Video: "Career Day" - The Bazillions

The Twin Cities' kid-jangle-popsters The Bazillions aren't resting on their 2010 video laurels. Their first video of 2011 is for "Career Day," featuring a neat mix of live-action faces and animation that's reminiscent of the video for They Might Be Giants' "I Am a Paleontologist". Ironically, "paleontologist" is just about the only career the Bazillions don't sing about in the video. The Bazillions - "Career Day" [YouTube]

It's the Runup to KidVid Tournament 2011...

And I need help. Not just yours, either. That's right, it's almost time for the formal start of KidVid Tournament 2011 and this year I'm getting help from a number of my fellow family music writers and radio hosts. Starting tomorrow, Dave Loftin from the Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl will be is hosting a poll where he'll be asking you (yes, you) to select your favorites from amongst my 25 favorite kids music videos of 2010. Go here, watch the videos, and vote at the poll on the right side of the page. Think of it like Tournament Week before KidVid Tournament 2011 -- some videos will play themselves into the tourney, and some on the bubble will fall out. (I did something similar last year.) That will happen over the span of maybe 48 hours, and starting late next week, you'll be able to vote for your favorite videos in head-to-head matchups at Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, Ages 3 and Up!, Out With the Kids, and Gooney Bird Radio. They'll host the first and second rounds -- just like real regionals! (Except for the part where there's no west coast representation.) And by the end of March and beginning of April, we'll come back here for the semifinals and finals. All the while (or at least part of the while), Jeff Giles from Dadnabbit will provide a little commentary. I'd say he's the Billy Packer of KidVid, but maybe I shouldn't. Anyway, should be fun, follow along here for all you need to know and enjoy the ride!

Itty-Bitty Review: Acoustic Dreamland (Putumayo) - Various Artists

AcousticDreamland.jpgThe sight of Nicola Heindl's illustration immediately brands it as a Putumayo disk. But take off the animated cover of Acoustic Dreamland, the latest collection from Putumayo Kids, replace it with some tastefully sepia-tinged photograph of, I don't know, a moon rising over a barn, and you could totally sell this collection at Pottery Barn, perhaps. Which is to say that this isn't so much a kids music album as it is just a kid-friendly album. But oh what a nicely curated album it is. I never would have pegged Wilco as a source for lullabies, but Mark Erelli's version of "My Darling" outshines the original, methinks. Ditto for Elizabeth Mitchell's cover of the Allman Brothers' "Blue Sky." Kids musicians aren't totally shut out here -- Frances England records a new song, "Here With Me," for the collection, and Kesang Marstrand lends a song from her excellent lullaby collection as well. As with many Putumayo disks, however, the value in the collection isn't so much the individual songs as much as it is the fact that someone has spent the time finding the tracks and saving the listener the effort. The album is appropriate for all ages, though the lullaby nature of means that you're more likely to spin it with kids ages 5 and less. You can sample some of the tracks here. I can totally see Acoustic Dreamland being used at nap time or quiet time or during a nighttime feeding. And, buried on a hard drive and stripped of its album art, long past your kids nap, eat at night, or are ever quiet, listened by you and you alone. Recommended.

Video: "Love Me For Who I Am" - Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could

Brady Rymer's forthcoming April 12th album Love Me For Who I Am comes with a trainload of back story. Rymer's new video for the title track just comes with a trainload of kids. It's lots of fun, and enjoyable regardless of whether you know the back story (which you can read about just by going to Rymer's site). The video is below; after the jump, you can stream the entire album. Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could - "Love Me For Who I Am" [YouTube]

Please Release Me: March 2011 Edition

It's time again to take a look at my list of new and upcoming releases. As always, if I've listed you on here and gotten something wrong (or something not ready for primetime), let me know and I'll edit or delete it. And if you're not on here and think you should be, drop me a line, too, and I'll get you added for the next iteration. David Weinstone: All I Want (Mar. 8) Groove Kid Nation: The Wheels on the Bus (Mar. 8) Maria Sangiolo: Planting Seeds (Mar. 13) Jamie Broza: I Want a Dog (Mar. 15) Doni Zasloff Thomas: Shabbat Shaboom! (Mar. 22) Aaron Nigel Smith: Let's Pretend (Mar. 29) Debbie and Friends: Story Songs and Sing Alongs (DVD) (March) Readeez: Readeez Vol. 3: Knowledge is Good (March?) Moey's Music Party: Playground Rock Star and Happily Ever Moey! (DVD, March?) Billy Kelly: The Family Garden (April 5) Joanie Leeds: What a Zoo! (April 12) Brady Rymer: Love Me For Who I Am (Apr. 12) [features duet with Laurie Berkner] Daddy A Go Go (aka John Boydston): Grandkid Rock (April 19) Eric Herman: The Elephant (DVD, national release April) Randy Kaplan: Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (April) Tom Chapin: Give PEAS a Chance (May 3) Lucky Diaz: O'Lucky Day! (May 10) Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of Jimi Hendrix and the Flaming Lips (those are two separate Spring releases) Recess Monkey: Flying (June 21) Andy Z The Grand Scream of Things (Oct. 4) [produced by Tor Hyams] Milkshake: Title TBA plus Holiday Album Title TBA (Fall 2011) Other 2011 albums: Ah-Choo, Peter Apel, Rocknoceros, Funky Mamas, Dan Zanes, Hipwaders, Big Don, Charlie Hope, Mr. Richard, Chuck Cheesman. Also, Rockabye Baby for Van Halen, The Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna.

Tiny Scarecrow Takes To Kickstarter

I have long been a fan of Tiny Scarecow, the diminutive scarecrow puppet/fool in the PBS show The Biscuit Brothers. So while I'm sad that his Kickstarter video doesn't feature, well, either of the actual Biscuit Brothers, it does mean that TS gets 3 minutes of his own. He's taken to Kickstarter to raise funds for a new episode of the TV show (distributed for free to any PBS station which wants to air it). It's a great TV series, and if you haven't checked out the clips available on YouTube, you really should. For the love of all that's good, people, Tiny Scarecrow deserves a tracking shot. I'm backin' the project. [Note: TS is also on Twitter, which seems a bit advanced for a puppet, but, hey. Follow him here.]