Monday Morning Smile: "The Birthday Card"

This video comes from brothers Ryan Mayers and Matt Mayers.  Matt Mayers is the husband of Stephanie Mayers, the swell gal who helps keep the Festival Five and Kindiefest ​trains running on time.  This features a cute kid (Matt's and Stephanie's daughter), a feel-good message, and, most importantly, a very important dessert.  Very. Important.

Weekly Summary (3/18/13 - 3/24/13)

Video: "The Cereal Song (What's Missing?)" - The Flannery Brothers

It's good to have some new music from The Flannery Brothers.  I like this song, but really what puts it over the top is ​the dancing.  Check out the dancing from Dan, Mike, and Jonathan.  Spoon juggling for the win!

Flannery Brothers - "The Cereal Song (What's Missing?)" [YouTube​]

Cat Doorman Songbook - Cat Doorman (aka Julianna Bright)

It took awhile, but the kids music scene of Portland, Oregon is now humming along with a number of ​actual (not fake) kids musicians.  Which isn't too surprising -- the city has a thriving music scene and has a very creative population generally.  No wonder it's the home to Etsy.

CatDoormanSongbook.jpg

Into this scene comes ​Julianna Bright, an artist (on Etsy, natch) and musician.  For her foray into making music for families, she's created an alter ego of sorts, Cat Doorman.  Her debut album, the Cat Doorman Songbook​, contains echoes of other kids albums before hers, but the cumulative effect is one unlike just about anything.

You have the folk tradition on the leadoff track, "Peaceful," which begins, "We live to be peaceful / We live to be / Free from the whim / There's always something new to need. / We cherish what we use and / We share the rest. / We know this is how / It feels to be blessed."  The song rocks harder than most songs with the same theme, perhaps, but the spirit is the same.

But even more important to the album than a spirit of peace and love is the celebration of do-it-yourself and individual expression.​  Songs like "Oh, the Inspiration!" and "Yeah!," as different as they are sonically, speak of the spark that drives people to create and express themselves.  (It actually makes "So Many Words," the alphabet song that's the closest thing to a traditional kids song -- and it's quite a way from it at that -- seem safe by comparison.)  On the ragtime-y "Two Old Shoes," Bright sings, "For every moment you could foment thoughts of loneliness / Or cause to be afraid / Line your sturdy hearts up children, throw them open and / Behold the world you made."​  The celebratory lyrics are paired with an organically rough but sweet folk-rock sound made by a large group of musicians including members of the Decemberists and the Corin Tucker Band.

The whole album builds up to the stunning "Lonely Girl," the most striking kids' song you'll hear all year.  A slow song that begins as a character study of a distracted little girl ("Watch as she circles the school parking lot singing, 'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine' / Here she is in her school's study hall / Losing time staring holes in the wall."), the song ends with a full-throated exhortation ("Lonely girl, yours is a timorous lot / You think too much Darling of what you are not and / Next time you do please recall you can sing / and the itch at your back is the beat of your wings and / They'll carry you forward to wonderful things.").

She had me at "timorous."​

The 36-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 10.  You can ​stream three songs here.  I'd also commend the illustrated lyric sheet by Bright.  Fans of the handmade nature of the album and packaging may also want to explore Night and Day Studios' iOS app for Little Red Wagon.

Fans of Frances England, Elizabeth Mitchell, Dean Jones, and Lunch Money should find in Cat Doorman a sympathetic soul.  It's possible that if Cat Doorman Songbook​ didn't exist, Etsy would have had to create it.  It reminds families of the worlds and possibilities that lie outside our door, if only we're willing to see them and create them ourselves.  Definitely recommended.

Video: "Let's Skateboard" - The Not-Its

As can be implied from my review of The Not-Its' KidQuake​ album, I am not up-to-date on my skateboarding lingo.  "Stalefish."  But with The Not-Its' new video for "Let's Skateboard," none of that matters, because its shots of skateboard kids accompanied by the propulsive song makes me almost absurdly happy.  The boys in tutus are a nice touch.​  (Via Cool Mom Picks)

The Not-Its! - "Let's Skateboard" [YouTube]​

Review: KidQuake - The Not-Its!

On the fourth album KidQuake, Seattle's Not-Its have ​settled nicely into their kid-pop-punk groove.  Of course, "settling nicely" implies that perhaps this is a more relaxed and down-tempo album than its predecessors and that would be a total lie because this is one of the worst just-before-bedtime albums ever.

KidQuake.jpg

It starts out with the title track, which praises kids' energy (and hopes to channel it into changing the world), then moves on to the even higher-energy "Let's Skateboard" (if you, like me, listen to the song and wonder what a "stalefish" is, here's your answer).​  And then there's "Busy," which alternately celebrates the busy lifestyle (lots of "go's" and horns) while sonically suggesting that we're just all a little too busy.  Band guitarist Danny Adamson sometimes jokes about new Not-Its songs "melting faces off," but this is definitely music to bounce to, with Sarah Shannon's vocal range another key component of the song's allure.

​The band's lyrics and subjects have always been targeted right at young elementary schools, and over time I think they've improved their ability to write from the kids' perspective without talking down to them.  Songs like "Participation Trophy" ("Second Grade basketball: 9th place! / Participation Trophy") and "Tarantula Funeral" ("Bob, we didn't know you very well / We never could tell just what you were thinking") serve as good counterpoints to the more eager/irony-free songs like "Walk or Ride."

The 28-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 9.  ​You can stream the whole album here.  As always, the band's album packaging (once again courtesy of Don Clark) is visually distinctive, a nice complement to their tutu-ed and black-tied performance outfits.

From their debut album, the Not-Its have not made any great stylistic leaps, but rather have refined it.  There's something to said for the methodic steps the band's taken, because KidQuake​ is their best album yet, a blast of fresh air, and a ton of fun. ​ Highly recommended.  (Except for right before bedtime.)

[Note: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.]​