The latest attempt to scale the Kickstarter wall in the family music world? It comes from Connecticut's Cretaceous Quintet, "New Haven’s premiere dinosaur-themed children’s wind quintet." That tongue-in-cheek (though I'm sure totally accurate) description comes from the Quintet's founder, Brian Robinson, who's written an entire album of dinosaur-themed music to be titled Roar!. Now he's looking to crowd-fund the album's production, offering rewards such as the opportunity to have you and your child's roar make the album and sheet music. After the widget (and the jump), the first video featured on Zooglobble to be filmed in Turkey. Yeah. Turkey.
When I was given the opportunity to share with you a track from Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti, the hardest part was picking the track. There are lots of great songs on the compilation put together by Dog on Fleas and Bill Childs to benefit a variety of Haiti efforts, limiting myself to just one was hard work. (But in a good way.)
I picked this track from Lunch Money because in a couple ways it exemplifies the album as a whole -- 1) the benefit compilation itself is the first I can think of that consists primarily of family musicians performing (as opposed to adult artists performing kids' tracks), and 2) its theme of connecting with people elsewhere in the world fits well within the album's underlying intention to connect this part of the world with another part of the world -- nearby geographically, but far away in other ways.
Also, 3) it's just a really fun and sweet track.
Many Hands: Family Music from Haiti is officially released next week, Aug. 10. (You can preorder the album at Amazon, among other places.) Until then, courtesy of Dean and Bill and Lunch Money, stream this track.
[Ed: But only for a limited time. The album's out today...]
Pete Seeger has a new album out this week. That's right, 91 years old, and Pete's still recording music and building community. Or is it the other way 'round? He's released Tomorrow's Children, a collection of all-new recordings, and I have a copy courtesy of Appleseed Recordings for one lucky Zooglobble reader. That's right, somebody will win a copy of Pete's latest album, recorded with guests such as Dar Williams and local kids the Rivertown Kids, a group of kids whose classroom Pete regularly visited back in 2007 and who share songwriting credits on some of the tracks here. (It's about 180 degrees from a Kidz Bop album.)
For more details on the album, go here. To enter the contest, just leave a comment below with who else you think Seeger should duet with when he records his next album. Entries are due by Sunday, August 8 at 8 PM West Coast time. I'll pick one commenter randomly and notify them by e-mail. Thanks and good luck!
As previously noted, Elizabeth Mitchell will be releasing her next family music album, Sunny Day, later this year, October 5, to be exact. And she's just released a super-cute video for one of the tracks on the new disk, "Oh, John the Rabbit." You can view the video here. It's pretty simple, with Elizabeth, Daniel, Storey, bunnies, and a bunch of other kids. "John the Rabbit" is a pretty classic call-and-response song, one that Mitchell recorded on her very first kids album, You Are My Flower. Storey wasn't even born when that album was released more than a decade ago; to have her join in on this version seems pretty cool.
Anyway, if you like the video, you can also download the mp3 from that page as well for the price of an e-mail.
Update: The video's now on YouTube...
Elizabeth Mitchell - "Oh, John the Rabbit" [YouTube]
The Bazillions make a video for the best song off their debut album Rock-n-Roll Recess. It's cute, and will also teach your kid what 9 x 7 is. So, win.
The Bazillions - "Tommy Got in Trouble" [YouTube]
You can make a big impression in a small amount of time. With his debut family EP Luckiest Adventure, Lucky Diaz proves you can do it in about fifteen minutes. The singer-songwriter from LA has put together five fabulous songs that will probably stay lodged in your iTunes playlist, car CD player, and brain for a long time after you first hear it. "Blue Bear" is a shuffling rockabilly tune that must spontaneously generate handclapping solos in concert. It's followed by "Explorer," which has a bit of a laid-back Jack Johnson feel mixed with some nifty fret work from Diaz. "Fire Fighter Girl" apes the girl-group sound of fifty years ago, "Let Me Be Yours" sounds like a folk-rock love song for adults but works in a knock-knock joke (sort of), and the album concludes with an rootsy power-pop take on "This Old Man" -- complete with an appearance by the man himself. Diaz has a versatile voice that can do the big choruses and falsettos equally well, and it's ably backed up by the trio (Diaz and a couple others).
The songs are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 6. You can download the album on iTunes or Amazon, and you can stream 3 of the songs at Diaz's website. On Luckiest Adventure, Diaz has put more really good songs on a 5-song EP than a lot of artists fit in on an entire full-length. Full-length pronto, please. Definitely recommended.
The latest attempt to scale the Kickstarter wall in the family music world? It comes from Connecticut's Cretaceous Quintet, "New Haven’s premiere dinosaur-themed children’s wind quintet." That tongue-in-cheek (though I'm sure totally accurate) description comes from the Quintet's founder, Brian Robinson, who's written an entire album of dinosaur-themed music to be titled Roar!. Now he's looking to crowd-fund the album's production, offering rewards such as the opportunity to have you and your child's roar make the album and sheet music. After the widget (and the jump), the first video featured on Zooglobble to be filmed in Turkey. Yeah. Turkey.
When I was given the opportunity to share with you a track from 
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You can make a big impression in a small amount of time. With his debut family EP Luckiest Adventure, 
