Another month, another list of new and upcoming releases. (Last month's list is here.) 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.
Joanie Leeds: What a Zoo! (April 12)
Brady Rymer: Love Me For Who I Am (April 12) [features duet with Laurie Berkner]
Azam Ali: From Night to the Edge of Day (April 12)
Daddy A Go Go (aka John Boydston): Grandkid Rock (April 19)
Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of the Flaming Lips (April 26)
Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke: Hey Pepito! EP (mid-April)
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)
Moey's Music Party: Happily Ever Moey! A Fairy Tale Lark in Central Park (DVD, May 10)
Readeez: Readeez Vol. 3: Knowledge is Good (DVD, CD, May 13)
Egg: Hard Boiled (spring)
Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of Jimi Hendrix (Spring)
Recess Monkey: FLYING! (June 21)
Charlie Hope: Songs, Stories and Friends: Let's Go Play! (June)
Central Services Board of Education: Title TBA (summer)
Rocknoceros: Colonel Purple Turtle (Sept. 13)
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, Alastair Moock, Peter Apel, Funky Mamas, Dan Zanes, Hipwaders, Big Don, Mr. Richard, Chuck Cheesman. Also, Rockabye Baby for Van Halen, The Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna.
New Grammy Categories Announced: 50% Fewer Children's Categories
The Recording Academy, otherwise known as the folks who put on the annual music recording industry confab called the Grammys, announced today that after a year-long review review they were restructuring the Grammy categories for the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012. Reducing from 109 to 78 categories, the Academy reduced the 2 categories in the Children's Field to one, eliminating the separate awards for Musical Recording and Spoken Word.
On the one hand, this can clearly be seen as a shot at the Children's Spoken Word recordings -- some other changes in the voting process indicated that low numbers of relevant album submissions were clearly a concern, as categories with fewer than 40 entries will now have just 3 nominees, and entries with fewer than 25 will be suspended. The Spoken Word category has, for the past few years, hung around in that 25-40 range, while the Musical Recording field always has well more than 100, often approaching 200, entries.
Oddly enough, however, it's that small number of recordings that may just give the spoken word recordings a disproportionate share of the nominees in the new, combined category. Fewer nominees, easier to vote for. And that's not even getting into the discussion once the nominees are announced, when the "famous name" aspect of the spoken word category may make it even harder for great, "non-famous" musical artists to break through.
I could be wrong. I hope I am. But I think the likelihood of independent family musicians getting nominated for 2012 just went down fairly substantially.
Itty-Bitty Review: Planting Seeds - Maria Sangiolo
It is hard to make an "Earth Day"-themed album.
Well, it's hard to make a good one, anyway, one whose musical enjoyment outweighs any "life lessons" the album hopes to teach (the teaching of which usually fails because the music fails.)
I'm happy to report, then, that Maria Sangiolo's new album Planting Seeds is one of the few earth-themed albums families will want to listen to in April or even the rest of the year. This is partially the result of choosing good songs that happen to be about the planet we live on, and the plants and animals (including us) who reside upon it. It's only in that broader sense that putting Mark Erelli's version of the traditional folk song "The Fox" on an album "celebrat[ing] agriculture and sustainability" (to quote the back cover) fits. (Or the frustration with the bug world on Sangiolo's bluesy "Flashlights and Flyswatters" and Anand Nayak and Sienna Jessurun's "Noisy Cricket.") But it thankfully keeps the album from sounding like a lecture.
The other thing that keeps it from sounding like a lecture is that the music is quite good. Sangiolo pulled in Nayak, who's part of Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, as producer, and like daisy mayhem's music, this album has a loose and relaxed feel, like a well-worn pair of jeans. Maybe the duet between Sangiolo and Nayak compatrior Steve Roslonek (aka SteveSongs) on Les Julian's participation song "Plant a Seed" took several tracks to record, but the genuinely humorous interplay between the two makes it sound like it was recorded live-to-tape in just one take. Sangiolo also is generous in sharing the album with many other artists beyond those already mentioned, include Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem on a couple tracks, Sally Rogers and Howie Bursen doing their best Pete Seeger on "Maple Sweet," and Alastair Moock and Lori McKenna on my favorite track on the album, "Didn't Know What I Was Missing." (Moock also co-wrote a number of the songs here.) The album is credited to "Maria and Friends," and the billing is apt.
The album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 9. You can listen to samples here. Planting Seeds is a celebration of the earth on which we live, but it's also a celebration of community. Sangiolo's community of friends have put together a collection of songs worth listening to (and maybe, eventually, learning from). Recommended.Interview: Rafael Atijas (Loog Guitars)
I'd stumbled across the Loog Guitar on Kickstarter within a day or two of its project being introduced on the site. Within another couple days after that, the project -- a three-string guitar with interchangeable parts that could be assembled with kids -- had already met its funding goal.
And why not? The combination of a kid- (not to mention adult-)friendly design and sustainable production was, unsurprisingly, a big hit. At this point, two weeks before its funding deadline, it's already reached more than $52,000 in pledges, 3 1/2 times its funding goal. Even musician nerds (and I mean that in the best way) like Chris Ballew expressed interest in the project.
The creator of the Loog, Rafael Atijas, answered a few questions about inspirations for the guitar, direct and indirect, why someone might one instead of a ukulele, and the source of its curious name.
Zooglobble: What are your musical memories growing up?
Rafael Atijas: I remember when I was 12 and I decided I wanted to be in a band. But I had no idea how to play guitar and this is what i thought: "I'm too old (:-))... it will take me forever to learn how to play guitar... I'd better pick up the bass, since it has less strings and should be easier/faster to learn." I guess that was really the beginning of Loog Guitars.KidVid Tournament 2011 Champion: Keller Williams
Well, it was a close-fought battle that went right down to the final hour, but in the end Keller Williams and his video for "Hula Hoop to Da Loop" beat out Sugar Free Allstars' video for "Cars and Trucks" to be declared KidVid Tournament 2011 champion.
A tip of the cap to SFA, who beat a number of strong videos with their funky cartoon on their way to the championship and nearly pulled off the stunning upset. But it was not to be, as Williams' video took the crown. A video, I might add, which manages to retain viewers' attention with a simple concept -- Williams creates a loop (seemingly live), and a bunch of folks hula hoop their way through the rest of the video. Maybe it retains viewers' attention because of that simple concept.
I would be remiss if I didn't thank once again all my fellow kids' music writers who helped with this year's tournament by hosting various components -- Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl, Out With the Kids, Ages 3 and Up!, Gooney Bird Kids, Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, and Dadnabbit. I think we'll do this again next year.
So, for the last time, here is your KidVid Tournament 2011 champion...
Keller Williams - "Hula Hoop to Da Loop" [YouTube]
Interview: Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
Do family musicians have long careers because they have lots of ideas, or do they have lots of ideas because they've had long careers? While you're pondering the chicken-and-egg nature of the question, you can read this interview with Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, who might be exhibit A for consideration of the question. Over the course of more than 25 years of making music together full-time, they've got a lot of different plates spinning - albums, concerts, ukulele orchestras, creating musical curricula, and much more.
Their latest endeavor is called Sing to Your Baby, a book/CD set designed to encourage parents, grandparents, and other caregiver to, er, sing to their babies. The idea that everyone should sing to and with their kids from the get-go is an important one to me, so I wanted to spend a few minutes chatting with Fink and Marxer about the project. And, as if to emphasize the duo's reach across the broad spectrum of family music, we started out chatting about one of kindie music's hot new groups, the Pop Ups, and ended by talking about living legend Ella Jenkins.
Zooglobble: Good morning!
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer: Good morning... so are you looking forward to going to Kindiefest?
I am. You?
We don't think we're going, but if plans change, we'll try... We're excited that the Pop Ups will be playing there.
As am I... It was interesting to me the first time I listened to this random CD and found out that y'all were on one of the songs.
Yes, and now one of the two, Jacob Stein, his father, Michael Stein, is the male vocalist on our album.
Really? [Checks his copy of the book.] Wow. Hadn't made the connection.
Cathy: Yes, he was in Country Current, the Navy's country band, when I first met him in the '70s. Later he performed and wrote songs for the Dinosaur Rock series. More recently, he became a cantor out in California.
OK, so I usually start out interviews by asking people what their earliest musical memories are. In this particular case, I'm wondering what memories you have of music-making and singing by your parents.
