Welcome Interstate Managers, er, Salon Readers

Welcome to those of you finding us because of the Salon article on "kindie rockers". (Welcome also, as always, to people looking for downloads of and lyrics to "Great Big World," from Hoodwinked. I still can't help you with those, despite your insistent pleas.) Thanks, Salon, for the link, and for posting some fabulous mp3s from said rockers. (Scott Lamb's article is worth sitting through the Honda ad non-subscribers will have to watch in order to read the article -- it's a nice summing up of the current state of kids' music.) If you're new to the site, I encourage you to look around -- links to other kids'-music-related blogs as well as to every full album review (including Justin Roberts, Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, and Milkshake) can be found on the right. If you're wondering what to get that 4-year-old nephew for his birthday, check out my page of album recommendations by age. I treat kids' music the way any parent who really likes music would -- with my own set of interests but with an understanding that perhaps not every song off Spoon's Gimme Fiction is going to appeal to my 5-year-old (let alone my 1-year-old). There's so much great kids' music being made, and not just by the rockers mentioned in the article who have made their way to kids' TV screens. Dig in -- you're bound to find something you and the kids in your life will really like. Saturday AM edit: You know, I could actually help readers "dig in" if I specifically mentioned a few artists and albums that readers might not be familiar with if they're only sticking to the TV/Noggin crowd. No disrespect meant to the Noggin crowd -- Zanes, Roberts, and TMBG, in particular, are all among my favorites kids' artists -- but these four albums are tremendous, too. Silly Reflection, by Lunch Money (review) If You Ever See An Owl, by the Terrible Twos (review) Fascinating Creatures, by Francis England (review) Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World DVD, by Morgan Taylor (review)

This Week in Random Zooglobble Notes

This week: Baseball, handclaps, mandolins, and parental philosophies. In song! (Dan Zanes only in passing.) Come back and see what I mean. Also, those Milkshake music videos on PBS Friday? They're now available here. Musically, they sound like typical Milkshake (pop-rock, more pop than rock). Lyrically, they're pretty prescriptive (as one would expect for an Earth-Day-related song). Visually, there's lots of kids and the presence of your favorite (or not) PBS characters. Of the three songs, I think "Washing Machine" is the best...

News: New Milkshake News, Old Elizabeth Mitchell News

We cover the waterfront here at Zooglobble, news-wise. There is no expiration date for news here -- a week old, a year old -- if I haven't seen it before, I'm willing to pass it on. I'm especially happy with these two bits of information, because they involve bands/artists in which women play major roles. My wife is happy, too -- upon hearing recently that we'd soon be getting a female-fronted CD -- she said, "About time!" (Or words to that effect.) Guess our female children's artists' section needs beefing up. Aaaaanyway, the first bit of news comes from PBS Kids, which announces its Earth Day broadcast plans, including:
"the world premiere of three Earth Day-themed music videos from Milkshake, the award-winning kids' rock band fronted by Lisa Mathews and Mikel Gehl that has captured the ears – and the hearts - of kids and parents alike. The music videos, which focus on taking care of the Earth and keeping it clean, were written exclusively for PBS KIDS Share the Earth Day."
Now, aside from the scary fact that Lisa and Mikel are apparently collecting body parts from people (capturing ears and hearts, folks -- wasn't "Silence of the Lambs" set in the Baltimore area?... hmmm....), this does sound kinda cool. Or, at least, I think this could be right in Milkshake's wheelhouse. Check out "Woo-Woo," off Bottle of Sunshine -- I realize that Milkshake's music definitely tends toward the heartfelt, but isn't that exactly the type of thing you'd expect to hear on Earth Day? The second bit of news comes from an old article recently posted (and written) by John Mitchell about an Elizabeth Mitchell concert in June 2005. The whole article is a nice piece on Mitchell (Elizabeth, not John), but I'm particularly interested in the information below (emphasis added):
"Mitchell went on to release two more CDs, one with Lisa Loeb, and is now working on another one. She has begun writing songs specifically for children, but remains committed to unearthing lost musical treasures."
Well, given how little her website had been updated recently, I'm not surprised she's (in theory) working on another album. (They Might Be Giants and Dan Zanes are also not paying their webmasters enough to keep their websites hopping with new stuff.) Here's hoping the album comes out in 2006.

Whither Jamarama Live Reviews?

Clea's post on attending Jamarama over the weekend reminded me of something I wanted to do... I've received a fair amount of website hits from people looking for Jamarama Live reviews. So I decided to see what I could find for myself. And the answer was clear: the reason I'm getting all these hits is because there really aren't any reviews out there. So rather than rail on the mainstream media, I went to the real power, people! The BLOGS, man! Jamarama Reviews Out The Wazoo(s) (West Coast Edition) Small Ages: The good (Dan Zanes), the not-so-good (Milkshake), and the ugly (the Ohmies) (this past weekend...) Buzzville: See above. Also, apparently Dan signs T-shirts! (Santa Barbara) Winters on the web: "It was sweet and treacly and nauseating. 70 minutes of my life I will never get back but worth it to see my son happy!" So at least we know it's 70 minutes long. (Santa Barbara) Gavin: All you ever wanted to know about sound for the show. And it wasn't that crowded. (Long Beach)

Review: Bottle of Sunshine - Milkshake

Children's artists can walk a fine line between sweet and sappy. Childhood is full of wonder, and trying to convey that can lead musicians into mushy-headedness. For the most part, Milkshake avoids the Head of Mushy on their second album, Bottle of Sunshine. Milkshake, a duo from Baltimore, has two strong assets -- the sweet vocals of Lisa Mathews and the melodic and occasionally crunchy guitars of Mikel Gehl. Backed by a full band, Bottle contains a broad variety of children's pop, uptempo and down-, that does a good job of showcasing those assets. The best songs on the album are the ones that stay away from mushiness. "Woo-woo" is a fun pop song leavened with humor about playing underwater ("If you find lost treasure on the ocean floor / please bring it back up to me.") "Boom Boom" is a country-tinged tune about dancing. And while "Book of Dreams" is a sweet pop song, elegantly produced, "Sleepytown" is a simple album-closer. (Is there some sort of union rule requiring closing a kids' music album with a slow, sleep-related song? Just wondering out loud here.) As someone whose tolerance for mushy is perhaps lower than many, some tunes don't work as well for me. While I liked "Book of Dreams," "One Wish" reached too hard for the sense of wonder for my tastes and was fairly bland. And while I'm not against namechecking one's own band in song, which Milkshake does twice here, it has to be really catchy (paging Morningwood to the review, paging Morningwood to the review), which isn't quite the case here. (Still, I could see those two songs being fun for preschoolers in concert.) The album is best for kids age 3 through 7. It's available at the usual online suspects. While I recommend the album, if you like me have a low tolerance for mushy, you may want to listen to some samples online before committing to the CD.