Video: "Just For You" - Caspar Babypants

There's a brand new Caspar Babypants album coming out next month.  I know, Chris Ballew's productivity sometimes makes it seem like there's a brand new Caspar Babypants album coming out every month, but that's really not the case.

The brand new album is called Night Night! and it's CB's lullaby(-ish) album.  It's set to be released on March 17 and in anticipation of the release, Ballew has released a brand-new lo-fi video every bit as brilliant as his other lo-fi videos.

It features a bunch of pictures of Ballew as a baby, but I can assure you that his one simple trick turns something that would be of interest for about 10 seconds into a genuinely fun 3-minute video.

Caspar Babypants - "Night Night" [YouTube]

Video: "Gravy Insane" - Gustafer Yellowgold

Based on the lyrics and video for "Gravy Insane," the brand new song from Gustafer Yellowgold, perhaps the follow-up to the excellent Gustafer Yellowgold's Wisdom Tooth of Wisdom will explore slightly darker paths.  The song recounts how Gustafer's forest friends become gravy gluttons, keeping in line with the Gusta-verse's previously established food obsessions ("I Jump on Cake," anyone?).

Then again, reminders that bats can't drive cars are inherently humorous, IMO.

Gustafer Yellowgold - "Gravy Insane" [YouTube]

Video: "HBD, Dude!" - Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips (World Premiere)

Southern California's Mista Cookie Jar is testing my hyphenating abilities.  His blend of hip-hop, soul sounds, Motown riffs, California vibes, and whatever else he throws in the mix can be too much for the English language too handle.

For his latest track, "HBD, Dude!," MCJ and his Chocolate Chips mix a surf-rock guitar track and some flowing verses that include the word "hashtag" to produce a very 21st-century celebration of someone's birthday.  (You can buy the track via that link above, or iTunes and CD Baby as well...)

For the video, which I'm world-premiering here today, Mista Cookie Jar can't be contained to a single POV, either.  He takes Beach Blanket Bingo-era footage, hand-animates it a bit, and throws in a nice Facebook/Instagram reference or three.  Throw in some kids eating cake and surf-dancing, and you've got yourself a party.

I'm going with "surf-hop."

Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips - "HBD, Dude!" [YouTube]

Video: "Snow Day" - Josh and the Jamtones

Can a kids music video be called post-apocalyptic?

Should it?

All I know is that younger kids of tender heart (as judged by their caretakers) should probably be directed to another, mellower kindie video.  As Josh of Josh and the Jamtones puts it in the comments to the YouTube video, "If you're kicking it with your little 2 year old baby sister who maybe prefers ponies and the color purple to polar bears with laser beam guns then you might consider telling them to scram. You know, in as kind a way as possible."

The animation is from Arsen Rudchenko, and if it's not on the forthcoming Bear Hunt: The Movie! DVD (out January 21), I'll be sorely disappointed.

Josh and the Jamtones - "Snow Day" [YouTube]

Video: "Champion of the Spelling Bee" - Danny Weinkauf (World Premiere)

Danny Weinkauf's album No School Today is an example of kindie power-pop at its best, filled with excellent pop songcraft.  Weinkauf's released a handful of videos that are every bit as slightly quirky but nicely done, and I'm pleased to world-premiere the latest video from the album, the video for "Champion of the Spelling Bee."

Now, I'm sure that being featured on ESPN as part of their Scripps National Spelling Bee coverage with the song was probably a bigger deal, but I like to think that this cute video, featuring animation from Vanessa Appleby and vocals from Weinkauf's son son Kai, will live on long after we forget the kids we see standing at the microphone each spring.

Danny Weinkauf - "Champion of the Spelling Bee" [YouTube]

Video: "Just Not Me" - The Hipwaders

For my tastes, Bay Area band The Hipwaders ranks right up there with Recess Monkey and Caspar Babypants in having kindie's best set of videos in terms of quality, quantity, and diversity.  Their latest video for "Just Not Me," off their new album Year-Round Sounds, pulls in another animator into the Hipwaders' fold, Will Guy of Goopymart, and with just a handful of touches (the tattoo parlor, the backwards "E" in the title character's graffiti, perfectly captures the narrator's... recalcitrance to mind rules.  Much fun.

The Hipwaders - "Just Not Me" [YouTube]