I can't say that "Pollywog in a Bog" ranks near the top of my favorite tracks on Barenaked Ladies' excellent Snacktime disk, but a good video can change one's impression of a song, no?
This is a good video.
Barenaked Ladies - "Pollywog in a Bog"
(featuring Kevin Hearn as the possum, Steve Page the owl, Ed Robertson the flying squirrel, Tyler Stewart the otter, and Jim and Andy Creeggan as the fox brothers. Puppets by Noah Ginex, directed by JP Riley.)
Because "Better When We Videopodcast It Together" Doesn't Sound So Good
The whole set of ground rules for artist/audience interaction has changed, of course, here in the 21st century, and it's nice to see artists adapting. Unsurprisingly, it's the artists who've been around the longest -- who've figured out over many years what it takes to attract and retain an audience -- who've been adapting best.
So I'm not surprised that Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer have followed They Might Be Giants into the world of video podcasting. Yep, if you go to their new Song Shop Podcast page, you'll find the first in what is promised to be an ongoing series of video podcasts. The first episode (also available on iTunes) features "Better When We Sing It Together," general clucking mirth, and a handful of chicken-related puns. If the production values aren't of the highest quality, they're considerably better than the production values of my -- non-existent -- videopodcast.
Review in Brief: Sunny Side Up - Egg
Egg is the creation of LA-based audio engineer Jeff Fuller who wrote some songs with his young daughter Annabella, wrote some more songs himself, and recruited some other moms and dads to record the songs for an album.
Reading over that description might not necessarily fill you with hope for the album -- good intentions and enthusiasm being a poor substitute for, you know, musical talent and songwriting skills -- but luckily their debut album Sunny Side Up has enough of that musical talent and songwriting skills to make it a fun listen.
The band mentions Cake as one of their musical reference points, and I can hear that, at least in the somewhat spare arrangements that rely a lot on drums and, on a couple tracks, trumpet. But I hear more of a West Coast Brady Rymer. It's roots-rock mixed with a little country and with a more sunny (album title pun unintended), wide-open feel. The album has a loosey-goosey sound (I mean that as a compliment here) and it serves as an appealing musical background for lyrics that are squarely aimed at the preschool set. In part this probably partially reflects the influence of Fuller's daughter, but it's nice to hear songs about shuffling down the hall (the angular "Flip Flops") or summer ("Summer Today") that retain that kid's perspective. "Hiccups" is a goofy, make-the-kids-laugh song, while the last two songs ("Airplane" and "Goodnight") are tender ballads.
Kids ages 3 through 7 are most likely to enjoy the songs here. You can hear sound clips from the 26-minute album at its CD Baby page. Egg's Sunny Side Up will have no small appeal to families who prefer their kids music (if not their eggs) a little bit scrambled. Recommended.New Music From the Terrible Twos' "Jerzy the Giant"
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...
