Monday Morning Smile: "There's a Platypus Controlling Me" (from Phineas & Ferb)

The show Phineas & Ferb is the secret musical weapon of kids' TV. Oh, sure, Yo Gabba Gabba! and The Wiggles (and others) are musically-oriented, but the Disney Channel show sneaks in musical bits that are as tuneful (and usually funnier) as anything airing on the youngster channels. Creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh write in many different styles, composer Danny Jacob brings it all together production-wise, and the result is, well, something like this.

I've told you about my secret appreciation for all things platypus, right?

Dr. Doofenshmirtz - "There's a Platypus Controlling Me" (from Phineas & Ferb episode "Brain Drain") [YouTube]

Weekly Summary (1/6/14 - 1/12/14)

Getting back into the swing of posting here in 2014... almost done with 2013 stuff.

Blog: Best Kids Music of 2013: Top 25 Songs, How I Got Here: Danny Adamson, the Not-Its! (The Cure, Joni Mitchell), Itty-Bitty Review: I Like Everything About You (Yes I Do!) - Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble)

Videos: None this week

Listen to Music: "Freight Train" - Elizabeth Cotten, "In All of the World" - Papa Crow, Swordfish Tango - Pointed Man Band, More! More! More! - Bunny Clogs

Free Music: None this week

Kids Music Reviews: Baby DJ - Luscious Jackson

iOS Apps: Musical Paint - Building Blocks Media

Upcoming Releases: Constantly updating...

Podcasts

Kindie Week in Review: Ep. 46: Filled With Sparkly, Plastic Little Hipsters

My Other Other Gig: None this week

Bake Sale: A Movable, Wooden Horse

Itty-Bitty Review: I Like Everything About You (Yes I Do!) - Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble

There's lots to like in the first family music album from the Bay Area group Crosspulse Percussion Ensemble. For example, the "Caravan"-esque sounds of "Body Beat." The joyful take on the children's classic "Little Liza Jane." The earthiness of the percussion in the eternally oddness "Coocoo."

These songs are the product of years of singing and playing these songs in front of tens of thousands of kids, and it has the energetic attitude you'd expect to hear from a group experienced in performing live.

The song selection is appreciably diverse, with selections from around the world. It is akin to a Dan Zanes album (or maybe Elizabeth Mitchell album) without all the amplification.

In fact, it's that comparative lack of diversity, sonically, that may hold the album back from being totally embraced by some of the audiences the Ensemble certainly hopes to reach. It is not necessarily an easy album to listen to in the back seat of the minivan. I think the performances -- watching these musicians create music out of their mouths, bodies, and percussion instruments and rarely anything stringed or melodic -- would be far more powerful live.

The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 9. You can hear some selections from the 42-minute album here.

This review makes it sound like I enjoyed the album less than I did. I liked it -- maybe I just wanted to like it more. This definitely isn't electric power-pop, and families only seeking that candy-coated sheen should stay far away. But families with Ella Jenkins, Dan Zanes, and Putumayo CDs in their collection will probably find this a nice combination of them all. Recommended.

How I Got Here: Danny Adamson, the Not-Its! (The Cure, Joni Mitchell)

Danny Adamson, guitarist for the sartorially superior Seattle pop-punkers The Not-Its, sometimes jokes about wanting to rock kids' faces off at upcoming shows. Thus, it might surprise you to learn that when asked to write about an album that influenced him for our "How I Got Here" series, he picked an album by Joni Mitchell. And also one by the Cure (who, I will note for the record, played the loudest show I've ever been to, at any rate).

But this isn't some fancy late-minute conversion -- check out his bio, he lists Mitchell and the Cure among his top 5 favorite artists there, too.

So read on for Adamson's stories of how the Cure saved his life (or at least from getting beat up) and singing along with Joni and how those helped him rawk melodically.

Which band or artist is your favorite of all time? Growing up, that was always the question asked. Since people could never choose just one, I started altering the question to “What are your top 5 bands or artists of all time?” This gained far better results, as people could no longer pull the “I’m so eclectic and well rounded, how can I possibly choose only one when I like soooo many styles of music?” card. This served me well at parties during my 20’s. Now I don’t ask, because I am stuck in the 80’s and 90’s and find that I no longer recognize bands that people list. I am lazy about discovering new music these days and find if you put on a Wilco album in a social setting, 95% of people will be generally pleased.

On to my attempt to sound interesting and eclectic! I wish I could write about 5 albums that influenced me musically, but nobody wants to read that much from a guy who’s not even the lead singer of The Not-Its! So I will limit myself to two, one which was huge in my world at the time I first started playing guitar in the 8th grade - The Cure's Head On The Door - and another album that made me realize that it’s actually a good thing to “try” to sing as well as you can (rather than just get by or do the punk rock screamy thing) - Joni Mitchell's Blue.

The Cure had many albums that were influential to me, and you can definitely make the case that my musical style leans toward their guitar heavy (less synth), earlier stuff, but Head On The Door was their first album that I obtained (would have said “purchased” but I probably stole that cassette as I was a sticky-fingered, hooligan in 8th grade). I was a skater kid back then, not the “gothed out” type of fan, but The Cure influenced me in many ways…. There may or may not be VHS video footage somewhere out there of me holding a magazine page photo of Robert Smith’s face with the mouth cut out, lip-syncing to the song “The Catch.” In junior high, just wearing a The Cure shirt once saved me from getting my ass kicked. I threw something at a car and the hot pursuit ended with the car full of 20 something year olds catching me (don’t ask me how that happened?) and letting me off STRICTLY because of that shirt!

Anyway, that album was something new, that didn’t sound like pop music, or the poorly produced skate rock compilations I had received via my subscription to Thrasher skateboarding magazine. I just liked how Head On The Door (and most of their other albums) sounded. I wouldn’t say it is their best album, but definitely my favorite and most influential, as it just got me at the right time. It was fun to try to figure their songs out on guitar. Something about bands from across the pond felt cool to my friends and me. Nobody at our suburban Seattle junior high was listening to The Cure or The Smiths and it felt nice to have something from far away that felt like our own. Still to this day I put my boys to bed by playing guitar and often songs by The Cure make it into the rotation.

I started playing in punk bands in 10th grade in 1991. I played guitar, my good friend also played guitar and a new buddy played bass. We eventually found someone who played drums but still nobody could or would sing. I started singing by default because nobody else was willing. I was not good and confidence took years to establish. I had a girlfriend with a hint of granola in her. She owned some fleece, a pair of Birkenstocks, and pounded me down with the obnoxious crooning of Joni Mitchell. I fought it hard with Fugazi and Superchunk, (which I believe she still loves today) but both sides triumphed in that battle as Joni Mitchell’s album Blue worked its way into my hard wired system.

That album and girlfriend both went away - the album for a few years and the girl forever - until I picked up Blue (purchased this one) on vinyl in 1997 or so. I lived with 4 guys in a dude/party house near the University of Washington at the time. A typical scene for one of my roommates to find when rolling home would be hearing Joni Mitchell blaring from my room with a giant speaker hauled into the bathroom, speaker wire stretched across the hall, and me screeching the high falsetto sounds of JM from the shower. I was singing along due to its obvious genius as it grew on me, but also because I was actually trying to get better at singing. Eventually I could sort of keep up with her and learned that breathing correctly and weird stuff like that were important elements to singing well. With the album Blue, I really think you can feel the energy and emotion she put into the album (which I don’t usually say because how the heck do I know what went down in that studio?), but it’s tough to ignore when it’s just one person and her guitar or piano. Pretty awesome.

For me, these two albums simply just sound good to me and hit me at that right time in my life. As I’m writing this, I’m finding it an interesting case study between albums that sound good and my association with music for children and families. I know many people relate to albums of their past by what the album said to them and how they emotionally connected with the lyrics. I’m quite the opposite. I could hear a song 5 times and still not really tell you what it’s all about. I just like it if a tune sounds good or has a nice harmony and I will always fall for an amazing little drum fill or hi-hat trick. So yes, the guy who has never paid attention to the deep meaning of love songs is now writing music for kids. I know kids are amazing, bright and full of potential, but what they really want is a good hook and a badass guitar riff.

Best Kids Music of 2013: Top 25 Songs

It has been too long since I posted a list of my favorite songs of a year. 2011, to be exact.

Oops.

(I already said how embarrassed I was about that.)

Following up on my list of Top 10 kids music debuts in 2013, here's my list of my 25 favorite (or best, depending on your perspective) kids' songs on albums released over the past year ("year" defined as between November 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013, to match the Fids and Kamily Awards this year). I should note that some of these songs have been floating around for a few years now (the Trout Fishing and Shine and the Moonbeams songs), but have only now found themselves on a proper release. One could do much worse than to put all 25 on a mix CD or iTunes/Spotify playlist.

Hey, wait, I've done that! Here's the link (go here if you're in Spotify). See the end of this post for the embedded stream. By the way, songs not on Spotify are marked with an *

In any case, picking these 25 songs was tough, tougher than in most previous years, I think. I had another 15-20 songs I was seriously considering for this list, and on another day, my mood would have struck me differently and at least a couple of those songs would be on here. But I'm pressing the "publish" button today.

Top 25 Kids Music Songs of 2013 (listed alphabetically by artist)

"Similes and Metaphors" - The Bazillions (Heads or Tales)

"When Pigs Fly" - Sandra Boynton (performed by Ryan Adams) (Frog Trouble)

"Thingamajig" - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band (Lishy Lou and Lucky Too) -- I know, I know, the album was released on Oct. 1, 2013 and so technically speaking shouldn't be on here. But come on, this was song was awesome. And there was a single, so that's what I'm hanging my hat on...

"Lonely Girl" - Cat Doorman (The Cat Doorman Songbook)

"It's Not Fair To Me" - Bill Harley & Keith Munslow (It's Not Fair To Me)

"Dinosaur" - Lori Henriques (The World Is a Curious Place To Live) *

"Wag More" - Boxtop Jenkins (You're Happier When You're Happy)

"Take You Into My Arms" - Joey No Knows (Color This Album)

"Nine O' Clock Behind the Jack Rabbit" - Josh & Gab (I'm Not a Bully!)

"You Made Me a Sock Monkey" - Billy Kelly (AGAIN!) *

"Have You Ever Been Jealous?" - Alastair Moock with Rani Arbo (Singing Our Way Through: Songs for the World's Bravest Kids) *

"Let's Skateboard" - The Not-Its! (KidQuake!)

"High 5 Your Shadow" - Ratboy Jr. (Champions of the Universe)

"The Deep End" - Recess Monkey (Deep Sea Diver)

"Recess" - Justin Roberts (Recess)