It's Monday morning, and I need to smile. This video accomplished that. (I particularly adore Nataly's voice, Jack's mad percussion-ing, and this couplet: "And if you told me we were dreaming / I would pinch you to prove we're awake.") Not really for the kids, but definitely safe. Thanks, Bill Childs!
Pomplamoose - "Another Day" [YouTube]
Review: Mind of My Own - Frances England
Whatever daydreams I had of becoming a rock star when I was a young turk have long since faded away. But I have wondered about recording some basic, traditional songs for my kids, if only for them to have a record of the songs we sang when they were kids.
And then there's Frances England, who has gone from recording the fine Fascinating Creatures as a DIY project for a preschool fundraiser almost five years ago to recording her third album Mind of My Own with kindie uber-producer Tor Hyams and getting Mates of State to sing with her on her Topspin-approved album. Those are pretty good rockstar daydreams.
One of the key charms of England's first two albums was the lo-fi intimacy England achieved that fit her folky sound. But if on those albums she was willing to make the recordings be akin to a secret shared between friends, on the new album she's a proud 4-year-old, sharing the news with all the world. The good news is that she's done that without sacrificing the charm of those first albums. She mixes both straight-ahead Americana pop-rockers, such as the title (and leadoff) track and "Jacques Cousteau" and laid-back folktunes such as "Red Balloon." England's songwriting is much stronger, with more hooks while finding more similes and getting to the heart of the song in as many words as it needs, and no more. The songs tend to be more about feelings and friendships than concrete events of childhood -- no songs about learning to brush one's teeth here.
Sonically, England's band and numerous guest performers (such as the Jellydots' Doug Snyder) perform admirably. Hyams gives the recording a warm, clear sound and brings out musical textures (the violin in "Do You Hear the Birds Singing?," the whistling and bike bells on "Bicycle") to keep the songs sounding fresh. And that song with Mates of State ("Place in Your Heart")? Every bit as awesome as you'd expect.
The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can listen to the entire 37-minute album using the widget below. (And, yeah, the artwork is still England's handiwork and is quite lovely to look at.)
In my review of Fascinating Creatures, I said that I didn't think the CD or Frances England would stay secret for long, and that has proven to be an accurate prediction. Even better, she's gotten better as she's become well-known. She still has a sound all her own, while making room for an increasing number of friends. With Mind of My Own, Frances England makes clear her family music career is no daydream -- it's here, and that's a good thing. Highly recommended.
Disclosure note: I was given a copy of the album for possible review.Itty-Bitty Review: Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots) - The Crayonettes
I think we can agree that England -- the entire United Kingdom, actually -- has not carried its weight in the kids music new wave. Few artists have attracted any attention here in the States, and even those artists would admit that the independent family music scene is as small there as it is large on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Into the breach comes the Crayonettes' Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots). The Crayonettes are a new project from singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams, who actually has a little experience in the genre having contributed a track to the Colours Are Brighter 2006 kid-comp, and Anna Spencer, formerly of the punk band Delicate Vomit. Although the album's overall sound won't be too surprising to regular readers of this website, used to hearing all sorts of songs for all sorts of kids, its folk-electronica music and some out-of-left-field lyrics aren't entirely typical of the more polished kindie sound.
"Robots in the Rain" leads off the album with drum tracks, bleeps and bloops, and a mellow song about rusty robots. "Disco Teeth" channels "Odelay"-era Beck to offer this pearl of wisdom: "Toothpaste / Toothpaste is great / 'Cause it cleans your teeth / Disco bright." My favorite tracks are "Emergency," which effectively uses the whah-whah-whah of emergency vehicles as a musical motif and "Illegal," which combines a little trip-hop with a snaky violin and various prohibitions ("Don't pour lemonade in the fishbowl / Don't take the fish for a walk"). I also liked "Spooky Way Home," which is just scary enough for a 4-year-old at Halloween. Having said that, some of the songs don't sound polished enough and sometimes the lyrics are a little too precious (I'm thinking here about "Sweet on the Floor," about not eating, well sweets on the floor).
The 30-minute album will be most appreciated by kids ages 2 through 6. You can listen to samples at the UK iTunes page for the album, or listen to "Disco Teeth" here, "Robots in the Rain" at the One Little Indian Facebook page, and an outtake for the price of an e-mail. The Crayonettes' mere existence shows there's hope yet for the UK family music scene. While it's not a perfect disk by any means, Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots) has a number of tracks suitable for dancing, lounging or being creative to. Recommended for families who are fans of Kimya Dawson's Alphabutt and (to a lesser extent) Saint Etienne's Up the Wooden Hills EP, and for any family willing to be more adventurous in their musical selections.Interview: Morgan Taylor (Gustafer Yellowgold)
I tend to think to think of Gustafer Yellowgold as a real character, with thoughts and feelings just like any other person. Which is a mistake, of course, because as most readers of this site know, he's actually from the sun and he's a fictional, animated character. Credit for this feeling really goes to Morgan Taylor, the musician and animator behind Gustafer, who in three DVDs has imbued his yellow creation with a three-dimensional character space via song and animation that exceeds many cartoons.
The fourth Gustafer DVD, Gustafer Yellowgold's Inifinity Sock, will be released on March 1, and in addition to letting us see the DVD cover, Taylor recently talked to us about AM radio, Gustafer's origins, and how evidently I'm not the only person who thinks of Gustafer as being real.
Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?
Morgan Taylor: I remember the A.M. radio always playing when we were getting ready to go to school in the mornings. It's funny, when I recall the mornings, I remember it being cold. This would have been spanning around 1974-1980? The radio was a safe and constant home thing. Besides that I remember that before I could read, I knew which songs were which of our old 45s that my older brother and sister had collected. I knew from the designs on the paper rings, what song it was. I used to love playing, and drawing and making stuff while listening to records.
Were you an artist or a musician first?Live Video: "Mr. Rabbit" - Paul Westerberg
I'd totally forgotten that Paul Westerberg did a version of "Mr. Rabbit" on his 2002 album Stereo until some random YouTube surfing yesterday reminded me. Here he is at Amoeba Music back in 2002, playing it live. I've always loved the song, and Westerberg (who's no stranger to albums featuring rabbits) does a good job with it. It's probably more for the parents than the kids, but what better way than to gradually introduce the kids to the 'Mats, right?
Paul Westerberg - "Mr. Rabbit" [YouTube]
Review: "Kids" - Keller Williams
Upon first report, Keller Williams' eagerly anticipated debut album for kids seems to reveal a paucity of imagination. A kids album titled Kids. Really? Can't we get something with a little more creativity from someone dipping their toes into the family music pond?
But then you inspect the thing, and listen to it, and those frustrations melt away. The cover is a good indication of the humor tucked away inside. The "Kids," of course, are those cute-as-a-button... goats, a theme carried through to Williams' kids' website. That sly humor carries through to the music itself, such as on "Mama Tooted." ("It was one of [us] three," sings the narrator to his child, "I'm going to tell you who / It was Mama / Mama tooted / She may say that she did not and she is probably right / but I am going to blame it on Mama.") I particularly liked the gleeful way Williams leads a chorus in singing parts of "Good Advice" in Chinese. Many of the song lyrics include a somewhat exasperated parental narrator, which should definitely help rope in the adults in the audience. And animal husbandry isn't generally a kindie topic, but there it is (obliquely) in "My Neighbor is Happy Again."
As for the music itself, Williams noted in an interview here that Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's Not For Kids Only, an album of folk and bluegrass tunes for families, was a particular inspiration. You can definitely hear that on songs like "Grandma's Feather Bed" (written by Jim Connor a number of years ago) and Williams' own "Lucy Lawcy" and "Taking a Bath." But whereas that earlier album has a gentle vibe almost to the point of dozing off, Williams' mixture of more modern sounds, such as with the tape-looping on "Hula Hoop to da Loop" and "Soakie Von Soakerman," keeps the listener more engaged.
Kids ages 3 through 7 will most enjoy the album, which you can hear samples of here. Kids is an album that could've been made for all the wrong reasons, but was definitely made for all the right ones -- music-making with family, retaining a sense of playfulness, not giving up the musical skills that drew fans to Keller Williams in the first place. It's a solid album, and families with a sense of humor will find much to groove to here. Recommended.
Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review. I also world-premiered a track off the album.
