Listen To This: "Halo-Halo" - Mista Cookie Jar feat. Little Miss Ann (World Premiere!)

Cover to “Halo-Halo” single by Mista Cookie Jar and Little Miss Ann

I am new to the world of Filipino ice cream, but I had some Magnolia guava ice cream a few months back and was so wowed that I threw in a gratuitous reference to halo-halo, a Filipino ice cream treat that’s like an ice cream sundae with ALL the toppings, into a post featuring a song by Mista Cookie Jar and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo.

Fast forward 6 months, Trader Joe’s briefly had some awesome ube ice cream in their stores, and so it feels appropriate that Mista Cookie Jar is back, teaming up with Little Miss Ann to give the world an entire song about halo-halo, the dessert treat commonly served with a scoop of ube ice cream on top.

Both artists have Filipino ancestry, and in talking about the song, they both mentioned excitement about being able to share the treat with their families as restaurants like Jollibee and more locally-based places make inroads into America.

Most tracks featuring Mista Cookie Jar don’t bother limiting themselves with one genre, and this track, written by both artists, has a gentle folk vibe with some hip-hop swirled into the mix. In its mellow, mixed-up way, it’s a little scoop of halo-halo for the ears. I’m super glad to be world-premiering the track here today. It’s available in all the places you get your digital music, including via the link below.

Little Miss Ann and Mista Cookie Jar - “Halo-Halo” [Bandcamp]

<a href="http://mistacookiejar.bandcamp.com/track/halo-halo">Halo-Halo by Mista Cookie Jar ft. Little Miss Ann</a>

Christmas and Holiday Kids Music 2017

Every year when I put together these lists of Christmas and holiday-related kids music, I walk the fine line between trying get this up early enough to be of use and late enough to be of use. What I mean by that is, if I publish on, say, November 28th, people complain it's too early and I'll have about 3 songs or albums from some very planning-oriented musicians. And if I wait for December 23rd to make sure I get all the music included, everybody's just about sick of Christmas music and Hanukkah might already be done for.

So I'm trying to hit a sweet spot here. I'll update it as necessary, but hopefully too many musicians aren't thinking, less than 2 weeks before Christmas, that maybe they should try to record something.

Summer Road Trip Playlist!

Beth Blenz-Clucas, proprietor of Sugar Mountain PR, has, for a number of years, compiled a summer road trip playlist featuring tracks from her clients. This summer is no different, and there's a bunch of new and excellent tracks for your listening pleasure, including music from as-yet-unreleased albums from Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, Danny Weinkauf, and Jazzy Ash, whose album Swing Set comes out July 21. That's the very playful cover art over there. (There's also music from artists like Lisa Loeb, Justin Roberts, and more. Peep the list below.)

And while there's nothing definitively "road-trip-y" about the set (only Jazzy Ash's "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" and Weinkauf's "Transportation") specifically suggest travel, it's an entertaining set nonetheless. For the next week you can download it for free, but you can listen to it all summer.

Radio Playlist: New Music March 2017

I'm still trying to catch up with the relatively few playlists recently, so this month's playlist is chock-full of music, 41 minutes' worth to be exact. (The last list, from January, is right here.) Long enough to get you to and from school/doctor's appointment/errand of choice.

As always, it's limited in that if an artist hasn't chosen to post a song on Spotify, I can't put it on the list, nor can I feature songs from as-yet-unreleased albums. But I'm always keeping stuff in reserve for the next Spotify playlist.

Check out the list here (or right here in you're in Spotify).

**** New Music March 2017 (March 2017 Kindie Playlist) ****

"A Fact Is a Gift That You Give Your Brain" - StevenSteven

"Night Owl and Early Bird" - Jim and Jayne

"Buccaneer on Broadway" - The Might Magic Pants

"Raise a Ruckus" - Hullabaloo

"Symphony for Dogs" - The Moonlights

"Tongue Tied" - Randy Kaplan

"Domino Knock" - Dog on Fleas

"Upstream" - Pointed Man Band

"Truly Peculiar" - mömandpöp

"Hill and Gully Rider" - Little Miss Ann and Amy D

"Old McDonald's Vacation" - Jacob Johnson

"I Got You!" - The Little Ditties

"Rhythm and Blues" - Julie Frost Kids

"Anything Song" - Mr. Daniel

"Michael Finnegan" - The Binkees

Free Music for Valentine's Day (2017 Edition)

I haven't tried to put together a list of kids songs for Valentine's Day, mostly because songs about love, while not necessarily 85% of all songs like it seems music for adults can be, make up not a small portion of kindie output.

Luckily, Beth Blenz-Clucas with Sugar Mountain PR has put together a list of songs appropriate for Valentine's Day which have the added bonus of being free for the downloading for a limited time. That's right, through Valentine's Day itself, next Tuesday, you can gather for your family a nice selection of tracks from artists like Justin Roberts, Recess Monkey, Little Miss Ann, Frances England, Raffi, Lucky Diaz and more.

You can play the entire playlist below, and, through Valentine's Day, click through to get the free download.