Itty-Bitty Review: Color This Album: Chris Doud, Willy Tea Taylor, and More

Saying that Color This Album came out of nowhere is an insult to Oakdale, California (east of the Bay Area), but it's also sort of true.  One doesn't usually receive music as good as this from folks entirely removed from kids music hotspots.

But here we are anyway.  The album is 19 tracks of Americana goodness from the Heckabad record label, home to Chris Doud, (his band) The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit, Willy Tea Taylor, and Joey No Knows.  There's the country bluegrass of "Larry the Frog," the Woody Guthrie absurdity of "Hop in the Car," and the bluesy lament "Lullaby to Stellaouise."  Or perhaps you'd prefer Bob Dylan-in-silly-mode "Crayons," the bluegrass raveup "Thirteen Bears" (it's the number of bears on the shirt, in case you're wondering), and the stone-cold classic of parental frustration/unconditional love "Take You Into My Arms."  If the 58-minute album runs a bit long and features a couple story-like tracks ("Elf Outta Work" and "The Ballad of Scruffers the Circus Dog") that bring the album to a halt, I guess that's what the fast-forward button is for.

Color This Album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 8.  (Listen to the whole album here.)  It's a romp through a world of animals and imagination, and the long-awaited (spiritual) sequel to the classic Bloodshot Records album The Bottle Let Me Down.  Here's to continued surprises (and hoping that these guys get a few gigs in the Bay Area if they want 'em.  Definitely recommended.

Reviews from Portland, Kindie Capitol of the World

You heard me.  Portland, Oregon is the kindie capitol of the world.  So much music is coming out that city that I can't keep up with it all.  I realized that even though I'd semi-recently reviewed new albums from Cat Doorman and Lori Henriques, there were a whole bunch of other albums from that city that I hadn't yet reviewed, and every time I was getting close to writing a Portland-based review, another album would be released.  Aaaargh. You're killin' me, PDX.  (But in a good way.)

And here's the thing, not only are there are a ton of artists emerging from Portland right now, they're all incredibly supportive of one another.  They definitely have each others' backs.

Here, then, are six from the past 18 months or so that are worth your time -- they're all recommended.  It's not the full list of Portland albums I've received over that time, and there are more on the way.  But it's a great place to start, and you're bound to find at least one album to meet your family's needs.  They're ordered roughly from most "traditional" sounding to least so.

While I am reluctant to do comparisons between albums in a single post, if I had to direct your attention to just one or two albums, it would be Red Yarn's The Deep Woods and the Pointed Man Band's Swordfish Tango -- they're two debuts that stretch the notion of what kids music can be even as they draw on songs and sounds that are 50, 100, or even 500 years old.  Swordfish Tango  is definitely recommended and The Deep Woods  is highly recommended.

Without further ado, then, here are the reviews... 

Songs for Johnson Creek: Various Artists - This benefit album for the Johnson Creek Watershed Council is coordinated by JCWC Executive Director Matt Clark (himself a kindie musician with a few albums under his belt).  It features mostly-previously unreleased songs from a bunch of Portland-area artists (Aaron Nigel Smith, Laura Veirs, Lori Henriques, Cat Doorman, and some folks noted below) and, as you might expect, has a nature theme.  In terms of the new tracks, I really liked the Alphabeticians' "Roe Together," Red Yarn's "Big Blue Dome," and Lori Henriques' "Let's Go Take a Peek at the Creek."  The album is roughly split between songs that more explicitly encourage a conservation/eco-conscious approach and those that just celebrate nature.  The album will be especially appropriate for those in a outdoors-y mood.  This album has a mix of songs and age ranges that makes a target age range difficult to peg, but you can stream the 36-minute album here to check for yourself.

 Be Alive: Johnny & Jason - Fuzzed-out rock mixed with a bit of British Invasion mostly for toddlers and preschoolers.  The second album from duo Johnny Keener and Jason Greene features short, sharp rock tunes written mostly for bouncing around, with very kid-simple subjects.  Leadoff track "Up Up Up" is definitely on the toddler end of thing while the country-folk "Lollipop Trees" is far more fanciful and for your daydreaming kindergartner.  I also dig the swirly organ on "Let's Play"   You can stream the 23-minute album here. 

Monster Suit: Mo Phillips -- Lo-fi Bakersfield-tinged indie rock with a side of goofiness and dollop of tenderness on top.  "The Princess and The Cowboy," on which Phillips duets with Little Sue, sits on the tenderness side of the equation ("It doesn't matter what you do just how you do it / Make sure it's full of happiness and heart") while "Rollerskate Banana Peels," well, you can guess where that sits.  Song topics sit squarely in the field of kid-centered topics (the zoo, messy hair, trucks).  Best for ages 3 through 6, you can stream some of the songs from the 34-minute album at Phillips' website.

Junior: The Alphabeticians - The duo of Eric Levine (Mr. E) and Jeff Inlay (Mr. Hoo) proudly represent the TMBG/BNL wing of PDX kindie rock, and not just because I used a lot of alphabetical letters there.  I mean, it's not everyday that you get to hear the word "sycophant" in a kids' song (appropriately rhymed in "Elephant"), right?  This album continues the brainy wordplay of their previous albums (see "General Relativity" for an explanation of how you're specifically related to your distant relatives) and multiple alphabet-inspired songs (natch) with a slight expansion of their sound (banjo! cello!).  Best for ages 4 through 8, you can stream the 37-minute album here.

The Deep Woods: Red Yarn - The most ambitious album in the bunch is from Andy Furgeson, AKA Red Yarn, who uses ten musicians and 150 friends and neighbors ("The Community Singers") to give 11 traditional songs (plus one original, the title track) the folk treatment in the old meaning of the term.  "Bob the Rabbit" is a driving rock melding of "John the Rabbit" and "Rabbit Soup," while "Old Blue" with its yelps might remind you young whippersnappers of the Lumineers.  (I personally had an early Arcade Fire feel throughout.)  "Mr. Rabbit" has an almost desperate urgency while "The Fox," which brings together "The Fox," "Midnight Special," and "Go Tell Aunty Rhody," is absolutely gorgeous.  This is a folk revival, in all the many meanings of the word "revival."  Best for ages 3 through 10, you can stream the 36-minute album here.

Swordfish Tango : Pointed Man Band - The oddest-sounding album of the bunch is from Pointed Man Band.  A combination of Tom Waits and Shel Silverstein, the Beatles and Parisian cafes, the music smells of hardwood floors and flannel and wood construction blocks.  Let's put it this way - it's an album that besides featuring a song about an invisible duck and Western Washington witches, it includes a song about dancing without pants -- in French.  (Plus, of course, the title song, in 3 parts.)  If this sounds all a bit too precious, perhaps it comes close to that line, but I don't think ever crosses it -- it's fun, earnest, and delightfully weird.  Best for ages 5 through 10, you can stream the 34-minute album here. 

Itty-Bitty Review: Back in Blue - Imagination Movers

The Imagination Movers were essentially kindie before kindie became cool.  Created in the early 2000s, the Lousiana-based band independently released 3 albums of kids' pop-rock before being recruited by Disney for their eponymous TV show on Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior).

Their latest album Back in Blue  is released by Disney and features songs from the third season of the TV show, along with unreleased tracks written for the show.  For the most part, the tracks hew closely to the rock-pop formula that served them so well on the show (and live).  Given their origins as music written for the show, the songs have more of an educational/plot-driven feel (not to mention an ever-so-slightly younger age focus and an average sub-2-minute-per-song length).  But the Movers take pride in writing and playing all their own material, and it's clear they haven't sacrificed their love of the rock of their own youth (you'll have to ask the band whether "On Your Marks" is just an homage to Tom Petty's "Don't Do Me Like That"; you won't need to ask at all what "Gotta Get Your Work Done" is an homage to).

The 26-track, 47-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 6.  I preferred their previous album, the post-Disney Rock-O-Matic, to this one, as it felt freer, sillier, and less plot-driven, and if you're not familiar with the band or the show, that might be the better entry point.  (I'm pretty that that album was written after this one.)  But if you liked that album and -- especially -- if you're a fan of the show, then you should try this one, too.  Recommended.

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

Review: Kingdom Animalia - The Short Films

When you receive as many kids music albums -- and press releases -- as I do, you tend to discount claims from newcomers to the kindie world that some album brings something new to the kids music.  (The guaranteed surefire best way to get an experienced kids music reviewer to listen to a kids music album with an unpromising attitude? Have them introduce it to the reviewer with the phrase "Finally, a kids music album the whole family can enjoy.")

So given that I was introduced to Canadian band The Short Films via this April article which suggested that there wasn't a lot of complex kids music out there, this could all have gone very poorly.  But before I dismissed them out of hand, I listened to one of the tracks, "Mr. Wolf," and realized that, whatever the band's familiarity with current kindie music notwithstanding, their album Kingdom Animalia (released a couple weeks ago) could very well offer a distinctive sound.

Calling that song a reworking of the Three Little Pigs story only scratches the surface of its oddity -- Tessa Jennison's powerful and distinctive voice struttingly gives a different perspective on the pig-wolf interaction while husband Russell Jennison and drummer Ryan Dugal create an atmospheric background that perfectly matches the slight sense of unease of the lyrics ("So don't misunderstand them / When they ask you in for tea, / 'Cause they always have a crazing / For a wolf between the teeth").

The entire album has a dream-like effect -- "Pegafox" is about a make-believe animal, for example, the body of a red fox with the wings of a red-tailed hawk.  "The Mysterious Okapi" is the kids song we never knew Portishead had written about an animal almost none of us know.   Even songs about relatively common animals like "Cat," which features a vigorous piano accompaniment from Jennison herself, outlines the (accurately) complex feelings we often have with our pets ("I'm a cumbersome burden who sits at your door / Like a cat who won't stay away, / "Who is eating her way through your shoes and into your heart.").  These are Studied Songs for the Very Young, Raffi as interpreted by Fiona Apple.

The 34-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9.  (It's an album not so much for dancing as for listening, so it might not work for every audience.)  Besides the single track linked above, you can listen via Spotify.  For the moment, it's a digital-only release, though plans are in the works to have an accompanying book featuring the distinctive artwork made in conjunction with the album.

I can't say that Kingdom Animalia is completely unique-- heck, there's already one excellent album about animals that doesn't employ pop-rock as its musical foundation -- but it is lovely and, at times, mesmerizing.  If you've read this far, then I think you have a pretty good idea if your family will love love love this album.  There's room for all sorts in the kindie world -- Raffi and more -- and I'd like to welcome The Short Films to this world.  Please make 'em feel at home.  Highly recommended.

Review: Desert Island Disc - Recess Monkey

Rather than complaining about Recess Monkey's incredibly high level of productivity and quality as I have multiple times in the past, I thought I'd try to, you know, straight-up review the Seattle band's tenth (!) album for families, the recently-released Desert Island Disc.

Novel, I know.   (Besides, how am I ever going to top this interview?)

As with many Recess Monkey albums, the band's latest album is nominally a concept album, loosely tied around the theme of being stranded on a desert island, the follow-up to their last album, this summer's Deep Sea Diver .  And as with most Recess Monkey albums, following the theme isn't strictly necessary, as the songs stand up well enough without the scaffolding of a theme to prop up interest in their young listeners.

Indeed, if the songs hold together in any particular way, it's more in their sound.  In the orchestrations (from Jherek Bischoff, brother of drummer Korum Bischoff), toned-down retro-rock, and love songs, this is easily their most Beatles-esque album since their little-heard debut Welcome to Monkey Town .  From the shuffle of "Pearls of Wisdom" to the sweeping strings on "Dessert Island" to the gorgeous love song "Long Gone," there are lots of echoes of the Fab Four's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band  (save for the "Getting a Sunburn," for which the band is probably getting lawyered up in anticipation of the inevitable cease-and-desist copyright letter from the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson).  Maybe it's just all the ukulele -- never a bad thing in my book -- but the mellow sound puts more emphasis on Drew Holloway's songwriting.

I don't necessarily hear the band playing many of these calmer songs in concert (notable exception: "Hide and Seek"), but I could see this desert island disk being a popular choice for snowed-in wintry mornings.  And, yes, I said "love songs" -- "Long Gone" and "Smooth Sailing" are sweet songs, as emotional as anything as the band's recorded, packing a wallop.

The 40-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9.  As noted above, it's not necessarily as danceable or totally goofy as some of their previously albums, though that's a deliberate choice.  You can stream the whole album here.

One would think that it's difficult for a band to turn out as much great music as Recess Monkey has in the past not-even-a-decade.   I could be stranded on a desert island for that entire period of time and be lucky to write a small fraction of the great songs they've produced over that time.  So let's be thankful that the incredibly productive and focused trio continues to produce wonderful music.  Regardless of Desert Island Disc  actually makes it onto your own family's "desert island disks" collection, it's really good. Highly recommended.

Note: I received a copy of this album for possible review. 

Itty-Bitty Review: Block Party! - Poochamungas

In many John Joyce is a great example of the openness of the kindie scene.  The Chicago-area firefighter took some harmonica lessons at the Old Town School of Folk Music, then guitar lessons, and then, eventually heading up Poochamungas, his kindie rock band.  Because Poochamungas is a side project, it's taken the band some time to record and release their second album, but the result, Block Party! , is finally here.

It's a step up from their first album in many ways.  The biggest strength of the album is the band's sound, which often has a driving bluesy sound reminiscent of Brady Rymer (kindie-wise) or Bruce Springsteen (erm, not kindie).  Songs like "Around the World" and "Till the Sun Goes Down" and bonus track "Imagination Train" -- three of the album's best tracks -- feature that sound.  (I also liked the arrangement on "Refrigerator Box.")  While Joyce has a genial demeanor that can work well live and on certain tracks, vocals are not his strength and so he wisely shares lead vocals with a number of his bandmates.  The song topics aren't much different from a lot of kindie records; the wistfulness of some tracks for bygone days ("Games We Played" and "My Favorite Summer Day"), however, may elude some of the younger listeners while appealing more to the parents.

The 34-minute album is targeted at kids ages 4 through 8.  While Block Party isn't without tracks that could appear on just about any kindie album, there are a number of good songs here that I think a number of families will appreciate; the album is recommended especially for families with classic rock bloodlines.  Joyce and his band have shown definite growth since their debut 3 years ago -- I'm interested to see where they are 3 years from now.

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