enzo will work best if you and your kids stand up and actually play along with the music. If you're not willing to do that, then this CD might not be for you (though I think it holds up OK even in that case). But if you're willing to follow Enzo on his trips, then I think you'll be pleased where you end up. Recommended.

Review: It's A Bam Bam Diddly! - Father Goose

A hazard in reviewing kids' music is the need to be conversant with a broad range of musical styles. For "adult" music, editors generally wouldn't have the same person reviewing classical music and metal, but in this field, well, anything goes. So when the press release for It's A Bam Bam Diddly!, the first CD for Rankin' Don aka Wayne Rhoden aka Father Goose on Dan Zanes' Festival Five Records, lists a whole bunch of special guests, they are names that don't mean anything to me. Unless you're an expert in Caribbean or dancehall music, they probably won't mean anything to you, either. And you know what? You won't care -- you'll think the album's great. In essence, this album is exactly what a Dan Zanes album might sound like if Zanes made a Caribbean album. Zanes is like the Jon Stewart of the kids music field -- he's helped invigorate the genre and has surrounded himself with a bunch of talented musicians who get his approach. And so just as Stephen Colbert has branched out on his own, Father Goose has created his own world here. In fact, just like Zanes on his kids' CDs, Father Goose often stays in the background on this disk, content to be the ringleader and letting the other artists shine. Father Goose introduces the winsome "Panama," but it's guests Gaston "Bonga" Jean-Baptiste and longtime Zanes artist Barbara Brousal who carry the vocals. Two of my favorite tracks -- "Long Time Gal" and "Nah Eat No Fish," which both sound very much like they could appear on a Zanes CD -- feature Judith Murray and Aggie. It's not to say he's not around -- Father Goose adds humorous counterpoint to the Dan Zanes / Sheryl Crow duet on "Flying Machine" and has spoken-word interludes on Zanes' rendition of Harry Belafonte's moving "Island in the Sun." But he's content to blend in on songs like the lovely waltz "Jane and Louisa" or "Chi Chi Buddo," with the title phrase getting stuck in your head. In fact, these aren't really downsides to the CD, but you should be aware that it's definitely not the "Father Goose Show," in case your kids are huge Father Goose fans from the Zanes CDs. Nor is it really as uptempo and high-energy as the role he plays on Zanes' CDs and (especially) in concert. It's really for slightly older kids, and while it's not sleepy-time music, it's not bounce-around music either. I think the songs here are best for kids ages 4 through 9, though perfectly OK for younger kids, and, frankly, this really is an all-ages album in the best Zanes-ian tradition. You can listen to some samples from the 53-minute album here or elsewhere around the web. I feel bad about mentioning Dan Zanes' name so much, because It's A Bam Bam Diddly! is a strong album, and Father Goose really deserves credit for being such a great ringleader. I think in part it's because I know a lot of people might be interested in this CD because of their previous enjoyment of Zanes' CDs and to those fans I say, "get this album -- you won't be disappointed." But just as Stephen Colbert has created his own career outside of Jon Stewart, with this CD Father Goose shows he's a force to be reckoned with, too. Great stuff and hopefully the start of a great run of CDs -- definitely recommended.