I mentioned earlier this week how I've got some liner notes in Go Waggaloo!, the kids album Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion recorded for Smithsonian Folkways.
I knew that there'd be some fun stuff posted in run-up to the album's Oct. 27th release, and the first stuff o' fun is now available -- a streaming preview of "'Cuz We're Cousins." Musically, it's right in the Smithsonian Folkways folk wheelhouse, but lyrically, I'm pretty sure it's the first time the Xbox gets a line in a Folkways song. Listen here. So, yeah, it's clearly not one of the 3 songs Woody Guthrie wrote lyrics for on the album, but he totally would've made an Xbox reference if he were still alive...
Oh, and folks in New York and San Francisco can see Sarah Lee and Johnny play a couple kids' related shows -- a fundraiser for Clearwater September 11 in Tarrytown, NY and a -- here, I'm looking at you, Deb -- a benefit concert with Pete Seeger and The Waybacks for The Center for Steinbeck Studies September 18 in San Francisco. And more family shows are on their way...
Listen To This: "I Am a Paleontologist" - They Might Be Giants
As promised earlier today, here's that free mp3 courtesy of They Might Be Giants -- the completely rocking ode to diggin' up dinosaur bones, "I Am a Paleontologist," which features Danny Weinkauf on vocals. It's from Here Comes Science, the CD/DVD out next week on Amazon/iTunes (and everywhere on Sept. 22).
And, no, I don't know most of those dinosaurs. Maybe I should learn...
Download the track here or stream it below...
Listen To This: "Let's Go Play" - Laughing Pizza
I can't say that I'm the biggest Laughing Pizza fan -- pizzas can't laugh, for one thing, they're food -- but they've got a new song posted for streaming or downloading that's lots of fun -- "Let's Go Play". It's probably going to be posted for a limited time, so grab it now if you care to...
Listen To This: "Come Over To My Dollhouse" (Live) - Lunch Money
It has been a long, at times frustrating, day. New music from Lunch Money, a song that features the phrase "fortress of solitude," makes it ever so slightly less long and frustrating. (And I - duh! - forgot to mention that the video is Gwyneth's.)
Lunch Money - "Come Over To My Dollhouse" (Live at Sirius-XM)
Listen To This: Songs From the Garden of Eden
The Canadian publisher/label The Secret Mountain has made a splash here in the past year or so with a number of book/CD collections. You might be familiar with their Trout Fishing in America book/disk My Name Is Chicken Joe, but they've also released a number of different more globally-themed collections.
Their most recent collection is Songs From the Garden of Eden, featuring 28 Jewish lullabies and nursery rhymes from around the world. Certainly if you're Jewish you'll find lots of interest here, but even those not of the Jewish faith might be intrigued.
At least take a listen to the two songs here made available for streaming with permission of The Secret Mountain. I particularly like "Yome Yome" ("El Parida" is after the jump).
Listen To This: New Music from Elizabeth Mitchell
This has been a long, rough week for me. So what better salve than new music from Elizabeth Mitchell, whose kids music has been part of my kid-filled life from just about the get-go. Head to her Myspace page to hear a couple new recordings. "Little Spring" is a quiet melody (albeit one that builds over its sub-2:00 runtime. "Under the Chestnut Tree" sounds a bit like the Shins (or your other favorite slightly minimalist indiepop band) doing a Japanese folksong -- in other words, totally awesome.
Go listen to them now because they're only going to be up for a couple days. Mitchell says there'll be another new song next week.
Update: Bill reminds me that he and Ella chatted with Elizabeth Mitchell and the rest of her band in February, including "Spring Song." Go there or here to listen to the song and details.
