Review: Question Bedtime - MC Frontalot

It's an open question whether "nerdcore" is a larger or smaller niche than "kindie," but almost by definition "nerdcore kindie" is smaller than either, and with Question Bedtime, MC Frontalot (who coined the term "nerdcore") has essentially created the first nerdcore kindie album.

Question Bedtime is the Brooklyn-based rapper's sixth album, and first for families, and instead of addressing subjects like video games in his songs, he's gone back in time to fairy tales from various cultures.  But rather than straight-up retellings, he's often given them a twist.  Goldilocks and the Three Bears becomes "Gold Locks," featuring rapper Jean Grae as the titular character, who rather than being scared of the bears, is a bear-eating hunter.  "Start Over" features a conversation of sorts between the Big Bad Wolf and a chorus of girls who aren't exactly buying his version of events with Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.  Nor does he limit himself to more familiar fairy tales you've heard hundreds of times - "Wakjąkága" features the title character who, well… just read Frontalot's lyrics, and you'll understand that it's not common.  Besides "Start Over," I also particularly liked "Shudders," whose retelling of the story of the youth who went out to learn what fear is (and is really more about fearlessness) is a useful song in an album that features stories that kids have, at points, shuddered at.

One listen to a handful of songs (or reading those lyrics above), and you'll quickly gather that this is not an album for your favorite preschooler.  Not that it's inappropriate or a Joseph Campbell treatise, mind you, just that his dense wordflow and his refusal to dumb down the darker themes of the stories are going to appeal more -- and, really, mean more -- to a significantly older audience, probably ages 9 or 10 and up.

I liked Question Bedtime, but it demands close attention if the listener is to get the most out of it.  (And close attention is hard, no matter if you're 6 or 36.)  The more you like dense hip-hop wordplay, the more you'll like this, and that's not what every kids music family is looking for.  But if you've read this far, and thought, "Hmm, that sounds kind of cool," then I think it's definitely for you.  Recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.

Review: Raise Your Hand - The Not-Its

Like their fellow Seattle kindie musicians Recess Monkey and Caspar Babypants, The Not-Its have settled into a nice groove, delivering a new album consistently every 12 to 18 months since bounding onto the kindie scene in 2009.

And like Recess Monkey before them, the pop-punk quintet has begun to hone their songwriting skills so that by the time they got around to releasing Raise Your Hand, their fifth album, last summer, listeners could feel confident of hearing a nice little playlist of pop nuggets inside.

In that regard, the album does not disappoint.  "When I Fell (The Scab Song)" is power-pop punk at its finest, with the next track "Motorcycle Mom" just as ear-wormy.  And "Haircut" has that appropriately '80s hair-metal sheen for a song about a kid who just wants his (or her) hair to remain wild and untamed.  Even the songs that I was just fine with, a song "Funniest Cat Video" or the title track, inevitably have some sort of musical hook or distinctive production that make the song worth hearing.

As with many of their previous albums, there's a blend of earnestness and sophisticated attitude to the song lyrics -- "Funniest Cat Video" is about the narrator trying (and failing) to make a funny cat video for YouTube, while "Nose In a Book" is all about how awesome reading is.  The references in "Hey 80's" will go straight over the 6-year-old heads (and straight into their 38-year-old parents' heads), while songs like "Bee's Knees" and "Echo" tackle their subjects (bees' environmental fragility and love equality, respectively) with directness.  As an older listener, I wouldn't mind hearing the band tackle some of their more "serious" subjects with a little more of the irreverent attitude they display on their less serious subjects, but that could be the preference of the adult who has heard far more kids music than the vast majority of parents ever will.

Raise Your Hand is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 9.  And as has become expected with Not-Its albums, the design, from Don Clark, is once again top-notch.  I realize that in the age of Spotify, album designers are probably an endangered species, even in the kids music world, but the CD ain't quite dead yet.  You can stream the entire album here.

As I hope I've made clear, Raise Your Hand is a solid collection of songs, radio-ready pop candy for the first-grade masses.  Families who are longtime fans won't be disappointed and while I might recommend its predecessor KidQuake! as the best introduction to the band, that's just personal preference as opposed to any demonstrative difference in quality.  The quality continues.  Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.

Kids Songs About Dogs

It's been awhile since I've done one of these themed lists, but as has been the case with much if not all of the material here over this site's 10+ years of existence, this list is personally inspired.

We lost our older dog Duke earlier this week after a brief fight against a tumor, and shortly afterward, Lunch Money's "I Want a Dog" ran through my mind.  As someone who came to dog ownership later in life, I can't say that I ever went through the stages of pleading the song's narrator goes through ("I would name him Caspar…").  But singer Molly Ledford's wistful voice seemed appropriate for my (and our family's) emotional tenor.  "Duke" (or "Titus," the name of our other, much younger, dog) seems like a suitable name as well.

So here's list, though I'm sure I've left one of your favorites out.  Won't you help out?

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Lunch Money - "I Want a Dog"

Raffi - "Doggone Woods"

Dwight Yoakam - "I've Got a Dog"

Billy Kelly - "Oh My Dog"

fleaBITE - "Dogs' Day Out"

Duplex - "Dog With a Sweater On"

Bunny Clogs - "3 Dogs and a Pancake"

Dan Bern - "Clark the Dog"

The Nields - "Dog on a Ball"

Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band - "My Dog Has Fleas" [OK, that might be a bit of a stretch]

The Primate Fiasco [and many others] - "Doggy in the Window"

Pete Seeger - "Little Dogies" [again, that's a stretch, but, c'mon, Pete Seeger!]

The Thinkers - "Walk Your Dogs"

Laura Veirs [and Peggy Seeger] - "Little Lap Dog Lullaby"

Kira Willey - "Black Dog in the River"

Dan Zanes and Friends [and many others] - "Walkin' the Dog" [once more, a stretch, but, y'know, "Walkin' the Dog!"]

Laurie Berkner - "The Great Big Dog"

Caspar Babypants - "My Flea Has Dogs"

Caspar Babypants - "Dog Gone Gone Dog Gone

Johnny Bregar - "Blue Dog"

Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke - "I Had a Little Dog"

They Might Be Giants - "Hot Dog!" [see above re: "a stretch"]

Split Lip Rayfield - "The Weasel, Bean, Frog and Dog"

Parachute Express - "Me and My Dog"

La Kabala [and many others] - "Underdog"

Dick Cavett - "My Dog Is a Plumber"

Peggy Seeger - "Little Brown Dog"

Bears and Lions - "Good Boy"

Jamie Broza - "I Like Dogs"

Jamie Broza - "I Want a Dog"

The Hipwaders - "My Dog Steve"

Jesse Olsen Bay - "Doggy in the Diner"

Michelle Campagne - "The Little Blue Doggy"

Jefrey Au Go Go - "Peter the Pushy Puppy"

Owen Duggan - "Puppy Dog Jig"

Mr. David - "She's a Good Dog"

Sandra Boynton - "Dog Train"

Nat Johnson - "Dog"

Django Jones - "Smallest Breed"

Billy Jonas - "What Kind of Dog Are You?" [again, stretching this a bit…]

Barry Louis Polisar - "My Dog's Name Is Cat"

Human-Tim + Robot-Tim - "Hey Little Doggie"

Andrew and Polly - "When You're a Dog"

Duke Otherwise - "Dog Without a Tail"

Ralph's World - "Puppy Dog"

Ralph's World - "A Dog Named Bruce"

Hullabaloo - "Diamonds and Dogs"

Tom Freund - "I Walk the Dog"

DidiPop - "Wonder Dog"

Steve Weeks - "My Dog Ate My House"

Brian Vogan - "Gray Dog"

Justin Roberts - "Every Little Step"

Interview - Suz Slezak

Suz Slezak may be best known as an integral part of the indie-rock-folk band David Wax Museum with her husband David Wax, but with the solo release next month of Watching the Nighttime Come, the singer and fiddler steps out into a new role, that of gentle lullaby artist.

Watching the Nighttime Come successfully balances many challenges with lullaby albums -- sonically interesting without being distracting, making old songs sound new (and vice versa).  Slezak, who's handling preorders for the album via PledgeMusic, chatted via e-mail about her musical upbringing, creating an integrated musical and family life as a musician, and all you really need to have when touring with a baby.

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Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Suz Slezak: It's hard to say what my first musical memories are since music has been so integrated into my life since such an early age. Here are a few:  demanding piano lessons at age three when I found out my brother was going to start taking them; listening to my favorite record, "Seven Little Rabbits," on the record player; playing the piano with a pacifier in my mouth; singing rounds in the car with my whole family; hearing fiddles and banjos through the walls of a tent while camping out at an annual old time festival down the road from my house in Central Virginia. 

What made you want to make music for a living?

Honestly I was well into my twenties before I thought making music for a living was a real possibility. I knew I wanted a life that was interconnected -- I wanted my kids and my partner and my work to all be intertwined.  I also wanted a creative job that included travel and community.  So I feel very lucky that through playing music, all those things have become a reality.

Your new album grew out of a collection of lullabies you'd recorded for friends who were having babies -- what were some of the songs on those handmade CDs and how did you record those?

That first collection was made in one evening in a tiny studio in Somerville, Massachusetts. I recorded everything myself: the vocals, the fiddle, the harmonies, the fiddle harmonies, and a simple guitar part too.  Some of the songs included "Tender Shepherd," a favorite childhood round; "Ubi Caritas," a chant from the ecumenical community in France called Taize where we visited as kids; some of my favorite fiddle waltzes; and "Say Darlin' Say," a traditional song recorded with my first old time band, Mill Pond Nine. 

Besides recording it in a studio, how did writing and recording Watching the Nighttime Come differ from those early lo-fi recordings?

The main difference is that this new record was really a collaboration between myself and two amazing producers, Josh Kaufman and Nate Martinez. The first recordings were really just me, my fiddle, my guitar and an engineer pressing play. Watching the Nighttime Come has textured electric guitar and synth sounds, ambiance from a simple percussion set up, and playful woodwinds and harmonica. It's got David's voice in there plus gorgeous harmony vocals by Lauren Balthrop. And half of these songs are written by me, so it's exciting to have them come alive.

How did becoming a mother yourself affect the recording?

Oh gosh. Well, being pregnant was one of the reasons I finally hunkered down and made this happen. I knew my time would become less my own once the baby was born, so there was a pressure of getting it done before she arrived. However, after the first session in the studio when I was six months pregnant, we realized we were getting into a bigger project than we'd originally thought and knew we needed more time to work. So when our daughter was just a few months old we traveled by train back to Brooklyn and, between naps and nursing breaks, finished the record. I think becoming a mother also puts a new spin on the significance of making music, especially recordings. I love that my daughter and maybe even her children and grandchildren will be able to listen to them one day and imagine me singing to them -- which I am!

Your PledgeMusic video shows you giving a video tour of the David Wax Museum's touring van.  Did you pick up pointers from touring with a child before starting the fall 2014 tour?  What did you learn while on the tour?

We are so lucky to know a small but growing posse of touring moms. The person we owe a great deal to, however, is Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  She has been an inspiration to me for several years, not only traveling with two kids, but even using cloth diapers on the road! She taught us that you really only need two things: diapers and the carrier. The rest you can do without.  Coincidentally, Rhiannon is releasing her own solo album  (with the renowned producer T Bone Burnett) on the same day (February 10).

Anais Mitchell is another touring mom who advised me before Calliope was born and reminded me how flexible little ones actually are. And I'll never forget  an article I read about Ani DiFranco who said touring was actually easier in many ways than being at home since you have a whole host of helping hands when you're on the road. And I've found that same thing to be true. Not only does the baby nap well in the car, but there are plenty of loving arms to hold and entertain her any time of the day or night.  We call the band members her Runcles (Road Uncles) and they've been a big part of her life.

And of course we couldn't do this without the amazing help of my dad who retired last year and comes on most of our tours to watch the baby. He's named himself Nanno (a male nanny) and puts up with smelly green rooms, late nights, and long, long drives for the good of the family band. 

What's your favorite song (or two or three favorite songs) to sing to your daughter?

You know, I end up humming to her more often than actually singing, which means I'm making up new tunes each night. But one of my favorite songs is "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" that Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris made famous in O Brother, Where Art Thou?. It's got such a great soothing, rocking rhythm to it. The words are a little sad though, so I've been making up my own more baby-friendly lyrics. 

What's next for you?

Well, my main project, David Wax Museum, is putting out a new album later in 2015, so we're gearing up for another couple years of touring with that record.  So that's the realistic next step. But we're often fantasizing about ways to spend more time in L.A. and Mexico. And I'm always trying to figure out how to make more fiber art.  But for now, I'm looking forward to my "Sweet Love and Lullabies" tour to release Watching the Nighttime Come. We'll be playing shows in New York, Boston and Northampton on Valentine's Day weekend.

Photo credits: Jo Chattman

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]

Macaroni and Cruise: A Chat with the Mad Scientists Behind Kindie's First Family Cruise

When I first heard about Macaroni and Cruise, the concept, a small part of me was jealous I hadn't thought of it first.  There are an increasing number of musicians that have taken to the high seas to play gigs for their most devoted fans over the past few years, while family cruising remains popular as well.  Put them together, and it's like macaroni and cheese.

Or cruise.

In any case, it was man-of-many-kindie-hats Bill Childs who did come up with the idea first, curse and bless him.  He's working with Jonathan Coulton and Paul Sabourin and Greg "Storm" DiCostanzo (aka musical comedy duo Paul and Storm), whose fifth edition of the JoCo Cruise Crazy sets at the end of January, to develop a kid-friendly musical (and geeky) cruise for the whole family.

The inaugural Macaroni and Cruise sets sail on Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Sky liner from Miami on August 3, 2015, returning to port August 7 while stopping at Grand Bahama Island, Nassau, and Great Stirrup Cay along the way.  And while you're onboard, your family can enjoy music from Tim and the Space Cadets, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, plus kindie-allegiant acts like Jonathan Coulton and the Doubleclicks, not to mention Lego activities featuring master builder Nathan Sawaya.

There is still an early booking discount available -- it's for the first 50 cabins and worth $200 per person, which'll go a long way towards offsetting any additional travel costs your family might incur in getting to Miami.  Click here if that appeals to you (it probably should).

I sent off some questions to Bill, and he, Paul, and Storm gave some further details behind the Macaroni and Cruise origin story and planning process, so enough of my yapping…

Zooglobble: How did the idea for Macaroni and Cruise (the cruise, not the name) originate?

Bill Childs: I (Bill) had read about the JoCo Cruise over the years and thought something like that might work for family music. I knew Jonathan through Many Hands and KindieFest, and he was kind enough to walk me through the basics. Independently, we came to the realization that maybe it would make sense to work together on it, since he and his partners have so much expertise on the cruise side of things, and on making an event like this into a community, not just a vacation.  We’ve built up the rest of it together.

What were you looking for in choosing acts for the cruise?

Bill, Paul Sabourin, Greg "Storm" DiConstanzo: Smart folks who appeal to kids and their grownups. A mix of acts that directly orient themselves towards kids and families, and "regular" acts that they'll love.  Basically, when we think about who to bring, we're figuring families who come on this cruise aren't looking for ordinary entertainment -GiantMegaEntertainmentCorp Consolidated can provide that. We're here for something different.

What is the biggest misconception people have when they think about going on a cruise versus the reality of going on a cruise?

Bill, Paul, Storm: There are so many types of cruises, and people sometimes take the worst things they hear and attribute it to all of them—especially if they’ve never been on one before. Our team has extensive experience with cruise lines and ships across the spectrum, and we can say with a lot of confidence that sailing with us on the Norwegian Sky will be terrific - there are many more young and active people than what people sometimes expect when you say “cruise”!  But beyond the mechanics of being on a ship for vacation, people may also be surprised at how much community can be built during those days. JoCo Cruise has fostered a lot of year-round friendships, and part of our evil plan with Macaroni and Cruise is to help forge similar, positive life-altering friendships.

Besides performances, what other activities are you planning for attendees?

Bill, Paul, Storm: We're still in the process of planning the "only on Macaroni and Cruise" activities beyond the music—but we can promise fun hands-on experiences that go beyond what you'd expect from either a music festival or a cruise. For example, we're going to have world-renowned lego brick artist Nathan Sawaya onboard to do some fun sessions with the kids. We're also planning to have tabletop gaming, dance parties, and more unique stuff that everyone will love. (And it's also worth mentioning that we'll have at least one parents-only performance with Jonathan and others, where the swears will come out.)

What's been the biggest surprise for you, Bill, as you've learned about the cruise industry from the booking side?

Bill: I've never been on a ship bigger than the pretend paddlewheel boat that hosted my high school reunion this summer, so it's pretty much all new to me. I had a general idea that the ships were pretty elaborate, but I really didn't know the extent. The other thing that's been great to learn more about is the terrific community that can form on a cruise when the right ingredients are there - that's clear from the JoCo Cruise, and I'm really looking forward to seeing that happen with this. (As an aside, I promise there will be far less Bon Jovi on this ship than on my high school reunion’s.)

What are you most looking forward to on the cruise?

Bill: A lot of what I've done in the family music world has been around building communities, and I cannot wait to see how the families on board form a community and, hopefully, lifelong friendships. I'm also excited to check out those islands! Paul & Storm sent some pictures from them and they look pretend, they're so gorgeous. (The islands, not Paul & Storm.)

Paul: Expanding on what Bill said: while we have many fun activities and events planned, one of the most fun aspects of working on the JoCo Cruise has been watching how the attendees have actively shaped the overall tenor and "feel" of the event. I look forward to seeing how the Macaroni and Cruise attendees similarly evolve and shape the event to make it uniquely their own.

Storm: Agreed with all that—it’ll be amazing to be there when everyone is meeting one another on the ship. Though to Bill’s last point, I like to think that Paul and I are at least a little bit gorgeous.