This Podcast Has Fleas... Will It Have Legs?

Once NPR and WHYY and WBUR and Gimlet threw their (porkpie?) hats into the kids' music ring, could fellow podcasting all-star WNYC be far behind?

Of course not.

This morning sees the official launch of their first podcast, This Podcast Has Fleas, with a whole bunch of star power, including Jay Pharaoh and Alec Baldwin. What's it all about? Well, the promo copy describes it succinctly:

What happens when rival pets have dueling podcasts? Find out as Jones (Jay Pharoah), a slick cat with a taste for auto tune, faces off with Waffles (Emily Lynne), a dog who can’t help chewing her microphone.

As you might guess from that copy and the promotional audio trailer below, it's a comedic (and fictional) podcast.

The first episode actually dropped on Saturday, with the second episode out this morning. Entertainment Weekly reports that it's a limited-run series -- six episodes -- which strikes me as a perfect length for this concept, which could be wonderful, or could wear out its welcome by the sixth episode. But based on the smartly-produced first episode, which quickly set up the setting and the stakes, and had its fair share of laughs (your local 7-year-old will go nuts), I don't think it'll have any problem keeping listener interest over the series length.

Now I will note that the concept of a canine with social media/entertainment savvy is not entirely original -- hi, Dog With a Blog!, hello, Fetch with Ruff Ruffman! In fact, the announcer's voice in the trailer sounds suspiciously like Ruff's (though I think it's Eugene Mirman's, who's also on the show). But it's the mid-2010s now, podcasting is the new blogging, doncha know?

Here's hoping that it does well and that its sister show, Pickle, which is an Americanized relaunch of Zooglobble favorite Short & Curly, made in partnership with some of the same Australian producers and talent from the original show, has a successful launch starting December 11. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a little friendly kids' network competition, though hopefully that competition's a little more cooperative than that of the dog and the cat are at the start of this series.

Video: "C Is for Cat" - The Pop Ups

The wonderful duo The Pop Ups are continuing their video series, and their latest, Episode 4, features a BRAND NEW SONG. The song is called "C Is for Cat," and while I can't say that it reaches the level of bonkers that their video for "Robot Dance" did, it's still pretty darn good as it outlines feline preferences (cars and carp, among other things). And that robot dance video didn't instruct you or your kids on how to draw a cat. This one? Nailed it.

The Pop Ups - "C Is for Cat" [YouTube]

Video: "Walking My Cat Named Dog" - They Might Be Giants

We here at Zooglobble HQ (which, to be clear, is my house) are looking forward to the forthcoming kids music album from They Might Be Giants. The as-yet-untitled (to the public) album would be the first kids album from the band since 2009's Here Comes Science.

I don't have much inside information, but back in April as part of their Dial-A-Song project they released a song and video for "Thinking Machine," and its trippy, animated video and meta-silly lyrics were widely interpreted as being perfect for the upcoming kids album.

And last week they released another song that most folks are thinking is definitely going on that kids album, too -- "Walking My Cat Named Dog," a remake of a song written and released by Norma Tanega back in 1966. (The song hit #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.) With its species-bending premise (the spiritual precursor, I suppose, of Trout Fishing in America's "Chicken Joe," about a cat named, well, you know), it seems like a swell fit for the band.

It's a mellow romp, with some witty animation from Mixtape Club. Even if it's not on the next album, definitely one for the kiddos.

They Might Be Giants - "Walking My Cat Named Dog" [YouTube]

Video: "It Takes All Kinds" - Alastair Moock

If you set out to make a modern update of Free To Be You and Me, as Alastair Moock has done, you've got a pretty high bar to clear.

But based on the first song from All Kinds of You and Me, Moock may have stuck the landing. The first video from the album is for "It Takes All Kinds" (which inspired the album title), and it's a feel-good sing-along -- no hand-clapping, but definitely encouraging of hand-clapping, and with nice vocal assists from Rani Arbo and Anand Nayak.

And then there's the video itself, animated by fellow kindie musician Key Wilde, which does a nice job of melding Wilde's familiar animals-doing-crazy-things (a cat on skis!) with the theme of the song, accepting all kinds of people (and animals), such as a boy who prefers dresses and a girl who loves to climb trees. It's just good, good stuff.

All Kinds of You and Me is out June 19.

Alastair Moock - "It Takes All Kinds" [YouTube]

Monday Morning Smile: The Cats of Mars Meet the Toy Car

It has been awhile since I've posted a Monday Morning Smile, but, y'know, I only post them when I find something worth sharing. This 8-minute animated short from Sweden's Jacob Stalhammar has been dubbed into English, but the sound and look is retro all over the world. The outer space theme gives it a bit of a Halloween feel to me. It's lots of fun for any age -- make it a part of your own next personal animation festival.

Monday Morning Smile: The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside

Ah, so lovely, both in the fleeting details (the shimmery Eiffel Tower that kicks off the animation) and in the big picture (the theme and the ending). Wonderful stuff from director Siri Melchior and Trunk Animation.