News from Dan Zanes' newsletter last night that he's started a blog called The Welcome Table. Given that his first major post is about his trip to Tucson this past spring to visit organizations doing work along the U.S.-Mexico border (and it's translated into Spanish, too), methinks it won't be like a lot of other kids' music blogs. I knew he'd done some work when he came down for his concert in Tucson, so the background is nice.
Oh, and the presale for his Arizona shows has started. Go, people, go!
One More Reminder
Fids and Kamily 2007 Awards. Announced on Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child Saturday morning, or read the website for blurbs for the winners and a special guest essay.
Don't miss it.
(And I promise I'll post more next week.)
Even More Awards...
Not for me -- not even for music.
If you're a fan of children's books (or, as those in the know call it, "kidlit") -- and I suspect many of you are -- the get yourself over to The Cybils, which does for children's literature what Fids and Kamily does for kids music -- picks the best of the year.
Except you can help nominate the books -- until November 21, that is.
So, go, go now and nominate. Winners will be announced on Valentine's Day 2008.
Review: Lucy's Parade - Jambo
I've been trying without much luck to come up with an interesting hook for this review of Lucy's Parade, the debut CD from the LA-based band Jambo. Which really isn't fair to the band or this album, because both are pretty good.
The album is a straight-forward roots-rock album geared at the preschool/kindergarten set. Bandleader Steve Pierson, a blues guitarist, has a knack for writing the happiest blues-inflected tunes you'll ever hear. The standout track here is "Lady Bug Boogie," an infectious and rollicking boogie with ever-so-slightly silly lines like "I like all kinds of corn / But my favorite kind of corn / Is the candy corn." Other fun songs here are the "Where Do They Go?" (a bluesy and slightly fanciful song from the point of view of the preschool-aged child wondering what his parents do during the day) and the strutting title track. "Five Butterflies" is a slow track that doesn't sound a lot like the rest of the upbeat album, but it's a sweet counting song.
I should note that the band sounds really good. Pierson's got an appealing voice and plays a mean guitar. Pierson's wife Melinda McGraw deserves special mention here as her harmony vocals add a lot to the songs throughout the album, but the whole band just sounds like they're having fun.
Given its lyrical focus, the 38-minute album is targeted at kids ages 3 through 6. You can hear samples from the disk at its CDBaby page or listen/download a few track from their Myspace page.
So in the end, I still don't have a hook for this review, which maybe reflects that this Jambo's not breaking any new ground here. But what they've done is put together a solid group of songs, and that's enough for most of us (including me). Lucy's Parade is a well-done CD that's firmly for kids but with a rootsy musical approach that will appeal to a lot of parents. Recommended.Review: Changing Skies - The Jellydots
In the comparatively small world of kids music, I'm not sure there's been an album that has shook up the genre recently as much as the Jellydots' debut CD Hey You Kids!. At time it rocked, other times it was gently sweet, but it seemed to resonate with parents who might never have given the genre a second thought.
So how exactly does one follow up such a standout release? You pretty much have two choices -- follow the template exactly, or throw away the mold. For Doug Snyder, chief Jellydot, the answer was more the latter than the former and you can hear the results on Changing Skies, the followup CD currently available in digital formats and available on physical CDs in the not-too-distant future for old fogeys like me.
How is it different? Well, the primary difference is that the subject matter is definitely geared towards older kids. It's not that Hey You Kids! was necessarily a perfect album for a 3-year-old -- it was definitely more for 6-year-olds and older. But songs about dropped cookies and going to camp, and treating each other with respect were definitely for kids. On the new album, though, Snyder often writes songs about 14-year-olds, or even their older siblings. "Remember Me" is a beautiful song which conjures up every memory you never had about a tenth-grade romance with a girl who moved away. "Art School Girl" is a dryly humorous reggae-tinged track about a young woman who moves away from Austin because she thinks life will be more exciting elsewhere and ends up working in Starbucks. Your 3-year-old might bop her head to the tune, but won't really care about the lyrics.
The album isn't totally a missing My So-Called Life soundtrack -- "Big Swingset," for example, is about, well, a swingset and moves briskly in 7/4 time (a meter which, I assure you, is not found on most pop-rock albums), while "Sad Robot" is a slower track about a robot who'd much rather be zooming through space. And for those of you who loved the lullabies at the end of the first CD, Snyder doesn't disappoint here, either -- "When You Were Born" and "Pretty Little Baby" evoke Paul Simon and Elliott Smith in tenderness. So, yeah, there are some songs for the youngsters, but the overall vibe is for kids older than them.
I'm going to peg the primary audience here at ages 9 and up. You can listen to samples and purchase the CD at CDBaby or hear a couple songs at the Jellydots' Myspace page. (Order it at iTunes here.)
In its own way, Changing Skies an experiment in creating a different path for family music, one that attempts to include all family members in the musical journey. Dan Zanes has blazed this trail most successfully, but with this album, deliberately or not, Doug Snyder is seeing whether or not a more rock-based approach might also work. I'm not sure everybody in a family will like all the tracks equally, but I'm pretty sure at least somebody will like each track in turn. And I definitely think the adults who liked Hey You Kids! will like this new one, too. Recommended.Review: Uncle Rock U - Uncle Rock
Uncle Rock -- AKA Robert Burke Warren -- comes from the roots-rock wing of the Kids New Wave, a wing which has a strong New York contingent -- Dan Zanes, Brady Rymer, Dog on Fleas. Released last month, Uncle Rock U is the third and most recent album from the New York-based artist. He's distinguished himself in a couple ways from these other musicians. First, his recordings have a very home-recorded feel, even looser than those artists who aren't polishing things to a pop sheen themselves. This is not necessarily a bad thing in that I think part of the Uncle Rock charm is the slightly rough-hewn lo-fi sound, accompanied by friends and family.
Second, Warren is a lot more willing to vary his approach -- taking on different characters and sounds in a way that many artists just don't attempt. It's not that they're not tackling different musical styles or song-narrative approaches -- just that they don't try it all at once. Here, Warren does.
At his best, Uncle Rock combines an understanding of a kids' viewpoint and sense of humor with catchy melodies and fun instrumentation. "The Elephant in the Room" is a mid-tempo folk-rocker that actually explains what that metaphor means, with, of course, a trumpet joining in. It's a great, great song. Other highlights are the James-Brown-meets-public-safety-announcement "It's Hot! (Don't Touch It!)," the roots-rocker "Play Outside Today" and the pun-filled "Polar Bear Over There."
There are points where Warren chooses to take different personas, which succeeds to varying degrees ("Predator Dinosaur," good; "Hippie Harvest Kitchen," not so good). And I'm not sure what sense the grumpity "Grumpy Gus" makes stuck between two lovely songs ("The Season of Light" and "Baby Loves the Moon") at the end of the album. It's not that these character songs are really bad -- some are pretty good -- just that they don't blend well with the other tracks. (I suspect they work better mixed into a live show.) It's like 14 extra minutes crammed into a really good 30-minute album.
I think kids ages 3 through 7 are going to enjoy the songs and characters here the most. You can hear full songs at the Uncle Rock Myspace page or samples at the album's CDBaby page.
On listening over and over to Uncle Rock U, I started to think of Uncle Rock as kids music's Ryan Adams, blessed with many song ideas, many of them wonderful, but maybe with need of an editor. This is a really good album and another album -- maybe even two really good albums -- mixed together with decent results. It's recommended, but your mileage may vary depending on how much you and your like your kids' CDs to be of a more unified whole.
