Video Premiere: "Swimmy Swim" - Little Miss Ann

One little conversation at an Elizabeth Mitchell concert, and before you know it Jeff Giles and Bill Childs are working on a Woody Guthrie tribute album.  It's called Keep Hoping Machine Running (the title is from list of New Year's resolutions from Woody in 1942), and it's being released July 31 on Childs' Spare the Rock Records.  Appropriately enough, given the 100th anniversary of Guthrie's birth, all net proceeds from sales will benefit the Woody Guthrie Foundation.

You can read more from Jeff about the album as well as see the complete tracklist, but I think listening to Chicago's Little Miss Ann perform her contribution ("Swimmy Swim") while a little video scrapbook explains how her track came to be might be even more worthwhile.  As with many of Guthrie's songs, "Swimmy Swim" is pretty simple in its construction, but Little Miss Ann and her band do right by the track.

 Little Miss Ann - "Swimmy Swim" [YouTube]

Video: "Gotta Get Up" - Sugar Free Allstars

Oklahoma's Sugar Free Allstars are celebrating today's release of their new album All on a Sunday Afternoon with their first video from the album.  Directed by Kyle Roberts, it's for the funky "Gotta Get Up," and it's like a live-action Toy Story with a touch of Soul Train.  Shawana Kemp from Shine and the Moonbeams and Jack Forman from Recess Monkey (I like the surfeit of monkey-themed toys in the video) lend a hand musically, but really, what other reason do you need for watching besides action figures cooking omelettes?

Sugar Free Allstars - "Gotta Get Up" [YouTube]

Video: "Stompy the Bear" - Caspar Babypants

There's a pretty simple reason I continue to post Caspar Babypants videos here on the site.  It's because they continue to be awesome.  This one is for one of my favorite songs of his fine new album Hot Dog!, "Stompy the Bear."  It's by Charlotte Blacker and it's knitting awesome.  (Does the animation look familiar?  Maybe that's because you saw this video here last year.)

Caspar Babypants - "Stompy the Bear" [YouTube]

Monday Morning Smile: "New York City" - They Might Be Giants

The They Might Be Giants version of the song's been around for more than a decade, and even this video isn't particularly new -- it was originally made in 2006 by animator/designer Joshua Hester as a grad school project.  But for those of you who are Readeez fans, and even those who aren't (though I'd have to wonder about you types), the detail here is pretty awesome.  Everything in the video -- from the telephone cord at the beginning to the Brooklyn Bridge at the end -- is based on a typographical element.

They Might Be Giants - "New York City" (video by Joshua Hester) [Vimeo]

Video: "Gotta Be You" - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

We don't talk about "star quality" much in kids music -- the giants of the genre like Ella Jenkins or Raffi command the stage more with quiet presence rather than loudness.  But Secret Agent 23 Skidoo has that other kind of "star quality," which suggests he's supremely confident in what he's singing and rapping about.

Watch this video for "Gotta Be You," a track off of his new album Make Believers, and tell me that he -- and DJ Fireworks and Adam Strange, who also contribute -- doesn't have some star quality. (Hat tip: Dadnabbit)

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - "Gotta Be You" [YouTube]

Video: "Happy Place" - Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips

To call this video from Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips sun-drenched understates the amount of sunshine that went into its making -- if it could convert the solar energy inside into electricity, it'd be a big enough carbon offset for an entire town.  It's for "Happy Place," the leadoff single from their new album Ultramagnetic Universal Love Revolution, out May 8th.  A lovely summer jam with a fun California-beach video to match.

Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips - "Happy Place" [YouTube]