Video: "Used to Be" - Spring Bees (World Premiere!)

Spring Bees album cover

I love to get word of musicians trying their hand at the kids music world for the first time -- so much promise and uncertainty.  So when self-described "indie rock Texpatriate" Monte Holman (he lives in Kansas City at the moment) sent me a copy of his debut album recorded as Spring Bees and cited folks like Dolly Parton, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Joao Gilberto as musical reference points, I was eager to hear it, to see what came out of it.

Almost as cool as hearing new music from new bands is seeing that they've got their act together, and in this case, Holman already had his debut video lined up.

The first video from Spring Bees' self-titled album, "Used to Be," is a celebration of a love that will last a long, long, looooong time.  The lyrics suggest a series of lifetimes that the singer has lived through caring for someone else, suggesting a love that survives reincarnation.  But because those lifetimes feature, say, giraffes and alligators, it gives the weighty concept a much lighter feel.  The video was created by animator Cody Ground, who used stop-motion animation featuring what I like to think of as all those "zoo in a tube" tiny plastic animals you're stepping on when you're not stepping on your kids' Legos.

I'm guessing that the band name is inspired by the name of Monte's daughter (which starts with the letter "B"), and unsurprisingly given that track above, there's a strong feeling of love suffusing the entire album.  And those references above?  Totally earned.  (Just wait 'til you hear "Burp," which feels like a missing track from Getz/Gilberto.)  The album definitely will give you warm and fuzzy (and fuzzed out) indie rock feelings, but not in a too-cool-for-school way.

The self-titled debut is out April 21, but in the meantime, I'm happy to world-premiere this video and help get Spring Bees' music slowly out into the world.  I'm eager to see (and hear) what will happen.

Spring Bees - "Used To Be" [Vimeo]

Video: "OK Toilet Bowl" - StevenSteven

I am Team Kids Music Is Generally Better When It's Not Educational.

But I am also Team StevenSteven.

So, when presented with "OK Toilet Bowl," from the duo's fine debut album Foreverywhere, I am conflicted.  On the one hand, it's a song encouraging kids to poop in the toilet -- there's little in terms of subject matter that could be more "educational for kids."

On the other hand... it's just such an awesome song.  And when the video features a cheesy '70s-style game show lyric video to go along with the cheesy vibe of the song, Steve Burns in a 'fro out to here, and its own dance move to rival the Macarena, I guess I'm sunk.  Team StevenSteven all the way, I guess.

StevenSteven - "OK Toilet Bowl" [YouTube]

Video: "Vegetables" - Rabbit!

The Golden Carrot album cover

It's been a case of long-time-no-hear for the band Rabbit!  They released the kid-friendly album Connect the Dots in 2010, another EP called The Hopscotch EP the next year along with a cute video for their song "Magic."  

They took a hiatus for a few years starting in 2012, but now they're back with a brand new EP called The Golden Carrot EP.  The 5-song EP is out on March 21st and for the most part, the music is hook-y, bubbly pop that nobody would think was "kids music" unless somebody put it in that box for them.

One track, though, definitely has a younger audience in mind, and that's "Vegetables."  While regular readers will know that I'm not a big fan of "educational" music, but just as a well-prepared dish of veggies will get kids to eat foods they need, if the song's catchy and has a sing-along chorus, you can sing about just about anything.  That's the case here, and with doctor/rapper ZDoggMD adding vocals and a cute lyric video bursting with color and energy, I think kids will want at least one serving.  Maybe more.

Rabbit! - "Vegetables" [YouTube]

Video: "Between Main Street and Neverland" - Chibi Kodama (World Premiere!)

The band Chibi Kodama makes family music in every sense of that phrase -- it's kid-appropriate, features all 7 members of John Cullimore's family (him, his wife Yvonne, and his five kids, though perhaps the infant doesn't play much), and generally takes as its lyrical inspiration the emotional terrain of family life.  Even considering how kids music has generally steered more into emotional health with less of a focus on, say, learning how to brush your teeth, Chibi Kodama stands out for being in touch with itself emotionally.

Between Main Street and Neverland cover

On April 1 the band releases its fifth album, Between Main Street and Neverland, and it's every bit as dialed into the ups and downs of family life as the albums that preceded it.  Says Cullimore,

"This last year of our lives has been one of the most crazy, traumatic and intense that we've ever experienced.  I tried very hard with this new album to put the ideas of coming through trauma and having victory over it into songs that every family and child could relate to.  And thus far is is our most favorite project to date."

The leadoff video from the album is for the title track, and in its rock star poses and silly kids-being-kids (and adults-being-adults) clips, it's a really good introduction to the band if you're not familiar with 'em.  Or a welcome return if you are.  (Cullimore says that they wanted it "to serve as a sort of re-introduction to ourselves as a family and band.")  I'm happy to be giving the video its world premiere.

Chibi Kodama - "Between Main Street and Neverland" [YouTube]

What Is Music? Let Christian Robinson and Some Kids Tell You

I stumbled across the video below recently, and I was completely charmed, both by the voices of kids but also -- and probably even more -- by the animation from Christian Robinson.  He uses a variety of styles to accompany the voices of kids answering the question "What is music?" and other musical inquiries -- pen-and-ink (there's a touch of Ed Emberley there), stop-motion cutouts, photograph-and-drawing mashups.  Sure there's humor in the kids' occasional off-balance response -- "My favorite kind of jazz is... Michael Jackson" says one boy with a well-placed dramatic pause -- but the animation is made with heart.

Robinson graduated from CalArts in 2008 (his "Dinosaur Song" from that year is worth checking out as another winning meld of subject matter and varied animation styles) and over the past nine years he has, not surprisingly, had an impressive set of authors to illustrate for: Margaret Wise Brown, Mac Barnett, and Matt de la Pena for Last Stop on Market Street, for which de la Pena won the Newbery Award and Robinson a Caldecott Honor.  And, to bring it back to kindie for the moment, he also illustrated Justin Roberts' The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade.

But all that was in the future when Robinson made this video.  It's charming and worth your time.

Christian Robinson - "What Is Music?" [Vimeo]

Incoming: Born in the Deep Woods - Red Yarn

I don't normally like posting incomplete songs -- why let people know about something that ends just when it's getting good? -- but I'm going to make an exception for the video below.  It's for the title track from Red Yarn's forthcoming album Born in the Deep Woods, and it's everything a teaser trailer should be -- it's atmospheric and whets the appetite with a story that leaves the viewer wondering what'll happen next.

Born in the Deep Woods cover

Directed by Big World Audio Theatre creator and frequent Red Yarn video collaborator Laki Karavias, the video's set in the Oregon cabin where the album cover was filmed.  Sure, Red Yarn is the star, and Bob Rabbit sets the plot in motion, but for my taste, the "oooooh!" star of the video is the lovely full-size book Bob Rabbit brings to Red Yarn's doorstep.  Created by Ryan Bruce, who did the illustrations for the album, it is simply lovely...

Red Yarn - "Born in the Deep Woods" [YouTube]

Born in the Deep Woods is officially released March 10, and Red (AKA Andy Furgeson) will be playing a couple album release shows in Portland that weekend, then heading down to Austin for SXSW.  If you can, catch him in concert...

Oh, and if you want to listen to the whole song, plus maybe another track hint hint (and preorder the album), then here you go!