I told you a while back about the Terrible Twos' new album, Jerzy the Giant. OK, I said the album was coming out July 28th on Vagrant, and I was wrong about that -- it's July 29th -- but that's less than a month away.
Anyway, Matt Pryor and the band have finally posted three tracks from the album at their Myspace page, and they're worth the six minutes or so of your time -- "Old Man Miller," "Big Baby J," and "Archibald McAllister" are fair representive tracks, continuing the band's mixture of sweet and occasionally sour. It's hard to kvetch with a song ("Archibald") that features a) a sing-along, and b) the word "malodorous".
You'll have to wait awhile for the review here, but if you like those tracks, you can feel safe in pre-ordering the album.
Who Knows If Your Kids'll Go For This?
Most of the time, I'm pretty much a strict constructionist when it comes to kids music -- if it ain't geared for the kids in some way, I'm not covering it.
But, hey, why not bend the rules a little bit. I missed this news a couple weeks back, but The Broken West just posted a new track from their new album on Merge to their Myspace page. "Perfect Games" has got the great laid-back power-pop vibe (if such a thing can exist that made their debut I Can't Go On, I'll Go On so much fun to listen over and over. Just shy of a great album.
Really, go now, listen to the new track, then go listen to "Down in the Valley," "On the Bubble," and "So It Goes," and tell me that's not some crunchy pop goodness right there. Your kids will wait for you.
Kimya Dawson's Alphabutt Cover Art, Tracklisting
You know, I tried to come up with a snappier/wittier headline for this, but all the possibilities -- "Alphabutt is Alpha-better than most!," "Do Ya Like Kimya?," "D'Juno Kimya Has a Kids' Album?" -- seemed, well, way too cheesy. (I gotta admit, though, I kinda like that last one.)
Still, I think you get the point. Kimya Dawson, who was the major contributor to the Juno soundtrack that an unexpected chart-topper earlier this year, has recorded a full-length kids' album called Alphabutt. Set to be released September 9, it's going to be one of the more high profile kids' albums of the year.
And I happen to have the cover art and tracklisting. So, courtesy of K Records, here you go...
My Little Corner of the World Is Still Here
Hey there... a post with no new news other than to say sometimes life outside the kids music world takes precedence. OK, that's, like, all the time with me, but I'm clearly able to find some time for this little corner of the world.
Usually.
"Real life" has gone all squirrely and to say I'm busy is a massive understatement. The family's healthy, everyone's doing fine, no problems at all, but my ability to post stuff and even reply to the most basic of e-mails has been dramatically reduced on a temporary basis.
Rest assured, all will return to normal -- such as it is -- soon.
And I guess this is appropriate here:
Kidzapalooza 2008 Set Times: Do You Like Jeff Tweedy?
If you do like Jeff Tweedy, and you are planning on being at Lollapalooza this year then get yourself over to the Kidz stage at about 3:00 on Friday, 'cuz he's playing a set. "Just A Kid," indeed. (I'm thinkin' "Shot in the Arm" or "Handshake Drugs" might not be the best choices for his setlist.)
Yeah, the schedule was announced a while back, but now we have days and times. The full schedule for Kidzapalooza after the jump.
Cover Me: The Hipwaders and Frances England and...
It's not like the Bay Area's Hipwaders haven't done their fair share of covers -- one check of their Myspace or YouTube pages will find any number of Disney or cartoon covers by the band.
But recently they've started doing something new -- covering their contemporaries.
First, they posted "What Am I Gonna Do?" on their Myspace page and gave much love to the song's creators, Austin's Telephone Company. I agree with Tito -- it's about time that the Company's long-unreleased album Panda Brain change that status. The Hipwaders' version is really, really cool, giving it a cool guitar line to go with the slightly surreal lyrics.
Then, today they posted "The Books I Like To Read," from fellow Bay Area artist Frances England, off her first CD, Fascinating Creatures. It's a live video from about a month ago, and while the Hipwaders don't do any major alterations to the uptempo song in their cover, it's just interesting -- and refreshing -- to hear kids' artists cover their contemporaries.
The Hipwaders - "The Books I Like To Read" (Frances England cover)
