Video: "Tambourine Submarine" - Recess Monkey

It's auteur phase of Recess Monkey's well-honored video career as for the first video off of their forthcoming Deep Sea Diver​ album they've stolen from, er, delivered an homage to the visual style of Wes Anderson.

I love Wes Anderson's movies (for the most part), so I mean that as high praise and admiration.​  Then again, Anderson is really just aping styles from the '60s, so if the boys from Seattle look like they're going through their Jacques Cousteau phase, maybe they're just going through a Jacques Cousteau phase.

Not sure where Cousteau (or Anderson) stand on rhythm-powered submersibles, though.​

Recess Monkey - "Tambourine Submarine" [YouTube] (via RedTri.com)​

$9.99: Kindie Music Videos in the Age of YouTube

As some of you know, I recently traveled out to Brooklyn for the annual Kindiefest conference featuring kids musicians, reviewers, radio folks, and others who spend time in the world of making music for and with kids and families.  My purpose of traveling out to New York, aside from catching up in person with kindiefolk of all stripes, was to make a presentation titled "$9.99: Kindie Music Videos in the Age of YouTube."

So late Saturday afternoon, I stood in front of a very large screen and gave a very brief overview of the history of kids music videos.  I also talked a little bit about kindie music video styles and outlets.  I got to say "next slide" a lot.   (For what it's worth, you can see the Powerpoint slides here.)

But all that was really just a prelude to the opportunity to show 13 great kindie music videos from the past 5 or 6 years, videos that show the diversity of approaches, budgets, and styles available to kids music artists.  The one common denominator, I think, is that they all fully commit to telling a story, both about the song itself and the artist's overall vision.  Nobody would ever confuse Eric Herman's "The Elephant Song" and its video with Captain Bogg & Salty's "Pieces of 8ight" video, but nobody would ever say that either video isn't exactly perfect for its associated song.

I can't show you the 14th video we showed just yet -- it was the world premiere of the video for "Spicy Kid" from Lunch Money.  The video, which Molly Ledford described as being a cross between a Mentos ad and a scene from The Blues Brothers  (a spot-on description, by the way), isn't up for public consumption yet.  [Ed.: And now it is!]  Here they are.

Video: "Bunny in the Moon" - DidiPop

DidiPop's latest album Bunny in the Moon​ is released today, and as part of the hoopla (if one call it that for what is basically a lullaby album), she's commissioned a video for the title track.  The title track is one of the album's highlights, and by enlisting Jon Izen, who previously also animated Renee & Jeremy's take on Coldplay's "Yellow," she got some animation worthy of the tune.  Very sweet.

DidiPop - "Bunny in the Moon" [YouTube]​

Video: "Lovely" - Helen Austin

Helen Austin is having a good year.  Between having her first kids album Always Be a Unicorn​ nominated for a JUNO Award for best children's music album and releasing some cute little videos (here's another), her sweet folk-pop is getting some definite visibility.

Her latest video from Unicorn​ is for the song "Lovely," and it's as if Michael Rachap decided to get all crafty with his Readeez.  (Not really: the animation was done by UK firm Guns For Hire Film.)  I just think this is a simple but well-done video that properly accentuates Austin's lyrics. 

Helen Austin - "Lovely" [YouTube]​

Video: "When I Look Into the Night Sky" - Lori Henriques (World Premiere)

On her 2011 debut Outside My Door, Lori Henriques exhibited a taste for brainy wordplay to go along with her jazzy and occasionally melancholic pianoplay, wrapped in packaging designed by her brother Joel Henriques.   How brainy?  Her contribution to the 2012 compilation Science Fair  dealt with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

Henriques is now getting ready to release her follow-up album The World Is a Curious Place To Live on June 4, and I'm pleased as punch to debut the first video from the album.  It's for "When I Look Into the Night Sky," a nifty reworking of the classic "St. John's Infirmary."   Rather than wowing us with scientific fact, this new track is a wide-eyed and wondrous appreciation of the infinite expanse outside our planet and its connection to the individual.  Lori once again gets an assist from her brother Joel, who put together the video featuring the tiny paper puppets.   "Sparkle" and "marvel," indeed.

Bonus tidbit: Did you know that yesterday (98 years ago, at least), the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics -- the predecessor to NASA -- was founded?  Even almost a century ago, people were actively trying to figure out how to connect more closely with the stars and planets around us.

Lori Henriques - "When I Look Into the Night Sky" [YouTube]

Video: "The Cereal Song (What's Missing?)" - The Flannery Brothers

It's good to have some new music from The Flannery Brothers.  I like this song, but really what puts it over the top is ​the dancing.  Check out the dancing from Dan, Mike, and Jonathan.  Spoon juggling for the win!

Flannery Brothers - "The Cereal Song (What's Missing?)" [YouTube​]