Video: "All These Shapes" - The Pop Ups (plus free download!)

When it comes to '80s-aping synth-pop kindie tunes, there is nobody who's currently writing them any better than The Pop Ups.  "Box of Crayons," the lead single from their latest album, Radio Jungle, was awesome, and they've earned their next "awesome lead single" badge for the song "All These Shapes."  It's the first track on Appetite for Construction, their eagerly-anticipated third album, out later this spring. (They've also earned their "awesome album title" badge, as well.)

The song is wonderful -- a soaring, synth-y chorus, and lyrics that both inspire the little ones (and maybe the big ones) and have enough Easter eggs of lyrical content to keep the big ones amused.  The video, featuring hand-drawn art from Pop Up Jacob Stein (if you see them in concert, you'll know that drawing is a feature of their gigs), illustrates (in many ways) the themes of the song.  Much fun.

The Pop Ups - "All These Shapes" [YouTube] (via Cooper & Kid)

P.S. -- would you like a free download of the song?  Here you go:

Video: "When Pigs Fly" - Ryan Adams Sings Sandra Boynton

One of the highlights of Sandra Boynton's Frog Trouble is the tender ballad "When Pigs Fly," sung by Ryan Adams.  It is earnest and not at all as humorous as you'd expect a Boynton take on that familiar cliche.  It's quite beautiful.

Boynton directed and storyboarded the animated video for the song.  There's a tad more humor in the video, but there is also, dare I say it, more tenderness in this recounting of some adventures of parent and child.

Ryan Adams - "When Pigs Fly" [YouTube]

World Premiere Video: "No School Today" - Danny Weinkauf (plus free download!)

Setting aside the fact that Danny Weinkauf has not, up to this point, released a kids music album, he's got a pretty good resume -- for many years he's played bass with a little band known as They Might Be Giants and has written kids' songs for them, including "I Am a Paleontologist."

But on April 29 all that changes with the release of No School Today, his first solo collection of family-friend pop-rock, powered in part by Kickstarter.  And while you'll have to wait another 3 weeks or so to hear the whole thing, today I'm proud to world-premiere the first video from the album.

The video for "No School Today" (directed by Ryan Hanrahan) matches the good humor of the power-pop song with a little bit of lyric video and a WHOLE BUNCH OF SOCK PUPPET.  The sock puppets -- including a Weinkauf lookalike -- I can almost guarantee will bring a smile to your face (especially if you're a TMBG fan).

As a bonus, you can download the track free for the price of an e-mail address in the widget at the bottom of this post.

But really, check out the video.

Danny Weinkauf - "No School Today" [YouTube]

KidVid 2014 Tournament Champion: Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck"

It went from my list of favorite kids music videos of 2013 to voting for the initial stage of the 2014 edition of the KidVid Tournament to voting in Semifinal #1 and Semifinal #2 to a championship match, but during the entire week, the eventual winner seemed to be pretty clear: Karen K and the Jitterbugs' "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck."

The Boston-based band had the loudest (or click-iest) fans in this year's contest, supporting this sitcom-esque (in more ways than one) video featuring a firefighter-themed cumulative song.

So, congratulations, Karen K and the Jitterbugs!  Don't let your KidVid 2014 title go to your heads!

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "(I Woke Up in a) Firetruck" [YouTube]

My Favorite Kids Music Videos of 2013

It's been a couple years since I last tackled the kids music video world.  After years of organizing KidVid Tournaments, I think I just needed a break.  Plus I was organizing a talk on great kids music videos and my video curation energies went there last spring.

That doesn't mean, however, that I've lost interest in finding great videos to share with your family, friends, and strangers in line at the grocery store.  In fact, I went back and looked -- across the site, I featured nearly 100 new videos.

It's a new year now and with that I have a little extra energy to give you a brand new list -- my favorite kids music videos of 2013 (-ish).  Let's define the video year as I have in the past -- new videos featured on the site between March 1 of the prior year and February 28 of the current year.  (So, March 1, 2013 through February 1, 2014.)  Let's also say only one video per artist (though there were a handful of artists I considered breaking that rule for).  As always, I'm interested in visual creativity, a decent level of post-production values (which doesn't necessarily mean expensive), and a really good song.

PS: Miss the KidVid Tournament?  Then I might just have something up my sleeve for you.  Stay tuned.

Without further ado, then, in alphabetical order by artist, my 25 favorite kids music videos of 2013.  Whether this is the first time you've seen some or all of these, or the tenth, please enjoy.

"Similes and Metaphors" - The Bazillions

"Stump Hotel" - Caspar Babypants

"Thingamajig" - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

(Oddly enough, removed from YouTube for violating its Terms of Service.  I've had similar problems with YouTube regarding videos I've had specific permission to upload.  I can imagine how frustrating it is for an artist.)

"Bunny in the Moon" - DidiPop

"Palindrome" - Dog on Fleas / Readeez

"Brussels Sprout Shout" - Duke Otherwise

"Midnight Sun" - Elska

"Day You Were Born" - Frances England

"Cakenstein" - Gustafer Yellowgold

"How Big" - Eric Herman

"Dinosaur" - Lori Henriques

"From You" - Charlie Hope

"End of a Summer Storm" - Alison Krauss (via Sandra Boynton)

"Spicy Kid" - Lunch Money

"Cocodrilo" - Mister G

"When I Get Bald" - Alastair Moock

"Snow Day" - Zak Morgan

"Skateboard" - The Not-Its

"Tambourine Submarine" - Recess Monkey

"Recess" - Justin Roberts

"Bigga Bagga" - Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" - Dan Zanes & Elizabeth Mitchell

Video: "Empty" - Andy Mason and Joshua Belter

I'm a sucker for well-executed videos that look hand-crafted in the best possible way.  So, yeah, when a mystery fan of this video from New Mexico musician Andy Mason and author Joshua Belter (AKA Fast Time Constant) made its way into my inbox and I watched it, I dug it quite a bit.  The video is for a song called "Empty," which is the official song based on the book The Story of a Box from Belter.  (Whew, that's a slightly complicated etymology.)

The song and the accompanying video created by Dusty Deen at Red Roadrunner Productions could be interpreted as a love song, but also as a gentle anti-bullying song that illustrates its point both musically and visually using little more than tiny boxes and pieces of paper and far more effectively than most attempts in the (sub-)genre.

Andy Mason and Joshua Belter - "Empty" [YouTube]