Do Fun Stuff is hardly a new idea -- there's a long lineage of compilation albums featuring adult artists recording songs for the swing set, er, set, arguably starting with
Free To Be You and Me more than 35 years ago. Even the indie rock genre has been part of the act (see:
Yo Gabba Gabba!,
See You On The Moon,
Colours Are Brighter,
Play, and three
For The Kids albums, just for starters). This album, the brainchild of music blogger Ryan Marshall (
Pacing the Panic Room), is a worthy new addition to the tradition, the equal of many of those collections.
Marshall used to work in the music industry and still has friends there, such as the indie-pop band Rabbit!, who contribute 5 of the album's 13 songs. They're some of the best tracks, such as the uptempo leadoff "Pass It On," the rock ballad "Always a Blue Sky," and the lullabye closer ("Sleep," and natch). But the other artists pitch in nicely in a similar indie-pop vein. A few of the songs tell a story or have some greater moral (hate to spoil it for you, but in Davey Rocker's "Morton the Caterpillar," Morton ends up becoming a butterfly), but it mostly has a gentle springtime bouncy feel.
The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. (Spin the tunes in the widget below.) This digital-only release is also noteworthy in 2 other ways: 1) it managed, albeit briefly, to hit the #1 spot in the iTunes Children's Music store, which is pretty amazing for an indie release, and 2) more importantly, it's a benefit album for which 100% of the proceeds will go towards funding graduate students who will do additional research into the Smith Magenis Syndrome, a developmental disability (Marshall's stepson is diagnosed with SMS). Little of that would matter if the album wasn't good. But it is good, worth your time and money. Fans of those indie-rock-for-kids albums above will definitely enjoy
Do Fun Stuff as well and even if you don't know your Frightened Rabbit from your Rabbit! methinks your family can still rock (and mellow) out to the songs here. Recommended.
Seattle's Brian Vogan released his family music debut album Little Songs in 2008; though I never reviewed it here, it was not without its charms. (It also spawned an amazingly cute video for its song "That's How a Pumpkin Grows".) For his follow-up, Vogan recruited a new band, the Good Buddies. The result, Sing a Little Song, is a strong second album, fuller in sound, and more confident in its stories.
The songs here are still somewhat movement-oriented, reflecting Vogan's experience in preschool music programs. But they're more fleshed out here -- the leadoff "How To Fly" starts off as a very simple movement song, but by the time that Visqueen's Rachel Flotard joins in, and then the full band and synthesized strings, it becomes a very catchy movement song. Standard kids music subjects show up here -- counting ("27"), vehicles ("Tow Truck"), dinosaurs (uh, "Dinosaurs") -- but there's enough of a unique take (numbers 1 through 20 get barely cursory notice, for example) to hold the interest of a listener who's heard enough of the standard take. He pulls out a couple long narrative songs (the aforementioned "Dinosaurs" and "Last Thanksgiving," featuring the world's largest turkey). He wraps up everything in an indiepop sheen (I particularly adore "Gray Dog") with enough attention to detail (the car sounds on "Cross the Street") to stand up to repeated spins.
The songs are still targeted mostly at preschoolers, so it's most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear clips at the album's CD Baby page or "How To Fly" at his Facebook page. Sing A Little Song is fun, effectively translating preschool circle-time topics into full-fledged pop-rock for the home or car or, hey, maybe even preschool dance time. Recommended.
I 
There are the high tech family music accoutrements (iPhone apps, videos) and then there are the low tech ones. Coloring books -- clearly the latter. 
