This band will change your life.
Not to get all
Natalie Portman on you, but like the Shins, the Austin-based band
The Jellydots might just change a few families' lives, or at least their opinions on what kids' music can be.
I pick the Shins as a reference point deliberately because it was their skewed pop I kept thinking of while I listened to the Jellydots' first nationally-distributed CD,
Hey You Kids!. The simple pop of the title track, a melding of delicate guitar work and percussion work sounds like the spare pop on the Shins'
Oh Inverted World! CD while "I'm Not Ugly (You're Not Either)" has a propulsive melody and beat that sounds like "Fighting in a Sack" off
Chutes Too Narrow.
Not all of the tracks have such a Shins vibe. The opening track "Bicycle" is a great power-pop tune that the Shins (or a hundred power-pop bands) would love to have written, while "Lake Rules" has a reggae beat and accompaniment reminiscent of Elvis Costello's "Watching The Detectives."
Lyrically the CD speaks straight to kids. The lyrics deal with subjects like bicycles, choosing to be positive, and self-esteem. I particularly appreciated the lyrics on "Quite Naturally" ("Yesterday I saw an ad on my TV screen / And all the people on the screen / Looked so happy to me / It seemed like they were living in a special fantasy / Where money, fun, and happiness all grow on plastic trees.") Over an entire album these messages of uplift might become repetitive were it not for the fact that they're wrapped in such sweet bonbons of melody. Parents aren't entirely ignored -- the best song on the disk is tucked near the end, the slow and beautiful "Captain Sleep," a nearly perfectly-constructed song which kids might be OK with but will resonate with the parents.
The 41-minute album will be especially appreciated by kids ages 4 through 9, but the melodies will be enjoyed by those much older, too. You can hear samples of all the tracks at the album's
CDBaby page or hear a few cuts at the band's
Myspace page. The album will very soon be released in a physical format, but if you can't wait, you can order it now from
iTunes.
Essentially a "Greatest Hits" collection of songs from albums previously only released in Austin,
Hey You Kids! is a fine showcase for Doug Snyder's abundant songwriting skills and voice and the adept musicianship of the trio. If you have any affinity for power-pop and indie-pop, you need to check out this album. It's too good to let Austin have all the fun. It may not change your life, but it's definitely recommended.
There are those who, upon hearing Rockin' In the Forest With Farmer Jason, the recently-released second album from Farmer Jason, might wonder: Could this be the very same Jason Ringenberg who fronted "Jason and the Scorchers"? It sounds so... so... different.
Those of us who have heard A Day at the Farm..., his first kids' album, know that it's definitely him.
The hard part for older listeners to get used to when listening to Rockin' In the Forest is the sheer exuberance of the whole thing -- shiny, gleaming horns on the poppy leadoff track "The Forest Oh!" or the modern country production of the slightly mournful melody of "Arrowhead." The wellspring of exuberance, however, is Farmer Jason himself, who is just so darn enthusiastic that it might drive some parents nuts. Except that he goes so far beyond the line that there's that glimmer of "yes, I know this is all a little too much, but your kids are eating this up, aren't they?, so just play along." I love the deadpan way he says he's going to "sing a song about a moose on the loose called... 'He's a Moose... on the Loose.'"
Ringenberg knows his way around a bunch of musical styles, from the spaghetti western stylings of "Ode to a Toad" to the Django Reinhardt violin noodlings of "A Butterfly Speaks" to smallest, simplest (and perhaps best) song on the whole disk, the virtually a cappella "Mrs. Mouse." He wraps the melodic nuggets around lyrics that introduce young listeners to different animals in the forest (natch). While the cover and liner note art suggest very anthropomorphized approaches (ugh -- did I just use the phrase "anthropomorphized approaches"?) to the subject, the actual lyrics play it straight for the most part.
Kids ages 3 through 8 are the ones most likely to appreciate Jason's enthusiastic approach and lyrical focus here. You can hear samples wherever fine kids' music is sold (on the Internet, anyway).
If you liked A Day at the Farm..., you'll also like this new album, as it's very similar in tone, maybe a little broader musically. I'm giving this album a "Recommended," but it's with the warning that you're going to have to detach that little parental "I'm too cool for this" monitor in your head -- if you can do that (your kids don't -- or shouldn't -- have one yet), you'll enjoy this just fine. Recommended.
Not For Kids Only, the 1993 album from David Grisman and Jerry Garcia, is great idea for a kids' album. Two stellar musicians playing songs meant for singing along with, as the liner notes ask the listener to imagine hearing Grisman and Garcia playing songs after a large dinner gathering. (Can I be invited? I make a killer cranberry sauce.)
In execution, this album meets the standard set by the idea. Grisman's and Garcia's mandolin and guitar playing, respectively, are sharp and they're backed by a set of rotating sidemen playing assorted percussion or other instruments. The song selection is a nice mixture of songs well-known ("Freight Train," "Teddy Bears' Picnic") and not-so-well-known ("Three Men Went A-Hunting" or "When First Unto This Country"). The songs are given primarily (though not exclusively) bluegrass/folk treatments -- appropriate, of course, for the material at hand.
And despite all that, after repeatedly listens, the album itself is unlikely to make much of an impact on you or your family. It's just too... pleasant. There's no grit here, it's all so darn genial that while it'll make great "quiet time" music for lazy afternoons, there's little that will make you say, "listen to this!, my kids love this song!" Some of the songs, like the gently peppy "Hopalong Peter" or the slow Dixieland swing of "Teddy Bears' Picnic" do break out of the mold (and mood) of the rest of the album. But they're the exception, not the rule.
I think kids ages 3 through 7 are most likely to enjoy the CD. The album itself is so old there's no website for it (can you believe it? do those albums even exist anymore?), so find yourself your favorite online retailer for music samples.
I do want to make clear that Not For Kids Only is not a bad album. The musicianship is top-notch and the very idea that people should go ahead and sing for their own families is what inspired artists such as Dan Zanes. But it's not likely to be the first disk you or your kids reach for when you or they want to hear something that moves them.
