Radio Playlist: New Music April 2010

Time to add some new music to the Zooglobble Radio Station. This playlist airs in the mid-afternoons (West Coast time) and includes tracks from some of the disks that have crossed my desk over the past couple months (mostly, anyway -- I wanted to include Daisy Mayhem and Haley Bonar -- so sue me). There are some tracks from forthcoming albums -- Recess Monkey, StarFish, Sugar Free Allstars. Even if you can't listen in the afternoon, the tracks are scattered throughout the day, too. The Cat Came Back - Alex Sanders (And The Meowtones) - Eats Paste Cinderella - Andrew Queen - Too Tall The Crawdad Man - Austin Collins And The Rainbirds - Eats Paste Sleep the Whole Day Through - Bill Harley - Rock & Roll Playground Ranky Tanky - Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem - Ranky Tanky Willy Won't - Debbie And Friends - More Story Songs & Sing Alongs Half Rock Angel - The Dirty Sock Funtime Band - Sock-A-Delic In The Morning - Flannery Brothers - Move Over Lullabies... It's Time For Wake Up Songs! Sing! - Funky Mama - Sing! Sing With Me - Haley Bonar - Sing With Me Buckeye Jim - Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band - Play! We Love, We Learn, We Grow - Lennon's Song - We Love, We Learn, We Grow Circles - Mista Cookie Jar - The Love Bubble I Wanna Stand Up - Opus Ditty And The Hoedown Gang - Let's Go Fishing Tiny Cool - Princess Katie & Racer Steve - Tiny Cool Ralph & Ralph's Song - Ralph And Ralph - Opposites Worms - Ratboy Jr. - Smorgasbord Constellation Conga - Recess Monkey - The Final Funktier Playground!!! - Roy Handy & the Moonshot - (I'm Gonna Be) Your Best Friend Rhymes - StarFish - Enter Sandbox Little Red Wagon - Sugar Free Allstars - Funky Fresh And Sugar Free Willie and the Hand Jive - Taj Mahal & Linda Tillery - Rock & Roll Playground New Game - Tim And The Space Cadets - The Greatest Party Ever Shake It Off! - Uncle Rock - The Big Picture Due to internet radio restrictions, the playlist is in shuffle mode on the station -- songs are listed here in alphabetical order (according to iTunes, which doesn't like last names so much).

When Will We Hear the Pied Piper Pledge Drive?

PiedPiperRadio.jpgMove on over, Click and Clack -- here comes Pied Piper Radio. Amberly Warnke from Ages 3 and Up! has gone big time, developing a biweekly radio show for the Public Radio Exchange. The goal? Distribution to public radio stations across the country. And why should you care?

Share: "In My Pocket" - Sugar Free Allstars

SFAjunkyardcar_closeup.jpgTheir first album Dos Ninos was a sweet little disk, and now Oklahoma's Sugar Free Allstars have a new album on its way. It's called Funky Fresh and Sugar Free, and it hits April 30. I just pointed out the new video for "Rock Awesome," and now, courtesy of the band, I get to introduce you to a free download of one the new album's funky tracks. It's called "In My Pocket," and it has more strut and attitude than a whole horn section of roosters. Enjoy. <a href="http://sugarfreeallstars.bandcamp.com/track/in-my-pocket">In My Pocket by Sugar Free Allstars</a> If you want to stream more tracks from the new album go here. Photo credit: Candi Coffman-McKinney

Itty-Bitty Review: Play! - Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band

Play_HeidiSwedberg.jpgThere is lots of interest in musicians who create new worlds and new songs for the youth of today (and tomorrow).  But there is something to be said for making old songs sound new with verve and joy, and so I'm glad Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band is there to take this path slightly-less traveled (at least traveled well) with their debut disk Play!.  The Los Angeles-based Swedberg and her band run through a mostly familiar set of tunes -- at least to anyone who knows their Raffi from their Yanni -- but between Swedberg's ukulele and and her band's wide set of instruments (e.g., saw, glockenspiel, slide whistle) they provide new arrangements.  (It's supposed to facilitate teaching ukulele, but the end result is something much more fulfilling.)  The presence of a few kids (and kids at heart) singing along to songs like "Muffin Man or "Skip 2 My Shoo" make the album accessible for all, but the slightly ethereal takes on "Buckeye Jim" and the "Japanese Umbrella Song" put this in a league above your typical "20 Classic Children's Songs" collection. For the most part, this album is targeted at kids ages 2 through 7.  To Swedberg's credit, though, she actively encourages families to sing along and helpfully provides ukulele chords (as an amateur ukulele player, this was super cool) and lyrics to help that cause along.  (Listen to song clips here.) If Play! doesn't quite scale the heights of the original-old-songs-in-new-bottles-master Raffi, it comes a lot closer than most.  More, please.  Recommended.