There are pitfalls in trying to be objective in reviewing music, especially in the close-knit world of kindie music, where if everybody doesn't know everybody (yet), the degrees of separation are small enough that it makes Kevin Bacon look like a loner. And while I deal with that constantly here, adding a layer of "good works" on top of it all, well, consider this then your grain of salt for the two albums discussed here.
First off is Austin's
Mr. Leebot, whose latest album
Erratic Schematic is fundraiser for an orphanage in Ethiopia from which Mr. Leebot (AKA Lee Davila) and his wife recently adopted two babies. As I've
previously mentioned, the idea of adoption is important to me, so I was predisposed to like this album from the get-go. While Mr. Leebot's sound -- think of him as DEVO's kids music side project -- may not be for everyone, he's started to ever-so-slightly fill out his sound (I like the New Wave sound of "Cleaning Theme"). As a whole, it's Leebot's best album yet. And the track at the heart of the album -- "Our Family" -- should be heard far and wide. (Listen to it
here -- just scroll down the page.)
The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can listen to samples
here.
As for an album geared toward a slightly older crowd, how about
Hamlet? That's for high schoolers, right? Well ,
The Deedle Deedle Dees' Lloyd Miller would beg to differ, having helped his wife's second grade class to write a musical based on the play. Miller recruited Dog on Fleas' Dean Jones and a couple of the Dees to record the music along with kids in the class. The result,
Hamlet: The Album, is alternately rockin' ("Something's Rotten!") and pensive ("Tush, Tush") -- a little bit like the play itself, no? In best Fleas/Dees fashion, the album is ragged around the edges, the Band or the Stones mixed with a Shakespeare and Sesame Street. I'd much rather listen to these kids sing than any number of auto-tuned KidzBoppers.
The album will be most appreciated by kids ages 6 to 11. And if the story behind the album isn't appealing enough, perhaps you'll be heartened to hear that all profits from the album will go to Japan earthquake relief. Listen (or order the album) below.
While neither
Erratic Schematic nor
Hamlet: The Musical have a broad enough appeal for me to endorse the albums unreservedly for all listeners, both are solid enough albums to merit a listen even without the totally worthy backstories. I think a lot of readers will find a lot to like here. Give 'em a spin, maybe even your ducats. Recommended.
Disclosure: I received a copy of Erratic Schematic for possible review.
Oh, to have the energy of Pepito, the titular squirrel the latest EP of Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke. I'd be able to knock out these reviews in four, five minutes flat. Perhaps I could do that if I just wrote something like, "I've yet to hear a Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke song that I haven't liked" and left it at that.
But you probably expect just a little bit more (even though it's true). So, then, in brief, the six songs of Hey Pepito!:
1) "Pepito": a gigantic adrenaline rush that might, in the long run, get a little wearisome when you listen to it for the four-hundredth time, as your kids will invariable make you do. (Purchase the album via Little Monster (or the widget below) and get an e-copy of a Wilde-drawn comic featuring Pepito to boot.)
2) "Don Mario's Song": Another ear-wormy chorus, with the added benefit of an extended Latin percussion break, each instrument named in turn. I love "Pepito," but I think this is the best song on the album.
3) "Talking Big Pet Pig": This pig looms large in KWMC iconography -- here he gets an origin story, done Dylan-pre-electric-style.
4) "It's So Good": Previously released, is that a samba I hear?
5) "Mary the Fairy": Also previously released, the story of a flight-challenged and inattentive fairy.
6) "Summer Lullaby": As tender a song as "Pepito" and "Don Mario's Song" are rave-ups.
The songs are most appropriate for kids ages through 3 through 7. Listen to the whole EP by streaming it via the player below. Hey Pepito! is a fun 22 minutes, a worthy albeit brief follow up to their wonderful debut Rise and Shine. Or, to put it another way, I've still yet to hear a Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke song that I haven't liked. Definitely recommended.
[Disclosure: I received a copy of the album for possible review.]
Can you call a movie franchise a "re-boot" if you're trying to make it look (and sound) like it was made fifty years ago?
Well, if so, then 
While David Weinstone has been incredibly successful licensing his Music for Aardvarks classes, he has not done a lot of recording for the general public.
Which is a little bit sad, because Weinstone is a pretty good songwriter. And on his latest album, All I Want!, he has a number of stellar songs. While some of the songs seem like they originated out of his MFA classes, many of the songs (for the most part, my favorites) sound like they were created outside of a class context. Like a number of artists, Weinstone attempts to cover a broad range of musical styles, from old-timey Dixieland ("I Want a Puppy!") to fuzzed-out Guided By Voices-style rock ("Mighty Milo") to a harmonica-accented waltz ("Beach Song"). "All I Want!" thrashes harder than any kids' song you'll all year, and probably most of the adult songs, too. Although the genre-hopping can be head-spinning, Weinstone's adept at all of it, while also channeling a bit of Barry Louis Polisar acerbic-kid humor (sample from "Better Keep Your Eye on Me!": "I like cell phones, they taste good / They're expensive, man they should.")
The album will be most appreciated by kids ages 3 through 6. You can listen to a few songs 
