Itty-Bitty Review: 10 - Funky Mama

10 album cover

Kansas City's Krista Tatschl Eyler -- AKA Funky Mama -- has been laying low in the kids' music world for a few years since the release of her previous album Sing! in 2010, but she's back in fine vocal form on her new album 10.

The album title is a recognition that 2015 marks the ten-year anniversary of the release of her first album in 2005.  But this is no retrospective of an album.  Instead, these ten tracks (appropriate, that) are celebratory.  It's nice to have her voice back in kids music -- Shawana Kemp of Shine and the Moonbeams is the only kids music artist who can belt out a song like Eyler can.  Eyler has a powerhouse voice and the best songs here take advantage of that.  "Action, Friends, Action!" is a horn-drenched movement song that demands movement from anyone within listening distance, while on "Safe Seat" is a blues-drenched song sung from the perspective of a student who just can't sit still (and might have gotten in trouble a few times at school for it).  She brings in some local guest artists to good effect -- Sugar Free Allstars' Chris Wiser funky organ on "Gonna Be Alright" and Rappin' Roy Scott's vocals on "Dance!" work particularly well.

The album and its kid-targeted subjects (e.g., dogs eating homework, the joys of eating corn, dancing) will be most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 8.  10 doesn't reinvent any kids music formulas, but one listen may remind that there's room for all sorts of kindie musicians, including those who know how to belt out a tune without fluttering off into American Idol silliness.  Recommended.

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

Review: Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie - Randy Kaplan

I will admit that when I first heard about Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie, the latest album from Los Angeles-based (usually) Randy Kaplan, I was somewhat skeptical.  There was so much that could have gone wrong with this project - a troubadour recasting famous blues songs into kid-friendly complaints. ("Randy-ized," it was called.) And with a centuries old blues man offering sandpapery-voiced commentary? Oh, so much could have gone wrong.

But I was willing to give it a shot because Kaplan is one of kids music's top storytellers with significant depth in musical sources of inspiration, and I figured that if anyone could make these re-done stories worth listening to, it would be he.

Luckily, I was proven correct.

OK, I can't say that I found the overarching narrative conceit -- the century-plus-year-old bluesman "Lightnin' Bodkins" introduces many of the songs and tries to find Kaplan his own "blues name" -- very interesting.  In fact, when I listened to the album, I pretty much always skipped forward to the next track.  Parents in control of the car's CD player or the iPod may do the same.

But that's only because the songs in between those interstitials are so much more interesting.  Yes, the songs are "Randy-ized," which ironically means they've tamed down, not made more inappropriate.  So "Timeout Blues," which turns the classic chorus "In the Jailhouse Now" into "In the Timeout Now," is all about a rabble-rousing kid.  Kaplan is one of the top 2 or 3 kids music storytellers working today, and like other talented storytellers, he draws from a deep well of pint-sized frustration and pique.  And what better channel for expressing frustration and pique than the blues, such as in "Ice Cream Man Rag," which bemoans an ice cream truck that never stops at the narrator's house.  There are other more straight-ahead songs whose double-entendres (if Kaplan cracked a knowing smile while encouraging kids to shake their things -- eggshakers -- in "Shake Your Thing," I couldn't hear it).  And near the end of the album, more pensive songs like "Move to Kansas City" don't really sound jokey or silly at all, with songs like "Way Down in Arkansas" and "So Different Blues" remarkably tender and sweet.

Kids ages 3 through 8 will most appreciate the album, which is available at all the usual suspects (and on Spotify as well).  I'd also highlight the understated musical accompaniment, most notably the gentle finger-picking guitar work of Kaplan (assisted by his producer Mike West).

Yes, Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie has its origins in a somewhat jokey concept, but the final result transcends that limitation.  Ignore Lightnin' Bodkins, ignore the idea that your kids might get a basic education in the forefathers of the blues (unlikely), and just enjoy with your kids a solid collection of bluesy stories from one of the best storytellers around.  Definitely recommended.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of the album for possible review.

Video: "Ice Cream Man" - Randy Kaplan

I'm sorry, Mr. Randy Kaplan -- despite your claim in your song "Ice Cream Man," from your new album Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie, I am the official ice cream king.

Even if you do have a cape.  And a crown.  And, er, an ice cream truck.

OK, I concede my title to you, sir.  Where's my ice cream?

Randy Kaplan - "Ice Cream Man" [Vimeo]