Video: "Blue Beat" - Dean Jones & Jacky Davis (World Premiere!)

Always, always happy for new music from kindie uber-producer Dean Jones. Jones’ music, be it with his main band, Dog on Fleas, or with any of his other musical partners, is sui generis — entirely unique. But I also love the way that Jones’ work and his enthusiasm for the genre binds together a lot of the musicians that have been making music for families, many of them for more than a decade.

The latest effort from Jones is a album of songs with children’s book illustrator Jacky Davis. No fancy name for them, they’re just Dean Jones & Jacky Davis, and their first album together is Where Does Your Mind Wander?. The pair co-wrote the songs, with Jones performing almost all of the music. The whole album is kinda mellow, kinda dreamy, and quite a bit electronic (both Kraftwerk and minimalist composer Terry Riley are cited as inspirations).

This world premiere track is called “Blue Beat” — I dig its lo-fi beat and its lyrical conceit (which takes a few words to grasp). The video is similarly lo-fi. The accompanying video is just as lo-fi as the song, simple and slightly hypnotic. Together they make for a video that would never win a contest to win the most eyeballs, but might just draw a small collection of devoted fans.

There’s a lot more to tell about a site that this video is actually a sneak preview from… but not today. Hopefully soon, because it’s a cool concept and is in the spirit of Jones’ kids music work to be sure. For today, however, you’ll just have to enjoy this track. Where Does the Mind Wander? is out now everywhere digital music is streamed.

Dean Jones & Jacky Davis - “Where Does the Mind Wander?”

Video: "Giant & Colossal Squid" - Marsha and the Positrons (feat. Barry Louis Polisar) (World Premiere!)

You know how with the pandemic we’re all going back and finding shows to watch that have been around for a couple years or more? Well, creators sometimes do the same thing, too.

Take, for example, this video for “Giant & Colossal Squid” from DC-area musician Marsha Goodman-Wood, leader of Marsha and the Positrons. The song was on their 2018 album Positronic. The video was actually filmed at about the same time the album was released — that’s why, you know, you have the oh-so-2018-vibe of a whole band dancing right next to one another. It just took a couple years for the proper combination of time and talent to come together properly to make the final video you see today.

It’s a little goofy; mostly educational; mixes puppets, animation and live action; and on top of that you have the slightly subversive kindie music legend Barry Louis Polisar as the voice of a squid. Worth the wait, happy to give the video its world premiere here.

Marsha and the Positrons - “Giant & Colossal Squid” (feat. Barry Louis Polisar) [YouTube]

Video: "Flying Starfish" - Elena Moon Park (World Premiere!)

Even though I’m not posting quite so much these days, I will always make time to post music from Elena Moon Park, the New York singer/violinist/multi-instrumentalist who first came to kindie prominence as a member of Dan Zanes’ band. (And not just because her non-musical background suggests she’s a policy nerd like me.) She’s always drawn from a deep well of influences, yes from East Asia as noted on her first album Rabbit Days and Dumplings, but beyond that.

Her new album Unhurried Journey takes another dip into that deep well, effortlessly melding sounds from different cultures. This song from the album — “Flying Starfish” — is deceptively simple but the instrumentation, featuring the musical saw and jarana with some electronic instrumentation as well, gives it a dreamlike feel. As for the song itself, Park notes that “I sang this song to my niece Zora when she was born, making it up as I went along. While holding her for the first time, I thought of all the exciting adventures coming her way, the transformations and changes that come with them, and how her family would always be waiting for her when she returns.”

This world-premiere video features drawings by the musician and artist Dana Lyn that match the song in its simple, otherworldly texture. All around, a lovely song for your family to get lost in for a few minutes.

Elena Moon Park - “Flying Starfish” [YouTube]

Video: "Jump for Joy" - Red Yarn (World Premiere!)

There is… a lot going on in the world right now — death, destruction, anger, systemic injustice made manifest. And so I completely understand someone’s surface-level reaction to the idea of posting a video for a song titled “Jump for Joy” at this point.

Red Yarn (aka Portland, Oregon’s Andy Furgeson) gets it, too. He’s releasing his sixth album, Backyard Bop, on August 7th, and when he wrote the leadoff single “Jump for Joy” in January 2020, the world (at least in the United States) looked a lot different than it does as summer officially kicks off. At the time, Furgeson says, “I was thinking about the power of activism and my responsibility to spread joy from my position of privilege… I had no idea what the world would look like just six months later. Now, in this moment of pandemic and civil unrest, I'm more aware than ever that I have a duty as a privileged white male artist to use my small but mighty platform for good.”

So, yes, on the one hand this video is a silly little thing, featuring Furgeson’s trademark puppets as the crew for the video. (Furgeson assures me that it was filmed in a socially-distanced manner by Lake Karavias, also known round these parts as the ringleader of the Big World Audio Theater.) But with a chorus featuring the lyrics “Stand right up, raise your voice, get up with me, and jump for joy!,” the rockabilly song has a social activist heart that puts it in good company with recent releases from artists like the Okee Dokee Brothers, Alastair Moock, and Alphabet Rockers (not to mention legends like Ella Jenkins, Pete Seeger, and Raffi). And most activists will tell you that there’s got to be a bit of joy alongside the hard work of social change.

Anyway, I’m happy to present the world-premiere of the video. You can listen to “Jump for Joy” wherever your family streams music here, or also via the player following the video below.

Red Yarn - “Jump for Joy” [YouTube]

Red Yarn · Jump For Joy

Video: "Ding Dong Merrily On High" - Charlie Hope (World Premiere!)

It is always a good time for music from Charlie Hope, her clean, crisp voice a tonic for the dreary days of winter (or summer!).

Sing A Festive Song! is Hope’s 2017 holiday-themed album, and included a lovely version of “Ding Dong Merrily On High.” Hope rewrote the lyrics to remove the most religious parts of the text, but kept the er… glorious “Gloria,” which requires a long intake of breath before the singer the gently descending line. In other words, the absolute best part remains.

It may be a couple years after the album release, but now the song has a video that’s every bit of delightful. It’s directed by David Cowles and Jeremy Galante (this is not the first time by any means their work has appeared on this site, often in conjunction with They Might Be Giants’ music) and features a bunch of happy, playful, and singing gnomes. Festive for the winter holidays, no matter which winter holidays your family celebrate. And it’s a world premiere!

Charlie Hope - “Ding Dong Merrily On High” [YouTube]

Video: "Under the Big Umbrella" - Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could

Brady Rymer - Under the Big Umbrella cover art

We are in the midst of spring (or, if you’re in the desert Southwest, rapidly approaching summer), which means that it’s time for a sunnier attitude.

And as I think about kids’ musicians, Brady Rymer is right near the top of the list of those with sunnier attitudes. On May 17th, Rymer and his Little Band That Could release his tenth (!) studio album, Under the Big Umbrella.

Now, you might be thinking that I’ve failed in my narrative approach — “sunny” and “umbrella” being a more unusual pairing of words — but the album title track definitely takes more of a metaphorical than a meteorological view of the phrase. (If there were a camping-themed song here, it’d be titled “Big Tent" to be sure.) The whole album’s musical and lyrical approach will sound familiar to Rymer’s fans — roots-pop originals with an expansive sound and lyrics that welcome all. (These songs in particular were inspired by Rymer’s request for kids at a New Jersey elementary school for what was meaningful to them.) It’s a sunny set of tracks, hopeful in many ways.

We’re happy to be premiering the brand new video for “Under the Big Umbrella.” It’s a simple lyric video, but since it features the charming illustrations and hand-letterings of illustrator Emily Balsley, who did that cover art up there, that’s A-OK by me. (Go here for links to your favorite non-video way to listen to the track.)

Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could - “Under the Big Umbrella” [YouTube]

Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could - photo by Jayme Thornton

Photo credit: Jayme Thornton