Itty-Bitty Review: Zee Avi's Nightlight - Zee Avi

The Malaysian artist Zee Avi has been making music in public since 2007 when she first posted a recording to YouTube.   Seven years later, she's got three albums under her belt and her fourth, a kid-friendly collection of lullaby-friendly covers titled Zee Avi's Nightlight, spotlights simple arrangements and her slightly husky vocals.

Assuming you clear the initial hurdle of not mangling the music itself -- and Avi and producer Kevin Salem (yay Little Monster Records!) do clear that with plenty of room to spare -- the question becomes what songs do you choose to cover, and do you bring your own style to the song.  On  the latter point, she mostly succeeds -- could you ever hear Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" without McFerrin's mouth-music?  Apparently, yes, you could -- it's an excellent start to the album.  Her take on "Rainbow Connection" is more restrained than Kermit's original version.

As for her song selection, some choices are inspired -- the Velvet Underground's "Who Loves the Sun" and Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game" -- but compared to some other lullaby cover albums, the overall selection is more staid.  And while the "Nightlight Medley" is an interesting mix of American and Malaysian lullabies, as an actual lullaby, it doesn't work as well as an actual lullaby.  (The album as a whole might be a touch too active for lullaby-ing.)

As with all lullaby albums, the 31-minute album is targeted at 0 to 4-year-olds and the parents who are desperate for them for fall asleep.  You can hear several songs at Avi's website.  As a lullaby album which for the most part stays solidly in the latter half of the 20th century, Zee Avi's Nightlight will certainly appeal to many modern parents.  While the album isn't the first I'd recommend for families looking to start a lullaby collection, I'd definitely place it ahead of lot of other such albums.  Recommended.

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

Itty-Bitty Review: In a Heartbeat - Laura Doherty

Chicago-based musician Laura Doherty is one of a number of kids musicians who should probably be more well-known nationally than they are.  Doherty makes the same kind of gentle folk-pop for preschoolers that has helped make Raffi and Laurie Berkner superstars, but without all the attention they receive.

I would be surprised if fans of Raffi and Berkner -- no matter if they're 4 years old or the minder of such 4 year olds -- didn't recognize in Doherty's music many of the same things that give those two a timeless appeal.  On her new album In a Heartbeat, Doherty uses her warm, inviting voice to sing simple (in a good way) songs about ocean creatures (the wonderful leadoff track "I'm a Little Fish"), feelings ("It's OK To Be Shy," "Butterfly"), and making music ("Electric Guitar" and "Drum Kit," the latter of which features Wilco's Glenn Kotche on yes, the drums).  Doherty and producer Rich Rankin have surrounded themselves with musicians who give the songs are solid musical footing, unfussy but sophisticated.

The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7.  There are many kindie artists who are producing (wonderful) kids music that stretch the boundaries of the form in topic and musical approach -- Doherty is not traveling this path.  Which is perfectly OK.  This is reassuring music and what it lacks in "edge" it makes up for with the warm fuzzies.  I like it a lot, and there's no reason why your favorite preschooler with a pig on her head wouldn't groove to the music here, too.  Definitely recommended.

Review: Tales from the Monstrosity Scrolls - Rainbow Beast and the Rock Band Land Rockers

The longtime reader of this site will deduce that I have not been the biggest fan of music for kids written or performed by kids.  There are exceptions, more on the performing than songwriting side, but they tend to be the accent on music from adults, not the other way around.

Enter Rainbow Beast, the San Francisco trio of Brian Gorman, Marcus Stoesz, and Jen Aldrich.  Brian Gorman and Marcus Stoesz run “Rock Band Land.”  Over six weeks they take a class of 4-to-8-year-olds, help them craft a story, and turn it into a song they perform together on stage.  And earlier this year Rainbow Beast, along with the "Rock Band Land Rockers" (AKA some of their prepubescent collaborators) released Tales from the Monstrosity Scrolls, an album of what's essentially a "best of" those songs.

This collaboration between adult musicians and some very young songwriters is the kind of thing that I approve of, but in theory have little interest in listening to.  But these songs are far afield from the musical styles and subjects of many kids' music songs.  Have folks in your family who like The Flaming Lips, the Kinks, Built to Spill, or Metallica?  They'll hear echoes of those bands here.

And once you add the surreal imagery to the often tripped-out arrangements, you can hear just how... tame kids music can sometimes be.  You'll hear songs about poisonous snakes ("Remblin Race"), a girl who shoots ice -- and ice cream -- from her fingers ("Ice Girl"), and a pool that traps people who dive within it as a jewel forever ("Pool of Light").  A character's flesh falls off in "Fish Wife," while the title character in "Oliver in the Wrong Cast" loses his skin and is known as the "polka dot skeleton boy."

Puts those songs about learning to brush one's teeth into perspective.  The songs really aren't violent -- they're just epic adventures starring the kids at the center.  In fact, probably the biggest problem with the album as a whole is that it's one epic song after another, and after 71 minutes, it can feel exhausting.

Done well, a lot of kids music speaks to kids’ everyday experiences in language they understand.  But kids ages 4 through 8 -- the same ages as the songwriters -- will also respond to these flights of fancy and stories of worlds far, far away.  This album speaks to that need in kids, and, just maybe, might inspire a few new tales.  In the end, the album's mere existence should be considered a victory because it was the result of dozens of kids creating their own songs.  The fact that it's often eminently listenable to the outsider is just a bonus.  Definitely recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: Home - Jazzy Ash

Kindie as a genre is moving away from the folk and rock that were its bread and butter, but oh-so-slowly.  Some hip-hop, sure, some classical and other genres represent, but it's still rock (and folk-rock) that kindie is known for.  I have to guard against my own tendencies in that regard, otherwise it'd be nothing but power-pop and indie rock here ALL THE TIME, and what would be the usefulness of that?

Of course, it's possible to make a perfectly dull album for kids that just happens to mine a less-traveled musical seam.  Luckily, that's not the case with the latest album from Los Angeles-based musician Ashli Christoval, AKA Jazzy Ash.  Her new album Home explores the sound of New Orleans, and while it's not the first to tackle the Big Easy's big musical history, it's definitely one of the most vibrant.  She moves from the unmistakeable sound of the city's famous second-line bands on the Mardi Gras-themed duet with Mista Cookie Jar on "Throw Me Something Mista" to her zydeco reworking of "Shortenin' Bread" on "Baby Loves Beignets."  There's a hint of the overtly educational here (see "Every Family's Different"), but there are more hits than misses, like "Jitterbug," which swings (and dances), and the graceful "Tuba Lullaby."  Musically, Ash has put together a solid backing band, and her own voice is one of the most appealing in kindie.  She's not at the level of the Okee Dokee Brothers in terms of her songwriting -- to be fair, they're on their fifth album at this point -- but as I listened to the album, there was something about this album that reminded me of the bluegrass duo in their playfulness and exploration of American musical traditions.

The 32-minute album will most appeal to kids ages 3 through 7.  Home is a big step forward for Ash, and as she continues her career as a kids musician, I'm eager to see where she lands next.  Recommended.

Review: Two Kids Music Albums from Iceland

[Cue Jim McKay voice] Spanning the globe to bring you a constant variety of the best of kids' music from around the globe, it's Zooglobble! [End Jim McKay voice]

I've never been shy about shining the spotlight on kids music from outside English-speaking North America -- plenty of Spanish-language music from multiple continents, not to mention Putumayo and Secret Mountain (and other labels' ) albums from around the world.

I feel safe in saying, however, that this is by far the furthest afield I've ever traveled, because today I bring you not one but two album reviews from the fine country of Iceland.  Honest-to-goodness kindie music from the northern European country of just a shade over 300,000 people.

The first of the couple albums here is the classic Ekki bara fyrir börn.

"Classic?"  Huh?

Yes, because that album title translates into Not For Kids Only.  This, friends, is a faithful -- albeit Icelandic-language -- cover of the Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's classic 1993 family-friendly bluegrass album.

It's from Icelandic record label Warén Music, and while I'm not sure I could've told you what I expected such a remake to sound like in advance of hearing, I guess I was surprised at the result, which was... well, pretty straight-forward.  It is as if Garcia and Grisman learned Icelandic, got a pot of coffee, found a few more musicians, and re-recorded as if they were some American kindie version of Michael Haneke remaking Funny Games.  (What really happened? Somebody brought over a copy of the original, and the musicians were inspired to recreate it.)

Aside from the language barrier, musically it'll sound a lot the '93 version, albeit a little more punched up, as if a few more musicians stumbled across Garcia and Grisman as they noodled away in the woods.  It's a little odd at points to hear such familiar melodies with unfamiliar words (take "Lagarfljót" for example, the translated version of "Shenandoah").  And then there's Lautaferð bangsanna, which is "Teddy Bear's Picnic" as sung by a Tom Waits' vocal double in Icelandic.  (Listen to the whole thing here.)  With the language barrier, this is accessible to all ages.

I realize this is essentially a novelty record for the English-speaking world -- you'd have to be a massive Garcia/Grisman completist or speak Icelandic in your family to want this.  But it's joyful, and a neat reminder of music's boundary-less nature.

If Ekki bara fyrir börn is American kindie (or American proto-kindie) rendered inscrutable for the typical American audience, Skýjaflétta is thoroughly Icelandic in conception, but completely accessible to audiences of any language.  The album is the brainchild of Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir, who plays in amiina, an Icelandic sextet that grew out of a string quartet and, in addition to releasing music on their own has also played with Sigur Rós.  Sumarliðadóttir wrote the music to accompany a couple of modern dance pieces for very young children, up to age 3.  (According to Sumarliðadóttir, the first 5 tracks are for a piece called "Clouds," the remaining tracks score "Twist and Turn".)

As you might expect from that background, these aren't straightforward pop songs.  The word "Skýjaflétta" means "a braid made of clouds," and this is an ambient dreamscape, but a shiny one, filled with pops, clicks, and toy pianos.  Some tracks, like "Twisty Tangle and Turny Braid," (as translated in English) and "Build" are pensive, exploratory, while songs like "Explore" are designed for more reflective wonder.  They are all wordless, making them, of course, open to everyone.

You can listen to six tracks from the 31-minute album here.  Ironically, just as the Icelandic-language album is for all ages given that almost all Americans will just listen to the music, the instrumental nature of this album, makes it all ages, too, though kids under 5 might particularly groove to this.  This is a thoroughly charming album and while I'm sure I will never get a chance to see the dance pieces these were composed for, I'm glad the album has a chance to cross the ocean for families with adventurous listening habits.  Definitely recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: 123s and ABCs - Ella Jenkins

Let's begin as we must always begin when talking about Ella Jenkins -- she is a legend.  The Chicago-based musician released her first album for Folkways Records (later Smithsonian Folkways) in 1957, and she's recorded for Folkways ever since.  Jenkins turns 90 years old later this year, but she's still playing live around the country.

This latest album follows up on 2013's Get Moving with Ella Jenkins with another collection of previously-released material.  As you might guess from the album title, this album features songs about counting and the alphabet, presented with empathy and without a trace of irony and hipness.  That's not a putdown -- one of the great joys of listening to and watching Jenkins perform live and on record is hearing and seeing how in sync she is with her audience.  She's not playing to the adults in the back of the room -- she's playing to the kids in the front.  (She wants to get the adults involved, too, but that's usually not at issue on recordings.)  She's leading and teaching them, and the kids adore her for it.  Once your kids have already mastered their letters and numbers, they probably won't want to listen, and you might not want to listen to the album on repeat regardless, but again, it's not for you.

You can listen 3 tracks from the 31-minute album here.  Recommended if you've got preschoolers, and as always, if you yourself sing to preschoolers on a regular basis, regardless of whether you're in a classroom setting or not.