I already highlighted They Might Be Giants' "Electric Car" video (not to mention the mp3). Now here's a behind-the-scenes look which, yeah, is typical "behind-the-scenes" fluff that looks good but doesn't tell you very much except the video must've been a lot of work. (Scissors, people - scissors!) But it's really good fluff, just as beautiful as the video it's promoting. (And it's not actually on the Here Comes Science DVD.) Watch it here.
Update: the video's now posted to YouTube...
Video: "I Am A Paleontologist" - They Might Be Giants
I already gave you the mp3 of "I Am A Paleontologist" from They Might Be Giants' so-close-you-can-taste-it CD/DVD set Here Comes Science. But because some people are more visual in nature, here's the video for the song. It comes from their "Friday Night Family Podcast," though for whatever reason this video appeared in their regular podcast. In any case, subscribe to both, 'K? And, yes, those sketched John and Johns appear all through the DVD, the puppets having been resigned to the dustbin of TMBG history.
They Might Be Giants - "I Am A Paleontologist"
Oh, and in a neat little equivalency, the song I featured the video for, "Electric Car," is now available for downloading here.
Video: "My Trampoline" (Live) - Peter Himmelman
So, yeah, I know I'm on the Peter Himmelman kick a lot recently, but this live video from last night's Furious World webcast shows Himmelman's band (along with the Ruby Friedman Orchestra) at their best. Not that you don't already know this, but My Trampoline, the title song of which is featured below, is out this week.
Brady Rymer totally needs to cover this song. Not sayin' he'd do it better -- because this rocks -- but he'd do it well...
Peter Himmelman - "My Trampoline" (Live)
Video: "For The Planet Pluto" - The Music Tapes (Julian Koster)
There have been a number of kids music songs about Pluto -- I'm most partial to Rocknoceros' "Pluto", but the Nields' "Percy on Pluto" and They Might Be Giants' "How Many Planets?" (off their forthcoming Here Comes Science) are pretty good, too.
The Music Tapes, which is the brainchild of Julian Koster, who also played in Neutral Milk Hotel, doesn't have a kids music album to its credit. But this song, "For The Planet Pluto," features some kids, plus a singing song. As a standalone kids' song, it's only so-so, even with the singing saw. But as a video, nothing else I've seen (or heard) more eloquently demonstrates why people -- especially kids -- reacted so strongly to Pluto's dismissal from planetary status. (It's even better than TMBG's video, which is pretty darn good.)
If you like this, there's more on its way... stay tuned...
The Music Tapes - "For the Planet Pluto"
The Music Tapes - For the Planet Pluto from Merge Records on Vimeo.
Video: "Electric Car" - They Might Be Giants
I'll have a lot more to say about They Might Be Giants this week and next in the runup to the release of Here Comes Science (including a free mp3). For the moment, please bounce slowly and clap along to the underaged crew carpooling in "Electric Car," one of the most gorgeously animated videos from the upcoming DVD/CD set.
They Might Be Giants - "Electric Car"
Video: "Trying To Write A Song" (Live) - Rocknoceros
Lest Billy Kelly think he has the market cornered on self-referential kids music, I would remind you that DC-area band Rocknoceros pioneered the genre with "Trying To Write A Song," from their self-titled debut (review). I know that Rockno's bread and butter are their more direct tunes, but it's the gems like this that lets the parents keep the CD in the player. The sound on this isn't the best (it does get a little clearer as it goes), but it's Friday and I haven't had a chance to finish the other things I'm working on...
Rocknocers - "Trying To Write A Song" (Live) [YouTube]
