Monday Morning Smile: "Life's A Treat" (Shaun the Sheep Theme, Rizzle Kicks Remix)

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, but I think any time you make a resolution, "More joy" should be on the list.

And there are comparatively few pieces of pop culture that bring me as much joy as Shaun the Sheep, the claymation TV show from Aardman Animation.  The nearly dialogue-less cross-cultural humor of the show rivals, I think, the best of classic Warner Brothers cartoons.  The recent full-length Shaun the Sheep Movie was a good introduction to the series, and, next to Inside Out, my favorite animated movie of the year.

The show's theme song is a peppy little number called "Life's A Treat," and for the movie, British hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks gave it a remix for the closing credits.  Could I listen to this five times in a row?  Probably.  More joy, folks, more joy.  (And if you like that, might I suggest "Feels Like Summer"?)

Rizzle Kicks - "Life's A Treat (Remix)" (Shaun the Sheep) [YouTube]

Best Kids Music of 2015: A Summary

I can now relax heading into the Christmas holidays because I wrapped up my reviews of the best -- or at least my favorites -- of the year in kids music.  Here, before I forget, are my three lists:

Before I sign off for the year -- and this site is going to be pretty quiet until the new year -- a couple brief thoughts to ponder in 2016.

I think there was a lot of great music this year -- really, just go back and check out those lists of top albums and songs -- but I felt like the number of new musicians I was introduced to this year was diminished a bit from previous years.  I noted last year that the number of artists represented in my lists was maybe 20% of all the artists I was exposed to.  So I recognize that this dimming of new music tickling my eardrums could be my own narrowing of tastes.  But I'm also a little worried that I couldn't find ten debuts I wanted to highlight this year -- it wasn't even like I had 8 or 9 and could've tweaked my guidelines to get to 10 -- at best there was maybe one more that was anywhere near being in the running.  So, again, I don't know if that's me or the genre generally, but that's not something I recall thinking in previous years.

The other "big thought" I have from the year is that I think the economics of the genre is at a tipping point... but I'm not sure which way it's going to tip.  Artists keep reporting that album sales (both digital and physical) continue to decline.  Not for all artists, and to vary degrees to be sure, but it seems like the model of having album sales be the primary income stream is nearing an end for the kids music world much sooner than I thought it would.  At the same time, artists are diversifying their artistic efforts (books, puppet shows, videos).  And with the explosion of streaming services trying to provide "walled gardens" for kids-related media, there could be an explosion of opportunities for talented kids musicians to be snapped up for exclusive albums, videos, and more for those services.  (Exhibit A: The Pop Ups.)

If I had to guess, I'd think that this is a great opportunity for focused kids' artists with a wealth of songs, creative ideas, and creative people in their address books... and not so good news for "hobbyist" musicians who can't devote a significant amount of resources (mostly time, but even money) in producing high-quality music, videos, and concert experiences.

Will the explosion in places to have music heard result in an ever-increasing flowering of types of kids music... or its homogenization?  I'm not sure, but I'm thinking 2016 might be a really important year.

Best Kids Music of 2015: Top 5 Debuts

Continuing on with my look back at 2015 (or Oct. 1, 2014 though Sept. 30, 2015, or thereabouts), let's turn our attention to debuts.

As always, I struggle with this list because what is a "debut" in kids music?  Meaning, if someone's been recording music for adults for a decade or more and then releases an album for kids, is that a "debut"?  I've leaned towards "no," especially if there's no indication that they plan to return to the kids music world.  (See: The Amazing Keystone Big Band, Suz Slezak, or Hilary Grist, though I would love to be proven wrong.) Same goes for artists who've recorded kids music but in other pairings.  (Waves hello to Renee Stahl, who recorded as Renee and Friends as a break from Renee & Jeremy.)

Luckily, the list of five albums below are still fine introductions to kids music from artists I've got a pretty good feeling might come back for round 2 -- at the very least they went to the trouble of creating a new band, right?  So here are my top 10 favorite debuts, listed alphabetically.

Turkey Andersen cover

Turkey Andersen cover

Turkey AndersenTurkey Andersen

[Review] - "Its combination of TMBG quirkiness and songwriting with Jonathan Richman-esque earnestness and vocals is pretty much instantly appealing.  If this debut is proof-of-concept, then I think it's proven that Turkey Andersen needs some investors."

Big Block Singsong album cover

Big Block Singsong album cover

Big Block Singsong - Big Block Singsong Greatest Hits Vol. 1

[Review] - "Turns out that the delightful series of 2-minute music videos date back to 2009, when Canadian illustrator Warren Brown and composer Adam Goddard (now Goddard/Brown) first unleashed Big Box Singsong, as it was then known, onto the world... Now there are 59 videos, 49 of which are the Season 1 pile which provide the 24 songs drawn for the album and DVD.  I, for one, welcome our new big block overlords."

S.S. Bungalow album cover

S.S. Bungalow album cover

Big World Audio Theatre - The Peculiar Tales of the S.S. Bungalow 

[Review] - "Voice actor Kevin Barbare narrates the story, which is filled with enough dramatic plot turns, gentle good humor, atmospheric sound effects, and occasional Princess Bride-style meta-commentary to keep the target audience hooked and any adults tuned in amused.  The chamber pop-folk, featuring the occasional stringed instrument, horns, and pedal steel, runs the gamut from peppy to slow as befitting the story's twists and turns."

Mi Viaje album cover

Mi Viaje album cover

Sonia De Los Santos - Mi Viaje: De Nuevo Leon to the New York Island 

[Review] - "Mi Viaje is an engaging album, and De Los Santos has succeeded in her goal of having listeners understand her journey from Mexico to New York City.  A Spanish-language kids music album might seem like a niche record, but as De Los Santos and others in this third wave of Spanish-language kids music of the past couple years have shown, it can speak to a fairly broad audience."

Let's Boogie album cover

Let's Boogie album cover

Rock 'n' RainbowLet's Boogie

[Review] - "Let's Boogie is energetic and a different spin on a lot of early childhood music education music. For families looking for a slightly glitter-infused take on music for their kindergarteners, this could fill that niche well."  [Note: Mike Whitla's done some other kids music stuff, but this is of such a different character that I'm letting it in as a debut.]

Best Kids Music of 2015: Top 30 Songs

Developing a list of my 30 favorite songs from the past year is probably the most foolish ranking I attempt here every year.  The number of albums to consider is large, but it is finite.  Multiply that number of albums by 10 or 12, however, to consider the number of songs, and we're talking thousands of songs to consider.  And, as I noted last year, a list ranking favorite songs is "ephemeral, subject to the whims of a particular moment.  More than that, it probably tends toward the poppy, upbeat, and lively."  I feel confident, though, these 30 songs, listed alphabetically, are among the best that kids music offered us in the past year.  ("Year," as always, defined as Oct. 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015, though with particular songs no doubt that range should be considered more guideline than firm window.)

Anyway, I've combined these into a handy Spotify playlist found at the bottom of this list (click here if you're already in Spotify).  Enjoy!

"If a Sandwich Was a Sandwich” - Turkey Andersen

"Grapes" - Andrew & Polly

"Use a Contraction" - The Bazillions

“Owl” - Big Block Singsong

 "Sad Baby” - Caspar Babypants

“La Golondrina” - Sonia De Los Santos

"Cuantos Tacos (The Taco Song)” - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

“Loving Cup” - Cat Doorman

"Kitty Wampus" - Duke Otherwise

"Action, Friends, Action" - Funky Mama

"Tomorrow Is a Chance to Start Over" - Hilary Grist

"Cakenstein" - Gustafer Yellowgold

“It’s Gotta Rain (If You Want a Rainbow)” - The Harmonica Pocket

“If I Were a Bird” - Charlie Hope

"Sloop John B. (feat. Jesse Wagner)" - Josh and the Jamtones

"Breakfast Club (feat. Carly Ciaricchio)" - Tim Kubart

“To the Woods” - Molly Ledford & Billy Kelly

"Hello, Goodbye, Shalom" - Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights

"The Start of Things” - Alison Faith Levy

"Refreshments On Neptune” - Todd McHatton

"The Way We Gets Down” - Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips

“Together” - Moona Luna (feat. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo)

"Give Some, Get Some” - Papa Crow

“Indoor Picnic” - The Pop Ups

"Turkey in the Straw" - Red Yarn

"You Were Meant To Be" - Renee and Friends (feat. Glen Phillips)

"I Like to Ride My Bike” - Rock 'n' Rainbow

"Minnesota" - Rocknoceros

“All I Want” - Vered

"Get Happy" - The Verve Pipe

Best Kids Music of 2015: Top 30 Albums

Slowly but surely, I'm getting better about writing these "Best of" lists in something approaching timeliness.  Even if it might be a bit late for holiday gift-giving purposes, I'm writing about the best of 2015 in 2015.

This past year was another good one in terms of new releases, so once again it was difficult to narrow down the musical year -- I'd guess that I once again listened to 250-300 albums -- to what is, in essence, the my favorite 10%.

As always, my year-end best-of list matches the Fids and Kamily year -- that is to say, from October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015.  So some good albums from the last couple months [waves at They Might Be Giants] will just have to wait for next year's list.

Trees cover

Trees cover

#1 (tie) - Molly Ledford & Billy KellyTrees

[Review] - "Like the trees they sing about, this duo's connection six years ago has grown into a sturdy friendship and musical collaboration. You're unlikely to hear a more joyful celebration of the natural world and our relation to it this year."

Great Pretenders Club cover

Great Pretenders Club cover

#1 (tie) - The Pop UpsGreat Pretenders Club

[Review] - "So often trailblazing releases are notable more for their context than their content, but in the case of Great Pretenders Club, the album's music is every bit as notable as the way it's been introduced to the world.  This is, simply put, one of the year's best albums."

How Great Can This Day Be cover

How Great Can This Day Be cover

#3 (tie) - Lori HenriquesHow Great Can This Day Be?

[Review] - "After winning the Joe Raposo Children’s Music Award, named for the composer of classic songs for Sesame Street and the Muppets, last year, her smart and joyful music, which sounds like it’d fit right in on those classic shows, is finding a wider audience.  Her new album How Great Can This Day Be shows off those musical talents."

Deep Woods Revival cover

Deep Woods Revival cover

#3 (tie) - Red YarnDeep Woods Revival

[Review] - "Red Yarn’s fervor for American folk music is evident on Deep Woods Revival.  While folk music has never gone away in the children’s music genre, he forcefully makes the case for its continued relevance in the era of the mp3."

Big Block Singsong cover

Big Block Singsong cover

#5 (tie) - Big Block SingsongBig Block Singsong Greatest Hits Vol. 1

[Review] - "So, yeah, I’m late to the party, but better late than never.  Big Block Singsong is ten tons of fun.  After listening and watching, your kids’ll probably have a two-banana day, too."

Beehives and Bedheads cover

Beehives and Bedheads cover

#5 (tie) - Duke OtherwiseBeehives and Bedheads

[Review] - "Looking for an album that provides guidance on moving through early childhood life transitions?  Move along, then, because this album kicks off with a song called “Dancing Pig” that answers the question, “What would a Tom Waits song about a prancing porcine sound like?,” and never really gets any less weird from there."

Peter and the Wolf and Jazz cover

Peter and the Wolf and Jazz cover

#5 (tie) - The Amazing Keystone Big Band w/ David Tennant - Peter and the Wolf and Jazz!

[Review] - "The melodies themselves are unchanged, but the band's arrangement brings in a wide variety of jazz styles -- stride piano, hip-hop, free jazz, blues, cool jazz, and the like.  None of the stylistic shifts seem out of place -- rather, they feel appropriate to the story."

Rocksteady cover

Rocksteady cover

#8 (tie)  - Josh and the JamtonesRocksteady

[Review] - "Have I made it clear enough that Rocksteady is a party, through and through?  Because it is, enough so that your kids probably won't even need that lullaby album to fall asleep to after dancing like crazy."

Jazzy Ash cover

Jazzy Ash cover

#8 (tie)  - Jazzy AshBon Voyage

[Review] - "With Bon Voyage, Jazzy Ash fully connects with her own family’s musical heritage, yet incorporates those 100-year-old traditions into 21st century kids music.  It's a buoyant and warm-hearted album for the younger set."

Where the Path Will Wind cover

Where the Path Will Wind cover

#8 (tie)  - Charlie HopeWhere the Path Will Wind: Songs, Stories and Friends 2

[Review] - "Where the Path Will Wind is essentially an audio magazine, an aural equivalent, perhaps, to her Sing As We Go! video series."

Tim Kubart Home cover

Tim Kubart Home cover

#8 (tie)  - Tim KubartHome

[Review] - "While I've always thought Kubart's music had their share of pop hooks, Home is bursting at the seams with them and is his best effort yet... [B]less Tim Kubart and his big pop heart."

The Start of Things cover

The Start of Things cover

#8 (tie)  - Alison Faith LevyThe Start of Things

[Review] - "Imagine, however, if other musical strains of the [1960s] -- psychedelic pop, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound production -- also found themselves working their way into kids'  music with songs for the youngest listener."

Night Night! cover

Night Night! cover

#8 (tie) - Caspar BabypantsNight Night!

[Review] - "I hope Ballew doesn't take this the wrong way, but his album is forgettable in all the right ways.  What I mean by that is the music, while catchy, isn't necessarily one bouncy hook-filled song after another.  Rather, it features a more consistent -- and obviously far mellower -- tone."


The eagle-eyed among you will note that that list includes a baker's dozen of albums, not ten.  I didn't squeeze an extra three albums into my ballot -- only 3 of those 6 albums tied for 8 made it in.  But it was such a hard choice that I'm sure I'd pick a different 3 every week.  For Fids & Kamily I need to make a choice.  But this is my list, and so I'm listing thirteen albums.

After these top thirteen, distinguishing between the rest of my list becomes even more difficult.  So once again I'm taking the easy way out - alphabetical order for albums 14 through 30.

Turkey AndersenTurkey Andersen [Review]

The BazillionsOn the Bright Side [Review]

Bunny ClogsWhales Can't Whistle [Review]

Cat DoormanCalling All the Kids to the Yard [Review]

Sonia De Los SantosMi Viaje: De Nuevo Leon to the New York Island [Review]

Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam BandAdelante! [Review]

Hilary Grist - Tomorrow Is a Chance To Start Over [Review]

Gustafer YellowgoldDark Pie Concerns [Review]

Lloyd MillerGlory! Glory! Hallelujah! [Review]

Alastair MoockAll Kinds of You and Me [Review]

Keith MunslowTiny Destroyer [Review]

Pointed Man BandThe Flight of the Blue Whale [Review]

Recess MonkeyHot Air [Review]

Renee and FriendsSimpatico [Review]

RocknocerosPlymouth Rockers [Review]

Big World Audio TheatreThe Peculiar Tales of the S.S. Bungalow [Review]

Suz SlezakWatching the Nighttime Come [Review]

Mixtapes For My Father

I did not fall into reviewing music for kids because of any deep childhood immersion into the genre.  When I was young, my own musical memories are that of Mantovani, Herb Alpert, and other bandleaders you could hear on "Easy Listening" radio stations.

Not only did my parents predate the Baby Boom generation, neither of them came to the United States until adulthood, and so American (and British) rock and roll, rhythm and blues, jazz weren't part of their musical DNA.  "Light music" wasn't performed and recorded with kids in mind, but as many of the songs lacked vocals and certainly were not harsh in any way, they were perfectly safe for listening with kids, and so I remember tooling around Northern California on weekend drives with my parents, listening to one perfectly orchestrated, slightly swinging tune after another.  All those classic kids' albums from the '60s and '70s -- your Peter, Paul, and Mommy, your The Point!, anything from Pete Seeger or Ella Jenkins -- I never heard them until years after I became a parent, or thirty, forty, or even fifty years after they were released.

And so while music was never hidden our house -- and, indeed, I took all sorts of lessons, from piano to violin to organ -- it was never anything that my parents looked to specifically share with me.  And although I have fond memories of listening to that "light music," I don't revisit it today and doubt I would listen to it for any reason other than nostalgia.


Here seems an appropriate time to mention two new attempts -- from completely different parts of the musical spectrum -- to craft a listening experience to be shared by parent and child.  Neither of these attempts includes anything from Mantovani, though one is slightly Mantovani-adjacent, despite its relative newness.

This Record Belongs To... record and record player

This Record Belongs To... record and record player

Let's start, then, with that slightly retro attempt from Light In The Attic Records.  It's called This Record Belongs To ________, and it's received press attention well beyond any release the kids music world typically receives.  I suspect that much of the attention has to do with the format of the release -- Light In The Attic issued the record on vinyl and partnered with Jack White's Third Man Records to package the album with a miniature record player.  As high-concept ideas go, This Record Belongs To, is a pretty good one -- deliberately push back against the digital tide that's swept the musical world, even the kids' bay I thought would be sheltered for longer than it has been.

I can't comment on the record player or the vinyl record -- hey, what can I say, while I love CDs, I've never had much interest in collecting vinyl.  But the album itself (also available on mp3 if necessary) is essentially a mixtape of classic kid-friendly tracks from the 1960s and 1970s -- Carole King's "One Was Johnny," a couple Harry Nilsson tracks including "Me and My Arrow," the Pointer Sisters' "Pinball Number Count" permanently imprinted upon the brain of countless American youth who've seen more than a handful of Sesame Street episodes.  And there are a number of tracks that weren't created with kids in mind -- Vashti Bunyan's "Diamond Day" and Donovan's "The Mandolin Man and His Secret."  As mixtapes go, this one is excellent.

Now, to the credit of the person who created it, DJ Zach Cowie, hasn't tried to suggest anything like that he's trying to bring "real" music to kids.  (Would that some of the coverage of the album had been as modest in suggesting how much better this selection is.)  Which is a good thing, because leaving aside the issue of the general quality of kids music these days (memo: it's good, better than it's ever been), the idea of mixing "kids music" with kid-friendly music for all has been used for years by DJs like those at Greasy Kid Stuff and Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, to name a couple.  All I'm suggesting is that, as good as this particular set of tracks is -- it's good, really it is -- it's by no means unique, and it's very much possible to create a similar album with tracks that were recorded in the past quarter-century.

Smiles Ahead record cover

Smiles Ahead record cover

Approaching kids music from the other end of the spectrum is Smiles Ahead, the first release from Kansas City-based Mighty Mo Productions, a label whose specific goal is to raise the visibility of the current crop of musicians making music for kids and families.  This album is a collection of "happy" songs (their next collection, scheduled for release on Valentine's Day, will have more of a love theme), a theme that is pretty flexible and, in a genre that is as generally positive as kids' music, open to a wide variety of tracks.  Particular standouts include Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could's "Jump Up," The Pop Ups' soaring "Box of Crayons," and one of the new tracks, the Verve Pipe's "Get Happy!."

It is not necessarily a mixtape, and unlike the This Record Belongs To _______ and the radio shows I mention above, there's no attempt to mix current "non-kids" music (or older music of any sort).  In a genre that, despite recent attempts, by artists to stitch together a concept of "kids music" as a national thing, is still fairly atomized, Mighty Mo is staking its business model in part on the idea that if a family on the West Coast likes Caspar Babypants (aka Chris Ballew), then they might also like Minnesota's Okee Dokee Brothers.  They're hoping that listening to music in the minivan will lead to jamming to music together in concert.  They're also wanting to make their business dependent on "kids music that parents will like too."  That is definitely not their tagline, but it's a tagline I've heard literally hundreds of times in my 15 or so years of covering this genre.  The fact that the tagline (or its variants) still gets thrown around is an indication that the genre's got a long ways to go.

I don't know whether Mighty Mo's business model will work any better than Light In The Attic's will (though I'm guessing Light In The Attic won't necessarily be looking to develop another vinyl mixtape at quite the same pace that Mighty Mo will be releasing albums).  I obviously have some built-in affinity for Mighty Mo because they're working with artists of today while Light In The Attic's collection features, for the most part, artists it's literally impossible to see perform because they passed away many years ago.

And if there's a more fundamental difference between the two albums it really hinges on the progress of time and the impermanent nature of life.  This Record Belongs To _______ is based on the view of listening at home (preferably with a physical object) as the primary source to developing a musical background, while Smiles Ahead views the album merely as the gateway to the concert experience, where lasting musical memories will be made.  Neither is necessarily correct, nor are they mutually exclusive -- but which one you gravitate to says quite a bit about how you want your kids to approach music.


There is a third way as well.

If there was any musical legacy my parents left me, it probably had its origins in 1984, the year we moved to Texas.  That was the summer I taped a penny to an ad ripped out of who knows where, and I joined the Columbia House Record Club for the first time.  Their legacy was letting their middle schooler agree to a contractual obligation and letting me choose 12 cassettes of my very own.  I can't remember the whole dozen -- there was a Bruce Springsteen album (Born in the USA), something from Slade which featured their hit "Run Runaway," and beyond that, I have no specific memory.

But I'm pretty sure that I spent much of that summer in an apartment, listening to those tapes every day, reading those mailings and scanning the hundreds of album names available to me.  That was probably the summer I became an honest-to-goodness music fan, all because my parents let me do my own thing.

I know that parents want to provide a broad set of experiences for their kids, and giving them musical experiences both recorded and live are important as part of that, particularly if you can give them experiences viewed as high quality.  But eventually you have to let go, and regardless of whether you played Harry Nilsson, Caspar Babypants, or even Mantovani for your kids, they'll find their own set of musical heroes.  It's not so much the stops along the way as it is the journey itself.

Note: I received copies of both albums for possible review.