Lucky Diaz - "Made in L.A." album cover
One of the highlights of every year for me is compiling and announcing the winners of the Fids and Kamily Awards. F&K, as I call it (mostly because I'm constantly having to override computers' desires to autocorrect "Fids" to "Kids" and "Kamily" to "Family"), pulls together top ten lists from kids music DJs, critics, and others who spend a lot of time listening to kids music. Seriously -- with the exception maybe of a few kids musicians, I can't think of anyone who listens to more.
So the albums selected by this group are inevitably solid picks, a fine introduction to the year's best and most distinctive music for kids and families. This year's winner, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band's Made in L.A., is no exception to the rule -- it's fantastic.
But all the albums are worth a listen, and you can see the complete list of the Top 10 winners, along with ten more Honorable Mentions, over at this year's announcement page. We even tried something new this year, a listing of judges' five favorite singles-only releases. I personally will always be biased in favor of whole albums (and this year's winner, a conceptual album of sorts inspired by living in a particular place, illustrates the benefit of such a longer-form vessel), but there's no denying that more and more artists, including kindie musicians, are not choosing to wait to release a dozen songs in one fell swoop, and we wanted to see if we could capture the best of those restless musicians this time.
Anyway, thanks to the judges for voting, and thanks to the musicians for making such great music!
