Making music that's truly for younger kids but has enough musical hooks for the parents is a lot more difficult than countless kids' music press releases make it appear. I've always appreciated Rocknoceros' skills in that regard, and they seem to be negotiating that fine line when it comes to their videos, too. Their latest video from their album Pink!, for "Can You Tell Time" doesn't quite have the scientific overload of a They Might Be Giants video, but it does the job as well as any sub-3-minute video could probably be expected to...
Rocknoceros - "Can You Tell Time" [YouTube]
Austin Kiddie Limits: Day 1 in Review (Part 1)
Day 1 of the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival is in the books, and what did we learn? Apparently leaving a little later, great weather, and threats of rain for the rest of the weekend makes parking in downtown Austin a lot harder to find. As opposed to getting downtown around 11 AM, we got there around 12:30 PM, and it took us a good 20 minutes to find parking. By the time we actually found a spot, walked to Republic Park, took the shuttle, got our wristbands, and found our bearings in the media tent, it was 2:00 PM. So, sorry, Stoosh! Our bad, Paul Green School of Rock All Stars (I've seen you plenty, though)! And really sorry to have missed The Telephone Company. Maybe Sunday, guys!
But even with missing half of Friday's Austin Kiddie Limits stage, we still had a good time. They've changed the layout this year, so that the stage is on the east end of the area, facing (north)west, and the whole layout seems shadier. Or maybe it was just the 74-degree weather. Anyway, we got there in plenty of time to see Milkshake take the stage. They put on a good 25-minute-or-so set, mostly stuff from their new album Great Day, along with some older material.
One of the things I like about AKL (and ACL in general) is that artists do feel the need to step up their game a bit. So I don't know if Milkshake normally brings a couple dozen inflatable baseball beach balls for "Baseball" (they probably do), or if the band brings graying wigs for "When I'm Old," but it just shows the band's trying. Also, Milkshake in particular, with six folks in the band, sounds good live on stage. Kids on the ground seemed to enjoy it.
Milkshake - "When I'm Old" (Live)
Milkshake - "Enemies" (Live)
After Milkshake was a brief set from K'naan, which I couldn't pay full attention to because I was shuttling Little Boy Blue from activity to activity (including green punk hairdo), but I really liked.
K'naan - "Take a Minute" (Live) (for what it's worth, there were a fair number of kids, despite what the uploader says)
Then Lunch Money. It's OK, guys, you do indeed rock. Lots of dancing and a good-sized crowd (for AKL, anyway). They're also getting really good at incorporating crowd participation into their songs. Here's a new(-ish) song, with a couple more familiar ones to follow:
Lunch Money - "Spicy Kids" (Live)
Lunch Money - "Are You a Rabbit?" (Live)
Lunch Money - "Roller Coaster" (Live)
OK, there's more to talk about, but it's time to head back to Zilker Park before the skies open up.
Video: "That's How A Pumpkin Grows" - Brian Vogan
Halloween is about a month away. This might be the perfect video, non-fright division -- two minutes of animated cuteness from Brian Vogan. "That's How A Pumpkin Grows" is off his debut Little Songs; the video's directed and illustrated by Alberto Cerriteno and animated by Fashionbudda Studio. (Vogan, incidentally, is working on his next disk; look for it early next year.)
Linus would be proud.
Brian Vogan - "That's How A Pumpkin Grows" [YouTube]
Video: "The Ballad of Daykitty" - Lou Barlow (Pancake Mountain)
It is now possible for folks to promote their album for adults by appearing on a show for kids. Exhibit A: Lou Barlow, who's got a new album, Goodnight Unknown, coming out October 6 and a bunch of videos on the cutely-titled LooTube. (Wonder how many hits they get from folks looking for bathrooms in England?)
But he also recently made an appearance on the venerable (if scrappy and underground) TV show Pancake Mountain and while this song is miles away from the bouncier, dancier stuff you normally hear on the show, the song, "The Ballad of Daykitty," from his album Emoh, works awesome for the young'uns. Rufus dug it, too.
Lou Barlow - "The Ballad of Daykitty" (Pancake Mountain) [YouTube]
Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion (and kids) Talk "Go Waggaloo"
I'm obviously biased when it comes to Go Waggaloo, the kids music album from Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, since I have liner notes in the release. But I like the way this slickly produced electronic press kit has the occasional sound of Sarah Lee and Johnny's kids screeching in the background. If you like the sound of the clips (the songs, or the kids) in the piece below, you can go to Folkways' album page and preorder the album, which will not only get you the album early (it'll ship around Oct. 1, nearly a month before it's officially released), but also, if you're one of the first 100 pre-orders, get you an autographed copy.
But there's more...
Video: "Hush Little Baby" - The Bluegrass Babies
I posted their rendition of "Get Along Cindy" a while back, now the Bluegrass Babies (creation of Paul Castle) are back with a new video, this time for "Hush Little Baby." It's a bit too uptempo for the last thing to listen to (or watch) before bedtime, but it's got a sweet sound. Again, the animation is a bit too simple to be classic, but the dancing animals might amuse your 2-year-old.
The Bluegrass Babies - "Hush Little Baby" [YouTube]
