Another Ketchup Report, slathering kids music news all across the internet with all-natural ingredients.
-- Bill Harley channels a little Dylan and Guthrie on his song "Enough Is a Feast," which he's now offering as a free download here through Thanksgiving. (If you want to contribute to or volunteer at a food bank at this time of year when food is maybe even more important than it usually is, Harley suggests finding one here.)
-- I'm a longtime fan of the Tricycle Music Fest, even after its cross-country move to San Francisco. Check out the videos from last month's edition here, including "Tricycle," of course, from Frances England and other videos from Charity Kahn and the Time Outs.
-- Twin Cities folks, heads up, Clementown, the Okee Dokee Brothers, and Adam Levy are playing a benefit show on Saturday, December 4 for friends of Clementown's, Krista and Terry, who've both been diagnosed with cancer. Great lineup, good cause. More details here.
-- I'm also a fan of the "Listen To Your Buds" campaign encouraging kids not to turn up their speakers (or headphones) to 11. This fall's performers? Oran Etkin, who's performing in Philadelphia public schools this week and Brady Rymer.
-- Gustafer Yellowgold, back on (off-)Broadway! Gustafer Yellowgold’s Infinity Sock will have a run of Saturday performances (11 AM and 1 PM) at the DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15th St. New York City, from February 26 through April 2. It apparently will include the song "Wisconsin Poncho," which is "set in an all-cheese clothing store." This, friends, is why I love kids music.
-- The Kindiependent concert at the Seattle Public Library some of you may have heard about? 1,500 people, folks. Strength in numbers, that's what it's about. The group's got a couple new concert series coming up in the Seattle area starting this fall, too...
Review: Mind of My Own - Frances England
Whatever daydreams I had of becoming a rock star when I was a young turk have long since faded away. But I have wondered about recording some basic, traditional songs for my kids, if only for them to have a record of the songs we sang when they were kids.
And then there's Frances England, who has gone from recording the fine Fascinating Creatures as a DIY project for a preschool fundraiser almost five years ago to recording her third album Mind of My Own with kindie uber-producer Tor Hyams and getting Mates of State to sing with her on her Topspin-approved album. Those are pretty good rockstar daydreams.
One of the key charms of England's first two albums was the lo-fi intimacy England achieved that fit her folky sound. But if on those albums she was willing to make the recordings be akin to a secret shared between friends, on the new album she's a proud 4-year-old, sharing the news with all the world. The good news is that she's done that without sacrificing the charm of those first albums. She mixes both straight-ahead Americana pop-rockers, such as the title (and leadoff) track and "Jacques Cousteau" and laid-back folktunes such as "Red Balloon." England's songwriting is much stronger, with more hooks while finding more similes and getting to the heart of the song in as many words as it needs, and no more. The songs tend to be more about feelings and friendships than concrete events of childhood -- no songs about learning to brush one's teeth here.
Sonically, England's band and numerous guest performers (such as the Jellydots' Doug Snyder) perform admirably. Hyams gives the recording a warm, clear sound and brings out musical textures (the violin in "Do You Hear the Birds Singing?," the whistling and bike bells on "Bicycle") to keep the songs sounding fresh. And that song with Mates of State ("Place in Your Heart")? Every bit as awesome as you'd expect.
The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can listen to the entire 37-minute album using the widget below. (And, yeah, the artwork is still England's handiwork and is quite lovely to look at.)
In my review of Fascinating Creatures, I said that I didn't think the CD or Frances England would stay secret for long, and that has proven to be an accurate prediction. Even better, she's gotten better as she's become well-known. She still has a sound all her own, while making room for an increasing number of friends. With Mind of My Own, Frances England makes clear her family music career is no daydream -- it's here, and that's a good thing. Highly recommended.
Disclosure note: I was given a copy of the album for possible review.The Ketchup Report, Vol. 2
I optimistically titled my first attempt at a generic roundup of Volume 1, but, hey, here's Volume 2! All the news too small for its own post, super-sized for you.
-- As previously noted, Tor Hyams was developing a new podcast and the first episode of Kindiecast premiered last weekend. Thirty minutes, 8 songs -- stream or download it here. (And today the website notes that Recess Monkey has another batch of songs ready to go, but those guys write songs in their sleep, I think.) Anyways, iTunes podcasting will be happening shortly...
-- Speaking of Hyams, Frances England's Mind of My Own (produced by Hyams) is released Nov. 9th and she's got a lot of new stuff associated with the release. This weekend she's got a new show on Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live (check there for details), she's selling artwork, and, while I have a vague memory that Frances told me about these "Creative Family Challenges" contests, the first one is now here and embedded below:
-- Speaking of upcoming albums, The Baby Grands release their new album The Baby Grands II on Nov. 16, and today only they're running a deal on Plum District's Atlanta site to get that and their debut album for just $9 plus shipping... I like the creative thinking on getting their music out in front of a wide audience...
-- To complete the upcoming album trifecta, The Boogers' second album Let's Go! comes out Nov. 23rd and they're letting you have one of the energetic album's best tracks, "Otto's Orange Day," for the price of an e-mail address. Go here to grab it.
-- The Deedle Deedle Dees' Lloyd Miller will be recording his November sing-a-alongs in Brooklyn for a new album to be released soon. For free. Woot!
-- Gustafer Yellowgold has a blog. Yes, a blog.
Austin Kiddie Limits (ACL Music Festival) 2010: Day 3 Report and Final Thoughts
Day 3s of music festivals, be it of the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival or something, tend to be be a little more laid back, if only because everybody's so d*** tired. Nothing against Day 1 and Day 2, of course, but being anywhere with 65,000 or more other folks for 8 hours at a time will tend to leave you a little tired.
In addition, because most of the acts at the AKL stage play two sets, if you've been there Friday and Saturday, you've seen most if not all of the acts perform once already. So you might be tempted to wander around a little bit more.
Unless, of course, your kids still want to play at the AKL stage. And, er, Elizabeth Mitchell is playing again. That was all perfectly fine by me. One of the advantages of Mitchell's comparatively deep catalog of music is that multiple sets don't have to be the same. She did play a couple new songs compared to her set on Saturday, and she also sang more in Spanish, certainly reflecting her excitement over her forthcoming album with Suni Paz. I also need to give special props to daughter Storey. During "School Days," you could hear another band's soundcheck coming through (presumably) the wireless mikes. It was totally odd and threw most of us in the audience for a loop. But Storey just kept on singing, seemingly unperturbed. It was interesting to me (as a parent) seeing her be so unflappable on stage and later on (and on Saturday) being like most other 9-year-olds, eagerly waiting her turn to sing at the video karaoke stage.Austin Kiddie Limits (ACL Music Festival) 2010: Day 2 Report
Waking up for Day 2 of the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival, I was really sore, stiff from the large amount of walking I did on Day 1. I mean, I normally walk a lot at ACL, but Friday's walking seemed... longer. Maybe it was the crowds, who knows, but that's advice number #1 for parents at ACL: stretch.
Anyway, my primary goal on Day 2 at the Austin Kiddie Limits stage was to get there in time to see Elizabeth Mitchell and Frances England. We caught the very last song of the Jellydots' set, then settled in. The kids, having been fortified with Cheetos at the media area, angled for the kefir at the Lifeway Kefir booth (because for them, flavored kefir = flavored yogurt = treat). And we were eager to hear Mitchell, whom we'd never seen in concert before and who'd been a part of our family's lives since Miss Mary Mack was still crawling around on the floor.
Elizabeth Mitchell's set was reasonably mellow, but not overly so. The crowd, which seemed reasonably full on Friday, was more so on Day 2 as people brought their kids on the weekend, and it brought an energy to artists' sets on the weekend.
I hadn't appreciated how much Mitchell's and husband Daniel Littleton's daughter Storey is now a part of the set. She sang on most (all?) of the songs, sometime taking lead. I wouldn't call her a pro -- that's actually praise from my perspective -- but she was poised. Ella Childs joined them for the Japanese song "The Chestnut Tree," and as I looked around, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many parents were joining along with their kids on the hand motions Mitchell, Storey, and Ella led them in or how many were attempting the Spanish-language version of "John the Rabbit" Mitchell tried out.
We had to miss Tom Freund's set on Friday, so after grabbing some lunch at the food court, we dashed back to see him play. He was a nice fit between Mitchell and England -- his fun Hug Trees album is a low-key disk for the most part. He was joined here in Austin by Abra Moore, who appeared with Freund on his album as well.
Moore had by far the most distinctive performance outfit of the AKL stage (sorry Verve Pipe guys all wearing ties) -- leis, big glasses, and a whole bunch of purple balloons, which she sported while bouncing on a big ol' pink exercise ball. By comparison, Freund (also sporting a collared shirt and tie) looked positively restrained. There was nothing revelatory about the set, but like I said, Hug Trees is fun, and so I enjoyed getting to hear the roots-pop songs live.
Next up Frances England. England (as well as Mitchell and her family) hung out a lot at the AKL stage for the weekend, seeing the other performers. In fact, generally, it was a much greater social gathering than I recall previous AKL stages being. For whatever reason, it just seemed like the performers hung out a lot more front stage (as opposed to backstage) listening to the other acts -- the Okee Dokee Brothers wanted to see Elizabeth Mitchell, for example, while Mitchell wanted to catch England's set. It was a very family vibe.
England's set was a little less of a surprise for me because I'd seen her in Brooklyn and so I knew she and her band would deliver a solid indie-folk set. England's husband, bassist John Funke, got down from the stage to lead the kids in some movement activities on one of the quieter songs, and by this point there were a fair number of kids to be led.
The special guest for Saturday was Peter DiStefano playing with AKL producer Tor Hyams. DiStefano was the guitarist with Perry Farrell in Porno for Pyros, and so, as he'd done in guest sets at Kidzapalooza, DiStefano and Tor played PFP's big hit "Pets" as well as "Sympathy for the Devil." While the renditions definitely rocked from an adult perspective, it's not entirely clear what kids get out of those songs -- between "Sympathy" and the School of Rock kids, sometimes it feels like the AKL stage is both the youngest and oldest stage at ACL. But they did do the undeniably cool thing of having a bunch of kids get up on stage to strum DiStefano's guitar and then hang out on stage while they were playing. It was fun to see a bit of the controlled chaos of the crowd/AKL area make it up there.
The final act of the day was Sugar Free Allstars. Again, I'd seen them in Brooklyn, but of course my kids hadn't, so it was a chance for my kids (or at least Little Boy Blue) to get up and dance. Perhaps more than any other AKL act, SFA worked hard at trying to get the kids in the crowd to interact -- not that the other acts ignored the kids, just that Chris Wiser and Dr. Rock have a lot of energy on stage that they're trying to transfer to the audience.
We went offsite for dinner, and the kids went back home, but I was determined to come back and see LCD Soundsystem who I also saw here back in 2007 (and who also had one of my favorite all-time quotations). I saw about 75% of James Murphy et al's set back then and the last 25% in 2010. Maybe one of these days I'll see a complete set. While his new album This Is Happening doesn't hit me quite as much as its predecessor Sound of Silver, it's still pretty darn good. And I can't stress how great they are live.
After that I sampled from various acts -- Ozomatli had a party going on under the Clear 4G tent, while Matt and Kim were incredibly hyper (which I gather is normal for them in their sets). Also, I've never seen a band pander as much to the crowd the duo did -- really, it's OK, just chill a bit. Still, they were on fire -- Kim is a toddler, energy-wise, on the drums. And I wrapped it up with 3 songs from Muse (my neighbor would have been very disappointed in me if I hadn't seen just a little bit of their act). I totally get why their live show is sometimes called the best rock show in the world right now. It had lasers, a video show, bombasticity -- like U2, except if that band had a dystopian rather than utopian bent.
But after another full day of music, it was time to head back home to recover and see my kids. So I made my way back through the Muse crowds, waited for what seemed way too long at 8:45 to catch the shuttle bus back to Republic Square, and headed home.
Anyway, my primary goal on Day 2 at the Austin Kiddie Limits stage was to get there in time to see Elizabeth Mitchell and Frances England. We caught the very last song of the Jellydots' set, then settled in. The kids, having been fortified with Cheetos at the media area, angled for the kefir at the Lifeway Kefir booth (because for them, flavored kefir = flavored yogurt = treat). And we were eager to hear Mitchell, whom we'd never seen in concert before and who'd been a part of our family's lives since Miss Mary Mack was still crawling around on the floor.
Elizabeth Mitchell's set was reasonably mellow, but not overly so. The crowd, which seemed reasonably full on Friday, was more so on Day 2 as people brought their kids on the weekend, and it brought an energy to artists' sets on the weekend.
I hadn't appreciated how much Mitchell's and husband Daniel Littleton's daughter Storey is now a part of the set. She sang on most (all?) of the songs, sometime taking lead. I wouldn't call her a pro -- that's actually praise from my perspective -- but she was poised. Ella Childs joined them for the Japanese song "The Chestnut Tree," and as I looked around, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many parents were joining along with their kids on the hand motions Mitchell, Storey, and Ella led them in or how many were attempting the Spanish-language version of "John the Rabbit" Mitchell tried out.
We had to miss Tom Freund's set on Friday, so after grabbing some lunch at the food court, we dashed back to see him play. He was a nice fit between Mitchell and England -- his fun Hug Trees album is a low-key disk for the most part. He was joined here in Austin by Abra Moore, who appeared with Freund on his album as well.
Moore had by far the most distinctive performance outfit of the AKL stage (sorry Verve Pipe guys all wearing ties) -- leis, big glasses, and a whole bunch of purple balloons, which she sported while bouncing on a big ol' pink exercise ball. By comparison, Freund (also sporting a collared shirt and tie) looked positively restrained. There was nothing revelatory about the set, but like I said, Hug Trees is fun, and so I enjoyed getting to hear the roots-pop songs live.
Next up Frances England. England (as well as Mitchell and her family) hung out a lot at the AKL stage for the weekend, seeing the other performers. In fact, generally, it was a much greater social gathering than I recall previous AKL stages being. For whatever reason, it just seemed like the performers hung out a lot more front stage (as opposed to backstage) listening to the other acts -- the Okee Dokee Brothers wanted to see Elizabeth Mitchell, for example, while Mitchell wanted to catch England's set. It was a very family vibe.
England's set was a little less of a surprise for me because I'd seen her in Brooklyn and so I knew she and her band would deliver a solid indie-folk set. England's husband, bassist John Funke, got down from the stage to lead the kids in some movement activities on one of the quieter songs, and by this point there were a fair number of kids to be led.
The special guest for Saturday was Peter DiStefano playing with AKL producer Tor Hyams. DiStefano was the guitarist with Perry Farrell in Porno for Pyros, and so, as he'd done in guest sets at Kidzapalooza, DiStefano and Tor played PFP's big hit "Pets" as well as "Sympathy for the Devil." While the renditions definitely rocked from an adult perspective, it's not entirely clear what kids get out of those songs -- between "Sympathy" and the School of Rock kids, sometimes it feels like the AKL stage is both the youngest and oldest stage at ACL. But they did do the undeniably cool thing of having a bunch of kids get up on stage to strum DiStefano's guitar and then hang out on stage while they were playing. It was fun to see a bit of the controlled chaos of the crowd/AKL area make it up there.
The final act of the day was Sugar Free Allstars. Again, I'd seen them in Brooklyn, but of course my kids hadn't, so it was a chance for my kids (or at least Little Boy Blue) to get up and dance. Perhaps more than any other AKL act, SFA worked hard at trying to get the kids in the crowd to interact -- not that the other acts ignored the kids, just that Chris Wiser and Dr. Rock have a lot of energy on stage that they're trying to transfer to the audience.
We went offsite for dinner, and the kids went back home, but I was determined to come back and see LCD Soundsystem who I also saw here back in 2007 (and who also had one of my favorite all-time quotations). I saw about 75% of James Murphy et al's set back then and the last 25% in 2010. Maybe one of these days I'll see a complete set. While his new album This Is Happening doesn't hit me quite as much as its predecessor Sound of Silver, it's still pretty darn good. And I can't stress how great they are live.
After that I sampled from various acts -- Ozomatli had a party going on under the Clear 4G tent, while Matt and Kim were incredibly hyper (which I gather is normal for them in their sets). Also, I've never seen a band pander as much to the crowd the duo did -- really, it's OK, just chill a bit. Still, they were on fire -- Kim is a toddler, energy-wise, on the drums. And I wrapped it up with 3 songs from Muse (my neighbor would have been very disappointed in me if I hadn't seen just a little bit of their act). I totally get why their live show is sometimes called the best rock show in the world right now. It had lasers, a video show, bombasticity -- like U2, except if that band had a dystopian rather than utopian bent.
But after another full day of music, it was time to head back home to recover and see my kids. So I made my way back through the Muse crowds, waited for what seemed way too long at 8:45 to catch the shuttle bus back to Republic Square, and headed home.Stream Frances England's "Mind of My Own"
San Francisco's Frances England may be a pro at making lovely handmade art, but she's also good at that newfangled electronic stuff. As I noted this summer, England's signed up with the folks at Topspin to get her music heard far and wide.
And so it is that her new, not-even-yet-released album Mind of My Own is available for your streaming pleasure. Just click away below. Might I suggest the leadoff title track, or #6 ("Place in Your Heart," with Mates of State), or perhaps #9 ("Cookies and Milk," featuring the Jellydots' Doug Snyder)? Or perhaps just the whole thing. And once you've done that go here and give her other albums a spin. Mind of My Own is released Nov. 9th.
