Best Kids Music of 2014: Top 30 Videos

Continuing our look at the year's best in kids music, we finish up with videos. Now, unlike albums and songs, for which I've traditionally tried to adhere to the Fids and Kamily year (which is Oct. 1, 2013 through Sept. 30, 2014 this year), my best-of video selections have tended to run on more of a March through Feburary video fiscal year. I did that to kick off the very first KidVid Tournament, and I've sort of stuck with that ever since. (So nobody release an awesome video in the next 48 hours, OK?)

Here's my list of my favorite 30 kids music videos of "2014." Some are big-budget productions, some are small-budget productions, and some are virtually-no-budget productions. There are puppets, stop-action, hand-animation, computer animation, live action, and sometimes, more than one of those things.

Before I present the 30 videos, I should note that I wanted to limit an artist to no more than one video on the list. Which meant that artists like The Bazillions, Danny Weinkauf, and Caspar Babypants don't get their full due as artists that have fully committed to the art of the kids music video, each releasing several music videos that could have appeared on this list (if I wasn't limiting them to one video, they might have had a dozen or so between them).

Of particular note, Chris Ballew has done some amazing work, not only contracting out with a variety of animators for his Caspar Babypants videos but also producing videos on his own beautiful in their creativity and simplicity. For that reason, I'm giving him a Special Award for Awesomest Kids Music Video Guy of 2014. Now, if you don't mind, I've got to go find an MTV VMA statue on eBay so I modify it and give it to Ballew.

So while I'm doing that, here's the list in alphabetical order by artist. A YouTube playlist can be found at the very end if you'd like to while away an hour or two...

Dynamite - Alphabet Rockers (YouTube)

No Homework - The Bazillions (YouTube)

Bottle Caps - Laurie Berkner (YouTube)

Tiny Little Car - Johnny Bregar (YouTube)

The Creatures Under My Bed - Caspar Babypants (YouTube)

Grand March from Aida - Dog On Fleas (YouTube)

I'm a Little Fish - Laura Doherty (YouTube)

Hair - fleaBITE (YouTube)

I Can't Feel My Face - Gustafer Yellowgold (YouTube)

How Great Can This Day Be - Lori Henriques (YouTube)

November First (Jump, Run, Shake) - Eric Herman (YouTube)

Just Not Me - The Hipwaders (YouTube)

Did You Ever See a Lassie? - Charlie Hope (YouTube)

Snow Day - Josh and the Jamtones (YouTube)

Crew Cut - Randy Kaplan (YouTube)

Gingerbread Man - Lunch Money (YouTube)

I Love You More - Todd McHatton (YouTube)

Girls Wanna Dance - Milkshake (YouTube)

Call Me Mista Cookie Jar - Mista Cookie Jar (YouTube)

Haircut - The Not-Its (YouTube)

Walking With Spring - The Okee Dokee Brothers (YouTube)

All These Shapes - The Pop Ups (YouTube)

Love Bug - Raffi (YouTube)

Brick By Brick - Recess Monkey (YouTube)

Rattlesnake - Red Yarn (YouTube)

Los Colores - Andres Salguero (YouTube)

Pillow Fort Pillow Fight - Secret Agent 23 Skidoo (YouTube)

Ice Cream (Healthy Eating) - Danny Weinkauf (YouTube)

Sea Turtle - The Whizpops (YouTube)

Armando Armadillo - Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke (YouTube)

Video: "Gingerbread Man" - Lunch Money

So of course Lunch Money had to make a video with Belle et Bête, the puppetry troupe with whom Lunch Money ringleader Molly Ledford made a space puppet opera (or is that puppet space opera?).

The two troupes collaborated on a video for "Gingerbread Man" from Lunch Money's fine 2012 album Spicy Kid. It's cute -- the titular baked good (based on Brandon Reese's album art!) leading some of Columbia's citizens on a chase around the city. I liked it.

Lunch Money - "Gingerbread Man" [YouTube]

Interview: Molly Ledford and Billy Kelly

I like to think that Molly Ledford (of Lunch Money) and Billy Kelly (of Billy Kelly) met in the comments section of my NPR piece on Billy Kelly's "People Really Like Milk," but the truth is, they met some time before.

The duo's friendship has produced a wonderful new album, Trees, which will be released next month, on March 20, the first day of spring. They chatted with me last week to talk about their friendship, recording the album, and a little bit, just a little bit, about trees themselves.

Zooglobble: Normally I'd start off an interview with the question, "What are your first musical memories?," but instead, let me ask, "What are your first arboreal memories?"

Billy Kelly (BK): We had a mimosa tree in front of my house growing up. I'd climb my tree, and I remember my grandma sitting in a chair with a white afghan in her lap, saying that I climbed "he's like a little monkey." And then my dad cut it down -- he said mimosa trees were dirty, so he cut it down. Not while I was in it.

Molly Ledford (ML): That's the origin story of why Billy is now very flip.

BK: "They cut down his first tree…"

ML: We had a magnolia tree. I was never a good climber -- I could climb on top a fence nearby, and then get onto a branch, and that was as far as I could climb. So in "Angel Oak," I could climb that tree, but it's illegal [to do so]. The song "By the Roots" my brother and I would roll Matchbox sportscars around with all these exposed roots.

BK: So that's what that song's about! I pictured you crashing an actual Lamborghini into the tree… I remember we also had a big oak tree. I'll tell you at the beginning of the story that Dad cut that one down, too, a couple months ago. It had a big branch that had a horizontal branch that he hung a climbing rope for that. He'd say to us, while we were climbing, "You don't want to fall, right? So you won't." That dispelled fear of heights that I had as a kid. Too much, really. It came back to me when I was 35, and I won't go any higher than a stepladder. So I'd use the tree to hide from people. Somebody would come over who I didn't want to play with, and I'd climb 50 feet in the air while my mom was calling, "Billy, your friends are here…." I should write about that for Trees, Volume 2. She never takes the bait every time I mention it.

ML: Hey, I've already written a couple songs!

How did the two of you meet?

MK: Well, we met because you posted a clip of the video in progress of "People Really Like Milk." I thought, "Hey, that's really cool, I'm going to say 'hi' to that person right now" and I reached out to him and bought his record and he thought of me as a nice, crazy fan until he figured it out and we've been talking shop ever since and enjoying each other's sense of humor.

Fast forward a few years, he said he was writing an album about trees. I've often along the way as work-avoidance behaviors, messed in other people's business instead of doing what I need to be doing. I said, "Here's a trees song" and I wrote "Standing By You, Sapling," and offered it up to him… He said, "Hey, you want to do this with me?" and I said, "Heck, yeah!" Before that we wrote "Pen Pals" together,

BK: I sent some lyrics, then she wrote a verse in about ten minutes. So I asked, "Do you want to record this with me?"

ML: And I was just having fun writing the words, but I said, "Sure!"

BK: Molly bought [Thank You for Joining the] Happy Club and the e-mail came in with the subject "Lunch Money" -- I still have it. That's all it said in the "from" line in the e-mail. It was the first album I ever sold to a stranger. At the time, I thought it was weird. It was an adult e-mailing, buying it and not making any mention of kids and it says "lunch money" for no reason.

ML: It was just the address...

BK: Which I know now as I see about 42 e-mails in my inbox that just say "lunch money." About a week later, I started snooping around and I realized who this was, and I reached out to her… You know, you [Stefan] tried to introduce me once to someone else via e-mail. It didn't work out at all. I think he was too similar to me. Molly knows everybody in the kindie scene For a while, I kind of fancied myself the Howard Hughes of kids music.

What was the genesis of Trees specifically?

BK: I had written the opening song called "Trees." We moved into our new house about 4 years ago and there's this massive, massive tree in our yard, a silver maple. When you walk past the tree -- it reminded me of that big blue whale that's hanging in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. That awe-inspiring feeling you get walking under. So I wrote that song, "Trees," and then I afterward wrote "(It's Just a) Dumb Ol' Stick" and "Bonsai." And that was as far as I got. Molly was so encouraging. I hope I'm encouraging to her, but mainly I hope she's encouraging to me. But I didn't get anywhere . I put "Bonsai" out [on Again!] because I wanted to get it out there. Then Molly wrote "Standing By You, Sapling"… And I said, "We should do this." I should do it with my pal Molly who lives in South Carolina and maybe we'd get to spend time with each other.

ML: There was talk of working with Dean [Jones, producer of Trees]. Normally I'm making records at home with all the other responsibility… Almost like a retreat of song recording sounded like the grand prize.

I've come to decide that a good part of the benefits of vacations -- even working ones where you're just working away from home -- is that you don't have to do all the routine things you'd normally do at home. You don't have to worry about the garbage or the dishes or the laundry or making sure the kids get off to school OK in the morning.

BK: This is why the staycation will never take over the vacation.

How did the recording process for Trees work?

ML: Robert Drake from WXPN and Kids Corner and KindieComm heard we were doing Trees and asked us to do 15 minutes at KindieComm [in 2014]. I went to Lewisburg to practice some songs with him, so it wouldn't be all be new when we got up on stage.

We left the possibility of working together on the songs on the table, but I don't write much with other people. So we were sending stuff back and forth, supporting each other's songs.

When we recorded, we brought people out of their comfort zones. That was where the fact that Dean and Billy are really good musicians helped.

BK: Yeah, that's where the collaboration came in. I'm flip, Molly's emotional. For the song "Here Come the Trees," for example, [there's a spoken-word part, and] they tried to get me to talk in just a normal voice. Molly turned off the light [in the recording studio] and just used a flashlight to help encourage me to be myself. Or on "The Dichotomous Key," which has a really fast, high-pitched part for Molly to sing.

ML: It was like we were all leaning over the same car engine. All three of us are bandleaders of our own projects, so we'd bring in our own ideas on arrangements… It was suggested that everybody should sing together, like at a funeral, for "Count Your Rings." That was weird.

BK: We were literally standing together, like at a funeral. We were so serious.

ML: There were other points where we were dancing around [Billy], on "I, Wood."

BK: While I was doing my Tom Jones impression...

ML: We were feeding off each other.

BK: The whole week was so fun. They'd be dancing around me, trying not to make the floorboards creak. It really was a three-way split.

How much did you know about trees before writing and recording the album? Did you check out a book on California? [That, readers, is a shout-out to "Coniferous Trees."]

BK: Hah! Yes, we checked out some books. Years ago, I was a birdwatcher, and so learned some about trees through that. I had a casual interest in trees, but by no means was I am expert. My songs [on the album] were more info-driven and on things that I didn't know [when I started].

ML: I don't really know much about trees -- I thought I would learn more when I started this project.

It's funny, when we announced the project, we'd get letters or posts from people who, in all seriousness, would say things like, "I'm sure you're going to do the birch."

BK: "The willow!"

ML: So on "Trees," which leads off the album, Billy gave me the more dreamy, less technical lines, which really set up the whole structure of the album… On "Coniferous Tree," his instructions when he gave me the lyrics were that I should make it as difficult as possible for him.

BK: She was supposed to be the Fozzie Bear to my Kermit

ML: So there was the script, and I was really sick that wick. We stayed with Rachel Loshak (singer and wife of Gustafer Yellowgold creator Morgan Taylor), and she took care of me and was such a mom to me and would send me with concoctions. I was in a bit of a daze. I'd kind of lost my place in some of the songs.

BK: I'd get a little frustrated with her interruptions, and then I'd remember that my instructions to her were "Try To Ruin The Song."

ML: I like to think of it as, "That's Molly, daydreaming" and there's Billy, trying to provide real information.

So what from this experience do you take away into the rest of your recording life?

BK: I want to be first and I want to be sincere? Can I? I love my studio here, working with my band, but the experience of this was one in a million. The whole week was great, Dean was on point the whole time. The takeaway was something like this might not happen again -- it was magic and creative. We talk often about working together on other things, but I don't know if we could recapture it. Even if we didn't record anything, the week was worth it.

ML: For me, it's the power of working with other people who are also writers of words, of melodies. It was kind of electric.

It had to happen fast. Sometimes there's the danger of taking a song and everybody knows it so well, it's lost that brand-new magic. I've learned that the first time you sing a song, that's the take you want. Redoing it, you can't recapture the magic, you lose touch with the magic. I'd tell Dean, "This isn't practice… let's record the vocal just in case."

BK: Half the album is probably first takes.

ML: We did one take "Angel Oak," Count Your Rings," "Acorns" -- the first takes had so much of what they had to have. We did those songs live. On "To the Woods," we learned the song together… It was so fun what I want to take away from it in [other] times is to do my best to have that live quality in recording and not get too bogged down in click tracks and having everybody taking their turn.

BK: It was really interesting have three leaders… and no fights.

Photo credits: J.P. Stephens (Lumos Studios)

Weekly Summary (4/28/14 - 5/4/14)

Something for everyone this week -- interviews, reviews, videos, carnivals.

OK, just kidding on the carnivals.

Blog: Monday Morning Smile: "The Importance of Kindness" - George Saunders, Interview: Walter Martin, Steve 'n' SteveN: Reclusive, But A Little Awesome, Video: "Marsupial" - Danny Weinkauf, How I Got Here: Randy Kaplan (Harry Chapin), Itty-Bitty Review: D Is for Django - Django Jones, Itty-Bitty Review: Home - Jazzy Ash, Free Comic Book Day 2014 Recommendations

Videos: "Snow Globe (Live)" - Molly Ledford (Lunch Money)

Listen to Music: Road Trip - Hullabaloo

Free Music: None this week

Kids Music Reviews: An Adventurous Day - Lolly & YoYo

iOS Apps: The Disappointing Pancake - Mibblio / Lisa Loeb

Upcoming Releases: Constantly updating...

Podcasts

Kindie Week in Review: Ep. 59: Oddly, Mostly Brony-Free

My Other Other Gig: None this week

Bake Sale: None this week

My Favorite Kids Music Videos of 2013

It's been a couple years since I last tackled the kids music video world. After years of organizing KidVid Tournaments, I think I just needed a break. Plus I was organizing a talk on great kids music videos and my video curation energies went there last spring.

That doesn't mean, however, that I've lost interest in finding great videos to share with your family, friends, and strangers in line at the grocery store. In fact, I went back and looked -- across the site, I featured nearly 100 new videos.

It's a new year now and with that I have a little extra energy to give you a brand new list -- my favorite kids music videos of 2013 (-ish). Let's define the video year as I have in the past -- new videos featured on the site between March 1 of the prior year and February 28 of the current year. (So, March 1, 2013 through February 1, 2014.) Let's also say only one video per artist (though there were a handful of artists I considered breaking that rule for). As always, I'm interested in visual creativity, a decent level of post-production values (which doesn't necessarily mean expensive), and a really good song.

PS: Miss the KidVid Tournament? Then I might just have something up my sleeve for you. Stay tuned.

Without further ado, then, in alphabetical order by artist, my 25 favorite kids music videos of 2013. Whether this is the first time you've seen some or all of these, or the tenth, please enjoy.

"Similes and Metaphors" - The Bazillions

"Stump Hotel" - Caspar Babypants

"Thingamajig" - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

(Oddly enough, removed from YouTube for violating its Terms of Service. I've had similar problems with YouTube regarding videos I've had specific permission to upload. I can imagine how frustrating it is for an artist.)

"Bunny in the Moon" - DidiPop