Zooglobble

For any number of reasons, this is where my head's at right now:

The Hipwaders - "The Work Song" (from Cinderella)

Posted by SAShepherd at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was wondering how Barenaked Ladies would do sales-wise with their excellent new CD Snacktime.

Turns out, pretty darn good. The album debuted at #2 on Billboard's Top Kid Audio chart, trailing only (who else?) Hannah Montana and her live disk.

Beyond that, the album hit #61 on Billboard's main albums chart, the Billboard 200. Given that Maroon 5's latest CD came in at #58 and sold 13,000 copies, that gives you a pretty good idea of how well it sold, just below the new Elvis Costello CD and smack-dab between Carrie Underwood and Danity Kane [Ed: insert your own joke here.]

To put the result into context, the album didn't do as well their 2006 album Barenaked Ladies Are Me (#17) or 2003's Everything to Everyone (#10), but did outperform their most recent Barenaked Ladies Are Men (#102) and 2004's Barenaked For The Holidays (#64).

And with that, my friends, I pledge not to use math anymore today.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's safe to say the path San Francisco artist Frances England took to get to Family Tree, her second album, has not been often duplicated. England, who had never been a working musician, recorded her first album, Fascinating Creatures, as her contribution to her son's preschool fundraiser. And then somehow others heard the CD and soon enough England began sending copies of it, as she puts it in the liner notes of the new CD, "half way around the world." She was no longer a secret, as those of us who first heard her described England. But while Fascinating Creatures was certainly a fine album (with all the accolades to prove it), the question remained -- could she duplicate her success?

The answer is yes.

In many ways, Family Tree sounds a lot like its predecessor -- a melding of folk and lo-fi indie pop originals that stands out from most of the kids music world in its sound and centeredness, for lack of a better word. England's disks have a way of conjuring musical worlds that start with the security of home life and look outward, all the while sounding like Yo La Tengo or Elizabeth Mitchell or Tanya Donnelly. The debut had songs about tricycles, pancakes, and books we've all read as families; this new CD has songs about ice cream ("I Scream, You Scream"), grandparents ("Fast Train To Grandma's"), and playing with restless energy ("Free To Be Me").

But in other ways, this album shows growth from the debut. For one thing, England broadens her musical palette here, playing with a full band (Tim Thurman and Jeff Koch doing a lot of the work) on the majority of tracks. On the slightly-slow leadoff title track, for example, she offers up banjo while Dog on Fleas' Dean Jones guests on horn. "Best Friends," which also features England on banjo, may as well be a Sufjan Stevens knockoff, but in a good way. Elsewhere England rocks out ("Free To Be Me"), does country (the chugging "Fast Train to Grandma's," with nifty guitar work by Jay Heiselmann), and writes a classic folk song ("Spring Has Sprung").

In addition to the music, England is also challenging herself lyrically, writing a little more indirectly. "Tugboat" (which also features the Jellydots' Doug Snyder) is a sweet little song about how both the child and the parent -- exactly who is not clear -- will be the tugboat that always helps push the other back home. "Tea Party" is a fanciful story of a girl's (and boy's) tea party which includes a bird's commentary on the action. I think England's musical sensibility is still ahead of her lyrical skills (the directness of "Animal Friends," which encourages saving endangered animals, comes off a little flat, for example), but both have grown in the past couple years, no doubt.

Kids ages 3 through 7 will most appreciate the themes here. You can listen to tracks from the album at its CDBaby page. The album is officially released Tuesday, but CDBaby already has copies ready to ship. I should also note the lovely packaging which features (according to England) cut paper and acrylic paint using a roller to give it texture.

With Family Tree, Frances England continues on the promise of her debut, creating a musical world both adventurous and safe. Fans of Fascinating Creatures will thoroughly enjoy the new disk. And there are still lots more people out there who should be her fans. Goodness gracious, this is fabulous; I can hardly wait for disk #3. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

There's a headline I never thought I'd write.

Many months ago I asked whether Radiohead's "pay what you want" model for their In Rainbows CD could work in the kids' music genre.

Well, folks, we're about to find out.

Kansas City's Jim Cosgrove -- yes, Mr. Stinky Feet to his fans -- has announced that starting May 20th through June 3rd his new album Upside Down will be available for downloading at his website for the price of $15, $10, $5, or, yes, $0.

No word yet on whether people can pay $80 for a Upside Down discbox with the album on vinyl and with a bonus CD.

Posted by SAShepherd at 04:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a little hard to tell because the only place it's available is a less-than-helpfully-formatted Myspace page, but here's the lineup for the Chicago edition, set for August 1-3, 2008.

The Jimmies
Tiny Masters of Today
The Dream Jam Band
Homemade Jamz
The Q Brothers
The Terrible Twos
Perry Farrell
Peter DiStefano & Tor
G Love
Suzy Brack and the New Jack Lords
Paul Green School of Rock All Stars
John Yost's Rhythm Revolution

Considering one of the few bands I'm not familiar with - Suzy Brack and the New Jack Lords - is pegged as "tiki-punk," it's safe to say the stage will bring no small amount of rock.

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's that time of the year once more, when I pull out my list of songs for Mother's Day so you can burn an iTunes playlist and send it to your mom (because who burns CDs anymore?) I've pulled out last year's list and given it a tweak or two...

Here's a list of songs for mothers or songs about mothers, in no particular order. I've avoided lullabies (songs by moms, typically), as well as songs about general parentual units, or songs about moms and dads. (If you're looking for songs about moms and moms, might I recommend AudraRox's excellent "Moms & Dads," which, song title notwithstanding, is about all sorts of families.)

If a song isn't on the list, it's because of one of the three "O"s: Oversight (I knew about the song and just forgot), Omission (I knew about the song and chose to exclude it), or Obtuseness (I didn't know about the song at all). I expect the third category to be fairly large -- it is every year -- so feel free to add your suggestions in the comments section. List after the jump...

Continue reading "Songs For Mom (Updated, Again)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Attention Phoenix-area peeps: Eric Herman continues his worldwide tour (OK, perhaps not worldwide, but it's been going on for more than a month, so that's impressive enough). This Saturday Herman will be playing at Sunset Library in Chandler (location), starting at 11 AM. Herman's been honing his show for a long time now (more than just a month), and it should be lots of fun.

We'd try to go, but we have two kids with two separate parties to go to at the same time. You do the math.

Posted by SAShepherd at 05:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know that the kids' music genre is flowering when less popular subgenres such as kids' hip-hop or kids' country are starting to bubble up. I especially know that that's the case when those genres start producing albums that aren't just "kids songs done in a [fill-in-genre-name] style," but fully realized albums on their own.

Case in point: Easy, the debut kids' CD from Asheville, North Carolina's Cactus. He spends a lot of time rapping and playing with the music collective GFE as Agent 23, but who adopts the cool-kids name Secret Agent 23 Skidoo.. From start to finish, the album is totally geared at kids in its subject matter but is not dumbed down one bit in the creativity of its beats and melody. On its strongest tracks (and there are a number of them), Cactus blends smooth rapping with occasionally eclectic instrumentation ("Luck" features nice banjo work) and an all-positive message.

Sometimes that message is a little more overt -- "Luck" raps about how we make our own luck by knowing what it is we want; "Gotta Be Me" is about how everyone should have their own style, and that's OK. If the message is a bit direct, it's delivered with precision and flowing words. (Even his 5-year-old daughter Saki gets in on the act, very smoothly trading lines with her dad on "Family Tree.")

Perhaps even better are his songs that take a more imaginary bent. "Hot Lava" so completely nails the 7-year-old feeling of pretending on the fly (don't touch the floor! -- it's hot lava! -- jump from couch to couch!) that I'm not sure there is a better kids' song about the power of imagination. Songs about dragons, mermaids, and robots feature in the mix, too. It's very much story-telling with a compelling musical background.

I'm going to peg the messages and stories here as geared primarily for kids ages 4 through 9. You can hear samples of a number of the songs at the album's CDBaby page.

The list of really good kids' hip-hop albums is very short. Not only does Easy go to the top of that list, it should find a lot of fans among people who don't consider themselves big hip-hop fans. It's a really good CD, period -- lots of fun and certainly worthy of repeated spins. Definitely recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I first saw this weekend's press release announcing the announcement of the Kidzapalooza 2008 lineup, I was somewhat confused. Lollapalooza and its Kidzapalooza stage is scheduled for CHICAGO August 1-3. The Paul Frank Store Los Angeles is, uh, located in LOS ANGELES. As the poster announcing the announcement says, "Of course!" What better place to announce a lineup for a Chicago show than in LA? Perhaps they can also tell us what's coming to the Art Institute of Chicago in early 2009.

But then came this announcement (hat tip: Idolator) that Kidzpalooza is getting its own stand-alone concert at the Hollywood Bowl September 28, with pre-show activities starting at 4:30 PM and the show starting at 6:30 PM. The only artist currently announced is chief Lollapalooza poobah Perry Farrell.

While I think this is a great idea, and one producer Tor Hyams had previously suggested would happen, two concerns:
1) Ticket prices are $12 to $70 (!) dollars. I know, I know, a bunch of people can afford that on the upper end. And that's a pittance compared to, say, Hannah Montana tickets. But I gotta tell you, it was hard enough convincing people to plop down $20 for a Dan Zanes ticket. Anything more than that, even for more multiple artists, is going to be hard...
2) 6:30 PM on a Sunday night? Monday morning's going to be a pain getting the kids ready...

I'd also note this is the same weekend as Austin City Limits Festival, which will certainly make Tor a busy man that week.

Anyway, tickets for the Hollywood Bowl show go on sale Saturday morning at 10 AM. And once you've done that (or not), go over for the events at the Paul Frank Store Los Angeles (which also includes a raffle for a trip to the festival in Chicago). Schedule is after the jump.

Continue reading "Kidzapalooza Branches Out" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I couldn't squeeze everything I wanted to into my day of Snacktime stuff. Mostly because the stuff I wanted to talk about hadn't actually been, well, posted yet. (I tried to convince them that Monday was the day to do this, but did they listen to me? No.)

But better late than never. First, if you're on the fence about Snacktime (and you probably shouldn't be after reading my review), go over to AOL's New Releases page and you can stream the entire CD.

Second, my friends at the Land of Nod music store have posted their latest Nodcast Podcast with Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies. It's another fun podcast, with Ed playing acoustic versions of "Raisins" and "A Word For That" and spins a couple other tracks from the record. He also plays a game called (echo voice here) "Is It A Guitar?," lets you compose the Nodcast Podcast theme song, and answers exactly why the band got its name.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'd like to think that my offhand comment 7 months ago ("Why has this band not recorded a kids' CD?") was the genesis of Snacktime, the first kids' music album from Canada's Barenaked Ladies. The band, after all, recorded the album in November and December of last year, a good month after my comment. I gotta tell you, if I was somehow responsible in some tiny way for the album, released tomorrow, that would justify a lot of my work here at Zooglobble -- this is one fun set of songs. (Note: I'm not delusionary enough to suggest that I actually am. But it's nice to dream, eh?)

Barenaked Ladies always seemed to me a little bit the yin to They Might Be Giants' yang when it came to geek rock -- while TMBG focused on absurdly catchy melodies, BNL's strength was more lyrical. From the goofiness of "If I Had a $1000000" to the wistfulness of "Brian Wilson" to the, er, I-have-no-idea-iness of "One Week" (which I will proudly admit to still adoring), the band always had a good narrative line and a fascination with words.

A fascination with words is a good thing to have for certain kids' albums, and it pays off well here. From the very first song -- "7 8 9," which takes the old kids' pun of a hungry #8 and #9's sad demise and turns it into a Western stomp that touches on Gordie Howe, Pluto, and canine (teeth) -- lovers of wordplay will rejoice here. There are several wordy classics here. On the soundplay of "Food Party" the band perfectly anthropomorphizes (sonically) tastes such as "sweet," "sour," and "bland." "Crazy ABCs" pretty much writes the final ABC song ever (sample line "G is for gnarly"). "Vegetable Town" is a slow, dreamy song about a place "Where we can ride the zucchini subway / Or watch the carrot planes land on the runway." "I Can Sing," on the other hand, is a zippy bluegrass tune which features lines like "I can dance I can dance I can dance faster / I tried to keep up but it was a disaster. / One more move and I'm gonna be the master! / So crank it up loud on the ghetto blaster."

Not every song works -- the title track, for example, mostly consists of musicians and actors (Geddy Lee, Lyle Lovett, Sarah McLachlan, Jason Priestly) phoning in their favorite snack foods, and after the first listen you're likely to skip forward (and probably once more, past "Popcorn"). But that's what happens when you put 24 tracks on a 54-minute album -- some are bound to be duds. And some songs aren't going to be of much interest to your kindergartner, but just means that songs like the awesomely rocking "Allergies" will make them convulse with laughter 3 years from now and make you hope that Dr. Demento is still recording his radio show, because it deserves to be there. (He is.)

The nice thing with all the silliness is it makes the more serious songs stand out more. "My Big Sister" encapsulates in just under a minute the woes of a younger brother and hand-me-downs. "Bad Day" is an "everything will be better" song that avoids sappiness.

The album will be of most interest to kids ages 5 through 9 and adults who got rid of their copies of Stunt a while back. [Raises hand.] You can hear some songs at their Myspace page or "Crazy ABCs" here.

By the way, you can also order the CD with a book from the band's own website. The book isn't absolutely essential -- it's just the lyrics to the songs with drawings from band member Kevin Hearn interspersed with the text -- but it's a solidly-bound hardcover, and I can't think of too many other kids' CDs where I would be more likely to read along to the lyrics with my kids than this one. It may be worth the extra $4 or $5 to you...

Snacktime is too long by half, kids will be bored by some of the songs, and "Humungous Tree" should probably be written as "Humongous Tree." And even with all that, it's still a great CD. It's not perfect, but the joy and spontaneity in its creation shines through. The Barenaked Ladies have crafted a CDs that will appeal to just about every family member, at least most of the time. It's a classic Barenaked Ladies album, just a little bit... smaller. Highly recommended.

Posted by SAShepherd at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I promised you more Barenaked Ladies stuff today -- this time it's a heads up that if you liked "7 8 9" from the video earlier today, for a limited time you can download that song for free here.

Gordie Howe fans need this in their collection, pronto.

Posted by SAShepherd at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tyler Stewart was the last of the founding members of the rock group Barenaked Ladies, which means he's only been with the band for 18 of its 20 years of existence. He's been the band's drummer ever since. Stewart chatted by phone last week about what his kids listen to (Neil Young and High School Musical, just to begin with); his views on the relative merits of Barney, Sesame Street, and Beethoven; the genesis of their first kids' CD Snacktime; and what's to come for the band. (Photo courtesy Wikipedia.)

Zooglobble: I'm going to start the with the question I always ask whenever I interview someone and that is -- what were your musical influences growing up?
Tyler Stewart: Well, my parents are pretty young so they were into popular and good music. My dad was a big fan of British rock bands like the Who, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, and my mom was really into Motown music and soul. There was always good music playing in my house.

Specifically, what do you listen to with your kids?
Well, my kids, their dad's a musician, so it's a pretty varied catalog, and my wife, too, has pretty good taste in music. My iPod has 14,000 songs on it, they run the whole gamut. Recently my daughter Millie was saying, "Gawd, I'm so tired of this old people's music -- I don't want to hear any more Neil Young." My daughter's nine. "I like Neil Young, but not all the time." Yeah, I'm guilty of that.

Right now they're heavily into High School Musical. High School Musical 1 and 2 is like the Grease of today.

Both my daughters really like Alison Krauss and her fiddle music. Of course they love the Beatles, the universal music of all time. And we really love to listen to They Might Be Giants, their three kids' albums, together. They know every word, and they love 'em.

Do they listen to the Alison Krauss-Robert Plant CD?
You know, I haven't gotten that one yet. I can't believe I haven't... They like the live record she did, the 2-CD one she put out 4 years ago -- they really like that one a lot.

My kids, they run the gamut, they like all kinds of different music. That's sort of my goal. When I got them iPods, I filled them with all kinds of varied different kinds of music so that nothing seems surprising. I don't want them to have any musical prejudices or fears at that age. So that when they want to listen to Hilary Duff, OK, we'll put on Hilary Duff...

But that's their own choice, and they've listened to everything else...

Continue reading "Interview: Tyler Stewart (Barenaked Ladies)" »

Posted by SAShepherd at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

... or is that Barenaked de Mayo?

Anyway, in honor of tomorrow's release of Barenaked Ladies' first CD for kids, Snacktime, I've got a bunch of BNL/Snacktime stuff to post today.

First off, is the video for "7 8 9," the album's leadoff track... This has been out for a while, but you can't go wrong with animated numbers. 'Tis the season of animated numbers, I think.

Posted by SAShepherd at 06:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)