Earth Day songs generally preach, and I think one thing that a lot of parents really dislike about a lot of kids' music is when that music tells listeners what to do. So, the trick in writing an Earth Day song for kids that parents will tolerate is writing a catchy tune.
Which Recess Monkey did with "3Rs for Ours," which debuted on last weekend's Spare the Rock show and is now available for listening and downloading at the band's Myspace page.
Yeah, it's April 25th, but get it now anyway. Because every day is Earth Day, right?
Listen To This: Beneath the Planet of Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke
I know. I've been writing about Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke a lot recently. You might be wondering if the whole thing hasn't been played out at this point.
I'm sorry, nope. Go listen to the newest addition, track #4, "John the Rabbit," and tell me that it doesn't put a smile on your face, especially the new verses. Very loping, very winning.
Listen to This: New Songs from Brady Rymer
Those of you in the New York City area may be heading down to Central Park for Sunday's Green Apple Music & Arts Festival -- if you do, you may get to hear some new songs from Brady Rymer when he plays on the same stage as Laurie Berkner.
Luckily for those of us for whom a trip to NYC this weekend would be so not carbon-neutral, Time Out New York Kids has posted rough cuts mp3s of a couple new songs at the end of an interview with Brady and Laurie.
The first song, "One True You," is one of those midtempo feel-good Rymer songs that I don't have any great affinity for, although Rymer does these songs better than just about anyone. (And, if you're an adoptive parent, don't worry, the "families look like one another" theme is in the first verse only.) My preferrred song is the second, "Road Trip," which is a rave-up and lots of fun.
Appropriate, perhaps, for our own road trip to Tucson this weekend.
(Have I mentioned we're seeing Dan Zanes this weekend?)
Listen To This: More Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke
Remember when I told you about those cool songs from Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke?
Well, there's another song up at their website, and it's just as winning. Entitled "Pekepoo," it puts a dreamy new spin on the phrase "raining cats and dogs." Track #7, go now.
Listen To This: Central Services Board of Education
What is in Seattle's water? Johnny Bregar, Recess Monkey, not to mention Eric Herman and Eric Ode... they're really approaching critical mass, kids-music-scene-wise.
And now there's Central Services Board of Education, an offshoot of the indie-pop band Central Services.
Go listen (and download, should you desire, and you likely will) their first four songs, which I'm going to describe as "Schoolhouse Rock!-meets-The-Shins." Or maybe "Ben-Folds-meets-Dr-Demento."
Or maybe "awesome."
With densely-packed wordplay and pop-cultural allusions, it's probably more for (or most appreciated by) kids ages 6 and older. My favorite track is "The Lonely Tomato," which somehow manages to be highly educational, metaphorical, and catchy all at the same time. All four tracks are worth checking out.
(And then go over to Central Services' myspace page while you're at it.)
Little Monsters, Big Expectations
So with the collapse of V2 Records, one might be wondering what the future of Little Monster Records is.
I have word that Little Monster Records will be announcing a new home soon, which I'm very excited about, because even though I found their Beatles release underwhelming, I'm increasingly excited about the rest of their release schedule.
To wit: yesterday's WNYC Soundcheck, which included Little Monster's Kevin Salem. About 10 minutes in they play a portion of the title track to their upcoming Let's Go Everywhere CD, and it's nothing less than what would you get if you combined Johnny Cash (specifically "I've Been Everywhere") and jazz funk. In a good way. In an awesome way. Folks, John Lurie is performing on the album -- this is going to be interesting at the very least and could be great.
To wit, part deux: Well, sadly, I don't have a part deux, because Ralph and Ralph have deleted a blog post where they talked about their goals for the new album. But now it's gone (or they've deleted their old myspace page with the post) and I can't really say anything other than "I read it, and it made me excited to hear even more tracks than what's on their myspace page. Knew I should've posted it at the time...
