What Was That Sound? - Papa Crow

Artist:​ Papa Crow

Album:​ What Was That Sound?

Age Range:​ 3 through 9

Description:​ There's no better way to make sure old farts like me (see what I did there?) don't get too comfortable with your musical output than to follow up a warm-hearted album for cold days (Things That Roar​) with an EP of fart songs for families.  It's still warm-hearted, but the 5 tracks here are silly, too.  Papa Crow (AKA Michigan's Jeff Krebs) even mocks his gentle folk troubadour persona by converting one of the songs on the first album to "All The Things That Fart."  And "Fart Like a Pirate" might just be the best fart song ever.  Songs about flatulence have to be a bit transgressive, but not too much so (for a family audience), and What Was That Sound?​ deftly negotiates that line.  Some of the songs on the 11-minute album can be heard at Papa Crow's Soundcloud page.  Definitely recommended.  (Glad I got that out of my system.)

The Children's Planet - The Tumble Down Library

Artist: The Tumble Down Library

Album: The Children's Planet

Age Range: 4 through 9

Description:​ A concept album, I guess.  Twenty-seven songs of alterna-pop with some British Invasion touches, averaging less than a minute in length, one for each letter of the alphabet (plus an introduction), telling the story of 26 kids trapped on a planet.  Really it's just a bunch of character sketches with echoes of They Might Be Giants' early years of brief songs mixed with echoes of They Might Be Giants' later years of quasi-educational albums.  Kids with short attention spans will probably dig the brevity; adults may wish the hook-laden tracks didn't end quite so soon.  Stream the whole thing (and buy it digitally for just $4) here.  Recommended.

[Note: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.]​

Yes! - Wayne Potash

Artist: Wayne Potash

Album: Yes!​

Age Range: 3 through 6

Description:​ Boston-area musician Potash has always been a little retro in his approach -- no revved-up post-ironic alterna-pop for him, nosiree.  When I reviewed his 2005 album Don't Forget the Donut​, I praised his goofy lack of pretense, and time has not changed Potash's approach much.  Get past the lo-fi album cover and song titles like "I Like Trucks," which make it sound like the accompanying songs would be bereft of any creativity or production values, and you'll find some great preschooler tracks.  "I Like Trucks," for example, is a slow-moving country-folk song that is so ear-wormy and familiar that I could've sworn I'd heard it on a previous record.  I hadn't.  It is an instant transportation song classic, and "Allis Chalmers," a love song to a tractor with a great singalong chorus, is almost one as well.  Listen to clips from the 46-minute album here.  Rootsy originals and traditionals with a dash of classic rock, gentle and empathetic, Yes!​ is a sweet album for the wee ones.  Recommended.

Orangutan Van - SteveSongs

Artist: SteveSongs

Album: Orangutan Van

Age Range: 4 - 8

Description: Taking a bit of a break from his work as Mr. Steve on PBS Kids, Steve Roslonek comes back with all-new album of SteveSongs, er, songs.  Several songs -- "Recess Rocks," "Orangutan Van (and Banana Transit)," "Flat Stanley" -- show off the ability of Roslonek and his songwriting partner (and album producer) Anand Nayak to craft a nifty hook.  I've always found the best SteveSongs to be those that allow Roslonek's humor to shine through.  "'A' Is For Silly," with Silly Vanilli, for example, or the cooperative/competitive duet of Roslonek and Nayak on "Song Without a Rhyme" -- they're distinctive in a way that more earnest songs like "All in This Together (MLK)" or "Our Tune," though perfectly well-crafted, are less so.  But the wide range of approaches means that listeners are likely to find at least a few (if not most or all) songs worthy of repeat spins.  Recommended.

Get Moving with Ella Jenkins - Ella Jenkins

Artist: Ella Jenkins

Album: Get Moving with Ella Jenkins

Age Range: 2 to 7

Description: Whereas her last album A Life of Song found Jenkins surveying her career via a collection of brand new recordings, this new album is a compilation of previously-released recordings from the past few decades by the much-loved Chicago musician.  The title of this collection is deliberate -- all the songs encourage physical movement.  As is typical with most Jenkins albums, Get Moving will be most enjoyed if your kids (and you) actually join in, singing (and moving) along.  If, however, you're a preschool teacher (or a kindie musician), you could hardly do any better than this master class, listening with a view to learning how Ms. Jenkins manages to get her tiny charges to play and sing along with enthusiasm.  As is commonly the case, Smithsonian Folkways' packaging and liner notes for the 46-minute album are excellent.  Fun for kids, essential for those teaching music and movement.  Recommended.

[Note: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.]

How To Listen To Great Music - Robert Greenberg

Author: Robert Greenberg

Book: How To Listen To Great Music: A Guide To Its History, Culture, and Heart

Age Range: 12 and up

Description: This book puts in writing what composer, professor, and historian Robert Greenberg has taught in his popular Teaching Company CD/DVD course.  It's an entertaining survey of what we in the Western world commonly refer to as classical music and which Greenberg prefers to call concert music, focusing on the concert music composed between 1600 and 1900.  He's a biased observer and lets that come through in his writing, which is usually good in that it helps focus the attention on particular artists rather than letting the reader get lost in the weeds of dozens of artists whose music is unknown outside their most devoted aficionados.  (It's sometimes a bit excessive, as when he presents the superiority of concert music over every other style of music as essentially fact, and not just a reasonably argued opinion.)  Some music reading ability is helpful, though I think you can get a fair amount out of it without that knowledge.

Why am I mentioning it here on a kids music site?  I didn't get much theoretical and historical knowledge of classical music of when I was Miss Mary Mack's age and learning the organ and violin, and in retrospect, I wish I had.  So if your kids are starting to take lessons of their own, and exploring the concert repertoire, I think this would be a good book for you and, if they're mature older tweens, for them to read to give a framework to understand the different eras of classical music.  

[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for possible review.]

Escalator - David Tobocman

Artist: David Tobocman

Album: Escalator

Age Range: 4 to 8

Description: Los Angeles-based Tobocman doesn't rewrite the kindie songbook on Escalator, his third kids music album, but adds at least a couple very good songs to it.  The title track is propulsive and a complete earworm, one of my favorite tracks of 2012.  "The Owie Song" features a goofy sing-along chorus that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Very Helpful Songs -- the song is silly but fun for all.  Several tracks ("Playin' on a Sunday," for example) have a wide-open SoCal feel that might see the parents having Eagles flashbacks, but Tobocman brings in other styles as well; Tobocman's musicianship is, as always, solid.  Listen to clips here.  Recommended.

Science Fair - Various Artists

Artist: Various Artists (Spare the Rock Records)

Album: Science Fair

Age Range: 5 to 10

Description: A kids' album, but one with ambitions.   Designed to raise awareness about the gender gap in science -- something happens between grade school and grad school -- the album succeeds that without forgetting that awareness-raising combined with dull music is pretty much a press release on a shiny disk.  A diverse set of musicians both kindie and kindie-friendly pitch in on a set of constant-surprising tracks.  Songs are both extroverted (the Nields' "Butterfly" and Wunmi's "Rainbow") and introverted (Frances England's "Goldilocks Zone" and Elizabeth Mitchell's recording of a Molly Ledford original, "Phytoplankton"), and typically focus on the questioning mindset of a scientist rather than nuts-and-bolts explanations of How Things Work.  Highly recommended.  (Listen to my NPR review here.)