The Twin Cities' kid-jangle-popsters The Bazillions aren't resting on their 2010 video laurels. Their first video of 2011 is for "Career Day," featuring a neat mix of live-action faces and animation that's reminiscent of the video for They Might Be Giants' "I Am a Paleontologist". Ironically, "paleontologist" is just about the only career the Bazillions don't sing about in the video.
The Bazillions - "Career Day" [YouTube]
Video: "Love Me For Who I Am" - Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could
Brady Rymer's forthcoming April 12th album Love Me For Who I Am comes with a trainload of back story.
Rymer's new video for the title track just comes with a trainload of kids. It's lots of fun, and enjoyable regardless of whether you know the back story (which you can read about just by going to Rymer's site). The video is below; after the jump, you can stream the entire album.
Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could - "Love Me For Who I Am" [YouTube]
Video: "Dance Yrself Clean" - LCD Soundsystem (with Muppets)
OK, it's not quite the brilliance that was "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," but this is kinda funny. While that video was an official video for the band, this video for "Dance Yrself Clean" from the soon-to-be-defunct LCD Soundsystem is unofficial, featuring the Muppets (and Cookie Monster) playing a Beatles-like gig above a Brighton storefront. I'd quibble with some of the instrumentation (really, why not have the sole female muppet taking the Nancy Whang keyboardist role), but the slow burn of the track lets the muppets do various things.
Note: It doesn't reach Avenue Q levels of puppet inappropriateness, but they do go clubbing, Animal and Cookie Monster clearly have had too much to drink, and Kermit the Frog behaves rudely to Miss Piggy at the very end. So what I'm saying is: Watch it yourself before watching it with the kids.
[One other note: I'm heading out to LA for the EMP Pop Conference to give my presentation, "Pay Me My Money Down: Dan Zanes, They Might Be Giants, and the (Un)Surprising Resurgence of Family Music" on Sunday at 4:15. LA folks are welcome to stop by (if there's room).]
LCD Soundsystem (with Muppets) - "Dance Yrself Clean" []
My Favorite Kids Music Videos of 2010
I realize that picking my favorite kids music videos gets harder every year. But I do it for you, loyal readers. My list of videos I seriously considered was at least 40 (the number of videos I saw or even featured on this site was even larger). I knew that narrowing it down to 20, the size of last year's list, would omit some really good videos. So I bumped that total up to 25.
There are many things that go into selecting the videos -- how much I like the song, if the song was actually released this year, if the video was actually released this year, personal whimsy -- but I think the list as a whole stands up as fairly representative of the year's best.
Here, then, are my 25 favorite kids music videos from 2010 (2010 defined roughly as March 1, 2010 - February 28, 2011 -- I'm just assuming nothing else super cool gets released in the next 4 days). I'll start off with the #1 video of the year, rank the next 9, and another unranked 15.
If you'd like, you can also watch the YouTube playlist...
.... or you can watch the whole list at my YouTube playlist of these 25 kids music videos (excluding the Keller Williams video, not available on YouTube).
1. John Upchurch & Mark Greenberg - "A Counting Error" [YouTube]
My appreciation for this video (and song) may border on irrational, but I think it's perfect in its own skewed way. This so completely needs to be on Sesame Street.
Video: "Sticks and Stones" - Jonsi
I think it was around Thanksgiving when I saw How To Train Your Dragon, released last year, at home on DVD. It was, as is often the case with movies for kids these days, elegantly executed and while not without roll-your-eyes moments and a fairly predictable plot line, a not unpleasant 80 or 90 minutes of movies.
I was struck, however, by the song playing over the closing credits -- I wasn't sure all of it was even in English, and the parts that were in English were not exactly easy to understand. But the whole effect was something beautiful. Turns out that track, "Sticks and Stones" was by Jonsi, guitarist and vocalist for Icelandic band Sigur Ros (who, among other things, sang an entire album in a made-up language called Hopelandic).
As I prepare for the EMP Pop Conference this weekend, I'm struck by this shift in the attitude of kids media toward musical artistry and vice versa. Here's a major motion picture targeted very specifically at kids for the closing credit pop song they've chosen an artist who fronts a band I guarantee you that 99% of the adults watching have never heard. And what's more, he chose to do it. The lines are so blurred now that it's hard to imagine going back to a time when that kind of action would've been bold. It's passe'.
Anyway, in December DreamWorks cut a video for the song. The video's so-so, but the song is great.
Jonsi - "Sticks and Stones" [YouTube]
Video: "Robots" - Zooey
I've been a fan of the British magazine for kids Okido for a little while now. But only from afar. You see, it's a bit pricy to have it imported to the States. It's a quarterly, ad-free magazine for kids ages 2 through 7, sorta like Highlights with about 80% less "play-nice" preachiness. (Or the preferred mag 'round here, Ladybug, with about 30% more funkiness.) See the last issue about the natural world and biodiversity for an example or read it after the jump. (I'm telling you, iPad subscriptions would be gold.)
Anyway, their latest issue is about robots. And their latest video, entitled "Robots," is kinda funky, good for getting the kids up and at 'em. Illustrations by Alex Barrow, animation by Chris Lam, and music by ZOOE. (Or maybe it's Zooey. I'm going with Zooey. Definitely not Zooey Deschanel, though.)
ZOOE - "Robots" [YouTube]
