This is about as lo-fi a video as you can get, but it fits the song. "Night Mantra" is one of the stellar cuts on Renee and Jeremy's debut It's A Big World. You get the feeling listening to the album version that it was probably recorded just like it was shown here. Well, maybe there was a little less lounging.
This makes me a geek, but I love that green color on the wall behind them.
In other R&J news, they note on their website that they "are starting to write for the follow-up to It's A Big World which will come out sometime in 2008."
Interview: Audra Tsanos (AudraRox)
Audra Tsanos, the driving force behind the New York band AudraRox, seems to know every kids' musician in New York. In AudraRox, she's assembled her own set of talented musicians whose debut CD, 2006's I Can Do It By Myself, ran the gamut from country to slick power-pop and very kid-targeted lyrics.
Audra kindly answered a few questions about her musical upbringing and AudraRox's formation, among other things. Read on for the story behind Audra's first band name, her experience in a Music for Aardvarks cover band, and, yes, the title to their upcoming CD.
Thanks to Audra for the interview (and the accompanying photo).
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1. What are your musical memories growing up?
I was raised by fundamentalist Christians in Kansas City, Kansas - so my first musical and theatrical experiences were in the church. I sang my first solo when I was 2, did my first musical at church when I was 7 and joined the adult choir at 11. On my own I listened to bad Top 40. I won the talent show in high school my freshman year. I put together a band with the bass player from the jazz band and a sax player, played piano and sang Whitney Houston's' "Savin' All My Love for You." YUCK!
My best friend in high school, Linda Amayo, played Ella Fitzgerald for me. The only cassette tapes I owned when I went to college were The Police, The Doors, and Sade. Hats off to Joetta, my first roommate from California - she played me The Violent Femmes, The Smiths, Billie Holiday, and Bessie Smith. Then I dated and married a guy who had an album collection of about 1,000 and finally, I grew up musically!
I'm a late bloomer.Review in Brief: Brazilian Playground - Various Artists (Putumayo)
The latest in Putumayo Kids' "Playground" series, Brazilian Playground continues Putumayo's tradition of selecting appealing tracks from cultures near and far and mixing them together for families' enjoyment.
A stroll through Putumayo's typically well-done liner notes reveals that many of the songs weren't written with kids in mind -- songs about love or dancing until dawn. Of course, the foreign-language nature of the songs allow parents to use themes as a jumping-off point and the music as a dancing-off point. Claudio Jorge's "Coco Sacudido" ("Shaken Coconut") is about a Brazilian religion with a lot of rituals and ceremonies -- your kids won't care, they'll just be dancing to the big band. For the kids who've been raised on their parents' Bebel Gilberto CDs, Marissa's brief electronica bossa nova "Alo Alo" ("Hello, Hello") will sound familiar. One warning about the disk, though -- the CD's description of the tracks as "lively" is somewhat generous -- the two tracks above are among the more shimmering and vibrant of the tracks here. Which isn't to say that the rest of the CD is bad, just that the overall vibe is a bit more subdued than I'd expected. More 4 PM (if not quite 4 AM) than 9 AM...
Musically, the 36-minute CD is appropriate for kids of all ages, though kids ages 3 through 7 will probably respond to the kids' voices in some of the songs. You can hear samples (and download a teaching guide) at Putumayo's page for the CD (released a couple weeks ago), or hear samples elsewhere on the web. If your family has enjoyed Putumayo's previous Playground releases, they will enjoy this one, too. It's another good compilation. Recommended.Clap Your Hands. Stomp Your Feet.
Long before I spent lots of time with children's music -- or at least spent lots of time writing about children's music -- I wrote a baseball blog. There's not much to say about it -- I enjoyed the writing, but got burned out by the daily nature of it. Covering a team that ended up losing more than 100 games in 2004 didn't help, either. Trying to figure out how to write, "we're really bad" in new ways every day is a creatively draining experience. It's almost as bad as trying to figure out how to write, "we're neither good nor bad" in new ways every day (which was my 2005 experience).
That's right, I'm an Arizona Diamondbacks fan. I've got a soft spot in my heart for other baseball squads -- the Twins, the Rangers, even the Giants -- but the Diamondbacks are my favorite professional team in any sport.
So I'm excited to be going to Game 2 of tonight's National League Divisional Series against the Cubs. My seats are waaaay the heck up there, and one of the friends I'm going with is a Cubs fan, for goodness' sake, but I'll be there. It's weird, because it's clear the Diamondbacks, though talented, are here in large part due to luck (and an excellent bullpen). As a result, there's an excitement around the team that isn't laden with pressure or nervousness. It's kinda exhilerating.
My record in attending playoff games is mixed. Went to a game against the Mets in '99. Lost that one. Been to first-round playoff games for the Suns and Coyotes, and they've lost those, too.
But I was in the crowd for Arizona's first professional sporting championship. OK, it was Arena Football and the Arizona Rattlers, but still.
Oh, and I was there for Game Seven of the 2001 World Series where the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees. Total pandemonium.
So on the whole, I guess I've done OK.
Anyway, to those of you whose teams didn't make it (sorry, Seattle), my condolences. To those of you cheering on the 8 playoff teams, best of luck (except once they play the Yankees).
And to all of you, which children's song would you choose as your "strolling to the plate" music?
Video: "The Mesopotamians" - They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants' latest CD, the very entertaining The Else, isn't always kid-friendly -- it's not quite as goofy overall as their earlier work, almost as if they're cleaving a little bit between their kids' stuff and adult stuff. The album closer, "The Mesopotamians," is a bubbly tale of some ancients hitting the road as a band. Think of it as the Geico cavemen meet Gorillaz. Think of it as an early world history lesson (who was Hammurabi again?)
Or, if you don't want to just think about it, head on over to Stereogum, where they've got the new video here. The animation is pretty sweet. It's mostly OK for older kids -- there is some not-too-bad stylized violence and one PG-rated curse word.
Austin Kid's Day, A Recap
Ah, Austin, a city I've called home (or home-away-from-home, or home-away-from-home-away-from-home) for well over twenty years.
Which means that I'm entitled to feelings of "when-the-hey-did-they-build-this-thing?," even if I was just there a couple months ago. Driving from the airport to the Glenn at the Backyard, site of the first Austin Kid's Day, held this past Labor Day weekend, I was constantly amazed at the width of the freeways and the number of power centers I passed. (Of course, this being Austin, many of those power centers are tastefully tucked in behind some trees so they're not nearly so noticeable from the road.)
I take that brief detour (metaphorically) to suggest that Austin, while it might have been able to put together a music festival 20 years ago, it certainly wasn't at the point where it might have supported a long afternoon of quality kids' music.
