Listen To This: "Vagabond Worms" - Kindiependent

Attention rest of the country, Seattle's Kindiependent collective has just raised the bar again. I'd heard that Caspar Babypants, Recess Monkey, and the Harmonica Pocket jammed one recent Sunday. The result - "Vagabond Worms" - is even better than I anticipated. Update: Download the track at the Kindiependent website! Caspar Babypants, Recess Monkey, The Harmonica Pocket - "Vagabond Worms" [YouTube]

Review Redux: Meet the Squeegees - The Squeegees

MeetTheSqueeGees.jpgThis is probably a Zooglobble first. I've double-dipped reviews before for albums getting re-releases, but this is essentially a triple-dip. It's for the LA band The Squeegees. Their album started out as an EP, then doubled in size and was released in February 2008. Now it's getting exclusive national distribution in Target starting tomorrow and I thought I'd pull up that 2008 review for your pleasure, plus offer a thought on the new track... ****** Meet The SqueeGees, the first full-length CD from the Los Angeles-area band The SqueeGees, could offer me a chance to be exceedingly lazy and simply copy the review from their debut EP, The SqueeGees. Well, maybe half the review. Because half of the CD was originally found on that debut EP. Now, that's not a bad thing, perhaps, because that means the bubbly tiny nugget of a song, "Apples Oranges & Peaches," is back, as is "Nala the Chihuahua," with its snaky melodic line and harmonies. And "The Ol' WWW," which really isn't a kids song (though it's totally kid-safe) is back to amuse the parents. Just as with the EP, the Squeegees are at their best when they're not as concerned with the point of the song, such as the dreamy "Bubbles." "I-D-E-A," a song encouraging more environmentally conscious thinking, almost overdoes it with the hitting-over-the-head. (More amusing is the Queen-esque breakdown that starts "So you think that you would like to drive a big car? / Have you seen the gas prices today?" and ends, of course, with "I like to ride my bicycle / I like to ride my bike...") In fact, what struck me the most on listening to the full-length CD is how much care and craft has gone into these tunes, musically speaking. The SqueeGees generally play folk-rock, but there's a lot of interesting bits squeezed in here, like in the song above, or the harmonies in "Nala the Chihuahua." Along with Samantha Tobey's clear voice, they make the most of the songs here. As for the Target re-release, even though the band itself seems to have gone through some changes (Tobey is still there, she's now joined by Rilo Kiley bassist Pierre de Reeder and Rich Sherwood), the album appears (and sounds) to be identical to the 2008 release except for the new track, "Tweet Tweet Tweet." No, it's not a song about Twitter (which would've made for a nice new verse on "The Ol' WWW"), but a song about birds, with a nice full sound. It's not worth getting the album for that one song alone, but it's definitely a pleasant addition. I'll peg the album as most appropriate for ages 2 through 7. You can hear some tracks from the CD at the band's Myspace page. There's a lot to recommend in Meet the SqueeGees. I like the quirky ones more than the standard ones, but that might be personal taste. In either case, there's a high attention to sonic detail that kids musicians thinking of recording debuts could do well to emulate. Recommended. Disclosure: I received a copy of the album for possible review.

Keller Williams Takes the Airwaves

Kids.jpgAs previously noted and long anticipated, Keller Williams' first album for families, Kids, gets its release October 26, but it's gonna get a big push out the door at the very beginning of the month, with seven of the album's tracks getting world premieres all across the kid-ternets. Including this corner. I'll be offering "Hula Hoop to Da Loop" for your streaming pleasure. As you might suspect from the name, those of you who dig Williams' ability with the looping technology will dig it bunches. And I think the rest of you will, too. Details on the rest of the schedule below. Thursday, Sept. 30: “Keep It on the Paper” Gooney Bird Kids (GBK Radio) Friday, Oct. 1: “My Neighbor is Happy Again” – Sirius/XM’s The Absolutely Mindy Show Friday, Oct. 1: “Hula Hoop to Da Loop” – Zooglobble Friday, Oct. 1: “Grandma’s Feather Bed” Pied Piper Radio Saturday, Oct. 2: “Mama Tooted” – Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child (part of a guest DJ set) Saturday, Oct. 2: “Because I Said So” - Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl Saturday, Oct. 2: “Lucy Lawcy” Ages 3 & Up!

Monday Morning Smile: "White Knuckles" - OK Go

I can't think of another band whose music I merely enjoy whose videos I consume so eagerly. While it's not quite as brilliant as their video for "This Too Shall Pass", this video for "White Knuckles" is fun with animals and safe for the kiddos. What's that, Lassie? You say you want to choreograph Timmy's next music video? OK Go - "White Knuckles" [YouTube]

Itty-Bitty Review: Wake Up, Clarinet! - Oran Etkin

WakeUpClarinet.jpgGive New York's Oran Etkin credit for this -- his early childhood music education program, Timbalooloo, sounds little like other music program for youngsters. A combination of jazz, world music, with interaction thrown into the mix, it's not necessarily better than other such programs -- I'll leave that for the pedagogic experts -- but it draws deep from wells that are lightly touched. The first album from the Timbalooloo program is Wake Up, Clarinet!, and after listening to the CD (and watching the 10 minutes of bonus video), I have a decent idea of the program's strength. Its core is classic jazz, played artfully by Etkin himself. As you'd expect from a jazz album, there's a lot of playful give-and-take between Etkin and the other performers, particularly vocalist Charenee Wade. There's also a lot of interactivity expected of the listeners, asking questions, giving the instruments characters through how the musicians play their instruments. (It's a touch of "Peter and the Wolf," I suppose.) If there's a downside, it's that the album's pretty short -- just 22 minutes long, including one song ("High Low") given two interpretations. After the first few times, I gladly would trade some of that and the introductions for ten minutes more of the band jamming on 3 or 4 different tracks. The album is most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 6. You can buy the album here, listen to the album here and watch the bonus video here. If Wake Up, Clarinet!'s brevity helps keep it from reaching the heights of all-time classic jazz-for-kids disks, it's still pretty good. I think Etkin's got the chops to be doing this for some time, and if he does, I fully expect his albums to reach that essential jazz for kids level -- maybe even essential, period. Recommended.

Share: Coloring Book from Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke

RiseAndShine.jpgGiven that Key Wilde is not just part of the great Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke but an illustrator, you'd think that if he decided to make a coloring book, it'd be kinda cool. And so, following the lead of Justin Roberts and John Upchurch and Mark Greenberg (not to mention Charity and the JAMband and the Deedle Deedle Dees), Wilde's got a coloring book of his own. Download the coloring book and give your kids their own opportunity to add even more medals to Sylvester's chest. Or just scribble randomly.