Time once more for an updated list of new and upcoming releases. (Last month's list is here.) Additions to the list are noted with a "++"; changes to previously-mentioned items are indicated with italics.
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.
++ The Biscuit Brothers: Get Up And Go (July 10)
++ Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward and Various Artists: Winnie the Pooh soundtrack (July 12)
Moey's Music Party: Happily Ever Moey! A Fairy Tale Lark in Central Park (DVD, July 12)
Suzy Bogguss: American Folk Songbook (July 18 / Aug. 2)
Eric Herman: The Elephant (DVD, July 19)
Laurie Berkner: Party Day (DVD, July 26)
Hipwaders: Golden State (Aug. 2)
++ Yo Gabba Gabba: Music Makes Me Move (DVD, Aug. 9)
The Wiggles: Ukulele Baby! (DVD, Aug. 9)
Caspar Babypants: Sing Along! (Aug. 16)
Recess Music (Various Artists): Wild Child (mid-August)
Maestro Classics: My Name is Handel (Aug. 24)
Ben Rudnick & Friends: Live in Lexington: Under the Copper Beech (Aug. 30) [2008 live concert]
Music for Little People: Toddler Favorites: The Movie (Aug. 30)
++ Rockabye Baby: Rockabye Baby! 5 Year Anniversary Compilation (August) [Mainly features artists who've yet to receive the Rockabye treatment: Kiss, James Brown, Arcade Fire, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Stevie Wonder, The Kinks, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and the Beastie Boys.]
Riff Rockit: Title TBA (CD, DVD, late August)
Central Services Board of Education: Title TBA (summer)
++ Professor Banjo: PB and Jam (Sept. 1)
In The Nick of Time: Making Silly Faces (Sept. 6)
++ Trout Fishing in America: Chicken Joe Forgets Something Important
++ The Mighty Buzzniks Bug Out (Sept. 11)
Rocknoceros: Colonel Purple Turtle (Sept. 13)
++ Dan Zanes and Friends: Little Nut Tree (Sept. 13)
Maestro Classics: A Soldier’s Tale (Sept. 15)
The Jimmies: Practically Ridiculous (Sept. 20)
Randy Kaplan: Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (Sept. 20)
Ted Jacobs: Back to the Garden (Sept. 20)
Beethoven's Wig, feat. Richard Perlmutter: Sing Along Piano Classics (Sept. 27). [features piano works by Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Joplin]
Andy Z: The Grand Scream of Things (Sept. 30) [produced by Tor Hyams]
++ Groove Kid Nation: Title TBA (September)
++ Laura Doherty: Shining Like a Star (Oct. 1)
Hope Harris: Picasso, That's Who (October)
Recess Music (Various Artists): U R Some 1 (mid-October)
++ The Secret Mountain: Songs from the Baobob (October)
++ The Ohmies: Morning Wish Garden (October) [prodced by Tor Hyams]
The Dirty Sock Funtime Band: Title TBA (November)
Suzi Shelton: Title TBA (fall)
Milkshake: Title TBA plus Holiday Album Title TBA (Fall 2011)
Other 2011 albums: Ah-Choo, Alastair Moock, Peter Apel, Funky Mamas, Deedle Deedle Dees, Big Don, Mr. Richard, Chuck Cheesman, Ratboy, Jr., Todd McHatton, Jim Gill. Also, Rockabye Baby for Van Halen, The Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna.
Video: "Four of Two" - They Might Be Giants (via Readeez)
Nine and a half years ago, They Might Be Giants were prepping their first album for kids and while No! had some fancy games you could play if you stuck the disk in the computer, unlike their later work, it didn't have a single fancy video.
Michael Rachap, creator of all things Readeez, has rectified that oversight, Marty McFly-style, by going Baaack. In. Time. and applying the Readeez technique to "Four of Two."
OK, he didn't really go back in time. I think. But the video's amusing (stay for the ending bump, which made me laugh out loud). Also: John Linnell sings really fast, because the Readeez couldn't even keep up, sometimes having to post a couple words at a time.
They Might Be Giants' "Four of Two" -- Readee-Oh Version from Readeez on Vimeo.
Play List: Miss Mary Mack's Birthday Mix
Miss Mary Mack recently celebrated her birthday, and I took the opportunity to make her another mix CD. The disk included some favorite songs of hers, and some I thought she might like (or at the very least appreciate). I was amused at how many I'd initially put on the list that I had to remove because I realized that I put it on the last mix CD I'd made for her.
I'm not going to reveal her age here, but the first song on the list is a pretty good clue...
Sad And Dreamy - Alejandro Escovedo The Bottle Let Me Down: Songs For Bumpy Wagon Rides
Antidisestablishmentarianism - The Okee Dokee Brothers Take It Outside
Up And Down - Mr. T Experience Greasy Kids Stuff (songs from inside the radio volume 1)
Metaphor - The Alphabeticians Rock
Opposite Day - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo Underground Playground
Is This a Joke? - Billy Kelly Is This Some Kind of Joke?
Noble Gases - Duplex! Worser
Meet the Elements - They Might Be Giants Here Comes Science
Rattling Can - Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke Rise And Shine
Little Red Airplane - The Deedle Deedle Dees American History + Rock-n-Roll = The Deedle Deedle Dees
Know Your Inventors - Central Services Presents... The Board Of Education
George Washington - The Galactic Heroes Greasy Kid Stuff 3
The Princess Who Saved Herself - Jonathan Coulton Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti
If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out - Daisy Mayhem Ranky Tanky
Sing Like a Sparrow - Dean Jones featuring the Felice Brothers Rock Paper Scissors
Pay Me My Money Down - Bruce Springsteen We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
Horchata - Vampire Weekend Contra
Violet - Jeremy Messersmith The Reluctant Graveyard
Friend Donut - Lunch Money Original Friend
So Long It's Been Good To Know Yuh - Dan Zanes & Friends Night Time!
Place In Your Heart - Frances England Mind of My Own
Wild Mountain Thyme - The Nields Rock All Night
Song For You - Justin Roberts Meltdown!
Peace Like A River - Elizabeth Mitchell You Are My Little Bird
My Baby, She Wrote Me a Newsletter
OK, not really. I wrote the newsletter.
OK, not really. I haven't written it quite yet.
But I will.
And I'd like to think Alex Chilton would approve.
So, anyway, some of you may have noticed that section on the right-hand side of the main page asking for a name and e-mail and promising sweet sweet newsletter-y goodness in return. Well, it's time for me to get crackin' on that promise.
Here's the deal: sign up below to get an occasional newsletter highlighting posts you might have along with, I don't know, maybe some other crazy stuff that hasn't made it to the website. I promise I won't send it out too much because I hate overly eager e-mailers just as much as you do. (Also: I like privacy as much as you do -- I'll never sell, barter, trade, give, or do anything else with your e-mail addresses except send you these newsletters.)
I should also note that I'm not above bribery. I have five fabulous CDs that I will randomly give away to people who sign up for the list by July 15. (OK, I guess I'll have to use your e-mail addresses if I pick your name.)
Anyway, I hope you'll take a few seconds to fill out the form -- Arizona folks also get the opportunity to join my long-running Arizona events newsletter -- and hopefully I'll make it worth your while. Thanks!
Share: "Innocent When You Dream" - Mark Erelli
After the hubbub of the Fourth of July, perhaps your family needs a little more relaxation. Mark Erelli is here to help. His recently-re-released 2007 album Innocent When You Dream is streaming online, making it easy to check out my favorite lullaby release thus far this year. Really, it's a sweet little disk (or packet of information zooming across the intrawebs, whatever your medium).
The Thinkers Seek Your Help
I think we've established that I like The Thinkers. The duo from Boston and NYC released their first album and I used words and phrases like "utterly imaginative" and "smitten" and "sea chanty" to describe it. Those are usually good signs that I liked the album, right?
Anyway, I wrote those words as the band was about to head out across the country -- I mean, Recess Monkey-style, playing dozens of gigs.
But there's still time for you to a) catch them on tour, or b) help further overburden their schedule. (The latter is what I did, getting them into an impromptu gig at the Children's Museum of Phoenix in a week and a half.) The rest of the schedule, after the jump, and, really, folks, lots of opportunities here...
