The Kindie Rock Showdown: Coming Next Week!

Kindie Rock Showdown logo

As many of you readers know, for a number of years I hosted a KidVid Tournament, which featured kids music videos released over the past year competing against one another in a friendly (I think) competition. Fans and readers voted for their favorites, March Madness-style, with one band and video being named champion. I last hosted the competition in 2012, but I had lots of fun hosting it the six years I did so.

But no good idea ever goes away for too long, and so I'm proud to announce that starting next week, there will be an entirely new way to enjoy the tournament. The website batteryPOP features a ton of great curated video content for kids of a variety of ages, from preschoolers to tweens -- live action, animation, educational shows, shows just for fun, music, etc. Why "batteryPOP"? Well, if someone watches a video and likes it, they can "POP" it -- it's like upvoting for the kindergarten set.

I think you see where I'm going with this.

That's right, starting next Monday, May 11, batteryPOP will be hosting the Kindie Rock Showdown. For the next month, they'll be hosting showdowns between 8 great kids' musicians:

Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

The Not-Its

Josh and the Jamtones

On top of that, not only will I be providing some color commentary, so will Laurie Berkner! Yeah, that Laurie Berkner, who will give her own personal reactions to the videos.

The fun kicks off next week as the Alphabet Rockers will take on the Bazillions and Danny Weinkauf is pitted against Caspar Babypants. The following week, starting May 18, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band will go up against Secret Agent 23 Skidoo and the Not-Its will compete against Josh and the Jamtones. The following week will feature the semifinals featuring the most-POPped videos, with the finals the week of June 1.

So tune in to batteryPOP starting next week with your kids to find out which videos are competing, support your favorite kids' musicians, and vote for your favorite videos! (And you can even go there this week -- really, they've got a lot of great and varied content.)

Video: "Henry Box Brown" - Lloyd H. Miller (World Premiere!)

I'm a longtime fan of Lloyd Miller's song "Henry Box Brown," liking it when Miller first recorded it with his band The Deedle Deedle Dees for their 2007 album Freedom in a Box. For his new album Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!, Miller re-recorded the track, giving the song a sped-up klezmer spin.

Now he's got a brand new video to go along with the new version, and it tells the story of the slave who escaped to freedom in the North by, yes, mailing himself in a box. And it does so via a craft version of Brown by Miller's daughter Hazel. It's cute and effective. (Also: Google Maps - hah!) Enjoy this world premiere!

Lloyd H. Miller - "Henry Box Brown" [YouTube]

Video: "Spring Day" - Karen K and the Jitterbugs

I know, I already featured the stream of "Spring Day" from Karen K and the Jitterbugs, but since the Boston area is in the low 50s today, it's clear that they need all the spring-affirming good vibes in the song and video.

But clearly, any time you take out your frustrations on a homemade reproduction of Olaf from Frozen, as one kid does in the video, it's time for winter to end.

Karen K and the Jitterbugs - "Spring Day" [YouTube]

Video: "Penguinese" - Recess Monkey

Spring: like clockwork, the arrival of spring means that regular season baseball, cherry blossoms in DC, and new Recess Monkey music are all on their way.

Yes, in the kindie world's least surprising (albeit very pleasant) news, the Seattle trio have announced a release date for their forthcoming album Hot Air. It'll take flight (see what I did there?) June 16, and on top of the music (produced once again by band muse John Vanderslice), it'll also include a DVD with accompanying videos that tell their own story, including, to be sure, the video below for "Penguinese." Yep, there's a new kid in town and he's a fancy dresser...

Recess Monkey - "Penguinese" [YouTube]

Video: "Thinking Machine" - They Might Be Giants

I don't think I've ever thought of them this way until now, but They Might Be Giants are models for me. Yes, I've listened to them for nearly 30 years now, and they remain one of my favorite bands, but what I'm talking about is something different from artistic merit or affinity.

Rather, it's how they've managed to keep a musical career going, and not just going, but spinning off into new and challenging ways long after the expiration date of most rock bands. There's the kids music, of course -- we'll get to that in a minute -- but there's the work-for-hire, the Instant Fan Club, Dial-A-Song Direct (a reboot of a 30-year-old idea featuring new songs and videos released weekly), and lots more, to say nothing of their artistic evolution.

I guess what I'm saying is that as someone hitting middle age (or who is there already), their constant evolution -- and artistic and what I'm presuming is some level of commercial success -- serves as some inspiration for how I should continue to approach my own life.

Having said all that, with the impending release of their new album Glean next week, they're turning their attention to their next 2015 album, which is reportedly a kids' album. (The band is definitely releasing a kids' album this year, it's only the timing that is not yet publicly known.) I've heard it rumored to be a sequel to No!, the freeform first kids music album from TMBG, as opposed to a sequel to any of the "Here Comes..." albums that followed. (Alas, no sign that Here Comes Political Science is becoming reality.)

We don't know much more -- and really, we don't know much at all -- but there is speculation/hope on the Dial-A-Song Direct page for the download and the YouTube page for the video that this track might be from the forthcoming kids' album. It wouldn't surprise me if that's the case. I don't want to spoil the song by describing it too much, but it features vocal interplay between John Flansburgh and John Linnell that I really only hear in their kids' stuff. Lyrically, it'll amuse older kids. And the glitchy, kid-friendly -- even the dog peeing is kid-friendly -- video for the song is directed by David Cowles and Jeremy Galante, who've co-directed other kids' videos (and non-kids videos) for the band.

Basically, we shouldn't assume that this is from the upcoming kids' album, but we shouldn't not assume that, either. Either way, fun stuff.

They Might Be Giants - "Thinking Machine" [YouTube]

Video: "Zar and the Broken Spaceship" - Dino O'Dell (World Premiere!)

If you haven't noticed, more and more kids' musicians are dipping their toes (or jumping in wholeheartedly) into the children's book pond. One of the newest dippers is Kansas City's Dino O'Dell, who's coming out with a children's book based on his song "Zar and the Broken Spaceship" later this year in July.

I'm over the moon (and stars) to present the world premiere of the video for the book. O'Dell notes that this weekend is the anniversary of the first human space flight, by Yuri Gargarin 54 years ago on Sunday, so that's as good a time as any to premiere this video (directed by Santiago Germano) about the first time O'Dell met the friendly alien Zar. It's a fun song that speeds up slightly as it goes along, and if that doesn't amuse the kids, I'm pretty sure the turtle at the turntable will. (It did me, at any rate.) If you want to pick up the mp3, you can do so at iTunes and CD Baby.

Dino O'Dell - "Zar and the Broken Spaceship" [YouTube]