Listen To This: "How Many Sleeps 'til Christmas?"

SpeksGlassesIsland.jpgA lot of the Christmas songs I've been posting or mentioning have tended toward the silly, goofy, and light. This song is not any of those. But I like it nonetheless. It's from the Irish band The Speks, a band whose debut album Sing-Along Songs from Glasses Island I like and really should've mentioned here by now and don't really have a reason for not doing so. Perhaps I'd heard waaay too much Irish music on a "Prairie Home Companion" episode about the time I got their disk. Anyway, they typically do traditional kids songs with an Irish music twist (that's the cover to their debut Sing-Along Songs from Glasses Island at top), but this song is a little different from most of their music. It's a modern take on a Christmas song that features a children's choir from County Clare in Ireland. It teeters on the edge of sappy, but doesn't fall over the edge. Download the song here. A video and more free songs after the jump.

New Elizabeth Mitchell Video "Little Bird, Little Bird" = Cute Overload. (Plus, New Album Title.)

LittleBirdVideoPic.jpgOK, you know those parenting magazines you skim through at the pediatricians' office (when all you you'd really like to read is a nice Entertainment Weekly or Economist?) that have pictures of cupcakes which make you want to scream "oooooh!"? This is like the kids music video equivalent. Don't click on the picture -- go here to watch "Little Bird, Little Bird" from Elizabeth Mitchell's You Are My Little Bird. More importantly, Mitchell's next album (mastered and mixed, I believe), has a title. Sunny Day. Not You Are My Sunny Day, just Sunny Day. Look for a 2010 release. Update: Now on YouTube, though not in the highest quality... Elizabeth Mitchell - "Little Bird, Little Bird" [YouTube]

Video: "Itsy Bitsy Spider" - Caspar Babypants

Top 5 Things About Caspar Babypants' Video for "Itsy Bitsy Spider": 1) The hands? "Manny Handypants" and "Randy Handypants" - hah! 2) The harmonicas 3) The tiny Casio keyboard near the end (I loved those things!) 4) The song itself, which turns the traditional melody into 2 minutes of music you'd gladly listen to repeatedly 5) The fact that it looks incredibly simple, and yet would've required not a little bit of thought. From the album More Please! -- Chris has added tunes from the album to his Babypants music player, so go to his website and check it out... Caspar Babypants - "Itsy Bitsy Spider" [YouTube]

Carol of the Bells... with Muppets

Technically speaking, the piece is called "Carol of the Bells," not "Ringing of the Bells" as the YouTube video puts it, but if you've got the Muppets performing it, you're probably not looking for technical accuracy. Funnily enough, before seeing it, I probably could've told you that it'd be performed by the Swedish Chef, Beeker, and Animal -- the three Muppets whose vocabulary range is limited at best. The Muppets - "Ringing of the Bells" [YouTube]

Video: "Carry On Crickets" - Kesang Marstrand

They should put this on every portable kid-friendly media player with a button that says, "Three Minute Timeout." The overexuberant kid watches this video from Kesang Marstrand's lullaby album Hello Night disk (review), and three minutes later, presto, totally centered! (OK, perhaps actually being out in nature would be better, but can't do that all the time, right?) Kesang Marstrand - "Carry On Crickets" [YouTube] And if you liked that, here's a bonus fan video...

Video: "The Monkey and the Engineer" - Johnny Bregar

This video's about as simple as they come -- one camera, one guy, and one shot. But the video's crisp, the sound's good, and the guy is Johnny Bregar, playing "The Monkey and the Engineer" from his fine Stomp Yer Feet! debut (review). Even better, this is the first of a promised series of videos from Bregar. Maybe he'll take some of those other instruments down from the wall behind him next time. Johnny Bregar - "The Monkey and the Engineer" [YouTube]