Best Kids Music of 2014: Top 30 Songs

I know.  This is madness, right?  Trying to come up with a list of my 30 favorite songs from the past year? Completely. Nuts.

But that's what I'm willing to do for you, dear readers.  More so than a list of albums or debuts or videos, however, a list ranking favorite songs is ephemeral, subject to the whims of a particular moment.  More than that, it probably tends toward the poppy, upbeat, and lively.  Tender lullabies have to do more work to stand out in my (or your) memory if you've heard literally thousands of kids' songs over the past year.

But regardless of how different my list would next week (or late in the evening), these 30 songs are among the best that kids music offered us in the past year.  ("Year," as always, defined as Oct. 1, 2013 through Sept. 30, 2014, though that's harder to stick to given the prevalence of singles which might have been released on either side of that window.  Deal.)

Also, these are in alphabetical order -- if you think I'm going to attempt to rank all these, you're even more nuts than I am in deciding to pick them.

Anyway, I've combined these into a handy Spotify playlist found at the bottom of this list (click here if you're already in Spotify).  Enjoy!

Bears and Lions - "Pancakes"

The Laurie Berkner Band – "Fireflies"

Caspar Babypants – "The Girl with the Squirrel in Her Hat"

Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band – "When I Grow Up"

The Dirty Sock Funtime Band (w/ Laurie Berkner) – "We're in Love"

Laura Doherty - "I'm a Little Fish"

Django Jones – "Counterpoint"

Gustafer Yellowgold - "Toothloser"

The Hipwaders – "Kings & Queens"

Charlie Hope – "Harmony" (feat. Elizabeth Mitchell)

Hullabaloo – "Like a Bird Must Feel"

Jazzy Ash - "Throw Me Something Mista" (feat. Mista Cookie Jar)

Randy Kaplan – "Not Too Young for a Song"

Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights – "Food Fight"

Josh and the Jamtones – "Green and Spakkled Frogs"

Luscious Jackson – "Hula Hoop"

Walter Martin - "Hey Sister" (feat. Kat Edmonson)

Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips – "My My My"

The Not-Its! - "When I Fell (The Scab Song)"

The Okee Dokee Brothers - "Through the Woods"

The Pop Ups - "All These Shapes"

Raffi – "Love Bug"

Recess Monkey - "Smooth Sailing"

Red Yarn - "The Fox"

Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could – "Just Say Hi!"

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo – "Imaginary Friend"

The Short Films – "The Mysterious Okapi"

Ben Tatar and the Tatar Tots – "The Grape Jam" (feat. Spare Parts)

Danny Weinkauf – "Oh No Oh Yeah"

The Whizpops! – "Sea Turtule"

Best Kids Music of 2014: Top 30 Albums

If I were more disciplined about my writing, I'd have written this three months ago when people were thinking about holiday gift lists rather than, well, now.  The advantage is that, rather than giving you a "hot take" about music that I might regret later, I can let a few weeks or months go by and make sure I'm not forgetting (or including) something time has given me more perspective on.

Given that it is approaching the end of February, I think I'll skip the think pieces, the "what does it all mean" text and jump right into the list.  As always, my year-end best-of list matches the Fids and Kamily year -- that is to say, from October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014.  So some good albums from the last 3 months [waves at Lori Henriques] will just have to wait for next year's list.

One final comment: I originally titled this the "Top 25 Albums" but when I went over my reviews, I realized that limiting it to 25 was going to a difficult proposition.  So I've bumped it up to 30.  That's a good problem to have.

Edit: A couple days later, I was going through my spreadsheet and realized that I totally forgot to add Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke's Animal Tales.  Can't leave that album off the list.  So now it's a Top 31 Album list.

ThePopUpsAppetiteForConstruction.jpg

#1 The Pop Ups - Appetite for Construction

Review - "The Pop-Ups know that you don't need your parent's smart phone to have the world at your fingertips."

CharlieHopeSingAsWeGo.jpg

#2 Charlie Hope - Sing As We Go!

Review - "It's traditional but not musty, sweet but not cloying, engaging but not pandering.  It's a gem of an album, definitely worthy of a comparison to Raffi."

RedYarnTheDeepWoods.jpg

#3 Red Yarn - The Deep Woods

Review - '"Mr. Rabbit" has an almost desperate urgency while "The Fox," which brings together "The Fox," "Midnight Special," and "Go Tell Aunty Rhody," is absolutely gorgeous.  This is a folk revival, in all the many meanings of the word "revival."'

WalterMartinWereAllYoungTogether.jpg

#4 Walter Martin - We're All Young Together

Review - "Whatever cool-points Martin may have lost by wadding into the kid's music world, the playful and sweet nature of this new album shows he doesn't care one bit. He feels very much at home."

OkeeDokeeBrothersThroughTheWoods.jpg

#5 (tie) The Okee Dokee Brothers - Through the Woods

Review - 'The title track, featuring a lovely descending bass line, is the spiritual successor to the last album's title track, but most of the songs are more content to celebrate tiny moments -- dancing with neighbors in "Jamboree," the gentle love song "Evergreen," the ode to keeping things loose "Out of Tune."'

RecessMonkeyDesertIslandDisc.jpg

#5 (tie) Recess Monkey - Desert Island Disc

Review - "If the songs hold together in any particular way, it's more in their sound.  In the orchestrations (from Jherek Bischoff, brother of drummer Korum Bischoff), toned-down retro-rock, and love songs, this is easily their most Beatles-esque album since their little-heard debut Welcome to Monkey Town."

TheShortFilmsKingdomAnimalia.jpg

#7 (tie) The Short Films - Kingdom Animalia

Review - "The entire album has a dream-like effect -- "Pegafox" is about a make-believe animal, for example, the body of a red fox with the wings of a red-tailed hawk.  "The Mysterious Okapi" is the kids song we never knew Portishead had written about an animal almost none of us know."

ElizabethMitchellTheSoundingJoy.jpg

#7 (tie) Elizabeth Mitchell - The Sounding Joy

Review - "The communal experience of singing in celebration is honored here, somewhat hushed, always joyful."

DannyWeinkaufNoSchoolToday.jpg

#9 (tie) Danny Weinkauf - No School Today

Review - "You don't have to be a They Might Be Giants fan to appreciate this album (though TMBG fans are most likely to go nuts for this), just a fan of nicely-crafted, occasionally goofy, kid-pop."

SolrunSumarlioadottirSkyjafletta.jpg

#9 (tie) Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir - Skýjaflétta

Review - "This is a thoroughly charming album and while I'm sure I will never get a chance to see the dance pieces these were composed for, I'm glad the album has a chance to cross the ocean for families with adventurous listening habits."

After the top ten, which I can give you because it matches my Fids and Kamily ballot, distinguishing between the rest of my list becomes a little more difficult.  So I'm taking the easy way out - alphabetical order for albums 11 through 31.

Laurie Berkner - Laurie Berkner Lullabies (review)

Bears and Lions - We're a Club in the Woods (review)

Edie Carey & Sarah Sample - 'Til the Morning: Lullabies & Songs of Comfort (review)

Caspar Babypants - Rise and Shine (review)

Danny Lion - First Songs (review)

Lucky Diaz & Family Jam Band - Aqui Alla (review)

Lucky Diaz & Family Jam Band - Lishy Lou and Lucky Too (review)

Laura Doherty - In a Heartbeat (review)

Gustafer Yellowgold - Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wisdom Tooth of Wisdom (review)

Thomas Hellman and Emilie Clepper (The Secret Mountain) - I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (review)

The Hipwaders - Year-Round Sounds (review)

Hullabaloo - Shy Kid Blues (review)

Jelly of the Month Club - Introducing… (review)

Randy Kaplan - Jam on Rye (review)

The Not-Its - Raise Your Hand (review)

Papa Crow - Full Moon, Full Moon (review)

Raffi - Love Bug (review)

Recess Monkey - Wired (review)

Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could - Just Say Hi (review)

Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - The Perfect Quirk (review)

Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke - Animal Tales (review)

Weekly Summary (10/28/13 - 11/3/13)

Review: Kingdom Animalia - The Short Films

When you receive as many kids music albums -- and press releases -- as I do, you tend to discount claims from newcomers to the kindie world that some album brings something new to the kids music.  (The guaranteed surefire best way to get an experienced kids music reviewer to listen to a kids music album with an unpromising attitude? Have them introduce it to the reviewer with the phrase "Finally, a kids music album the whole family can enjoy.")

So given that I was introduced to Canadian band The Short Films via this April article which suggested that there wasn't a lot of complex kids music out there, this could all have gone very poorly.  But before I dismissed them out of hand, I listened to one of the tracks, "Mr. Wolf," and realized that, whatever the band's familiarity with current kindie music notwithstanding, their album Kingdom Animalia (released a couple weeks ago) could very well offer a distinctive sound.

Calling that song a reworking of the Three Little Pigs story only scratches the surface of its oddity -- Tessa Jennison's powerful and distinctive voice struttingly gives a different perspective on the pig-wolf interaction while husband Russell Jennison and drummer Ryan Dugal create an atmospheric background that perfectly matches the slight sense of unease of the lyrics ("So don't misunderstand them / When they ask you in for tea, / 'Cause they always have a crazing / For a wolf between the teeth").

The entire album has a dream-like effect -- "Pegafox" is about a make-believe animal, for example, the body of a red fox with the wings of a red-tailed hawk.  "The Mysterious Okapi" is the kids song we never knew Portishead had written about an animal almost none of us know.   Even songs about relatively common animals like "Cat," which features a vigorous piano accompaniment from Jennison herself, outlines the (accurately) complex feelings we often have with our pets ("I'm a cumbersome burden who sits at your door / Like a cat who won't stay away, / "Who is eating her way through your shoes and into your heart.").  These are Studied Songs for the Very Young, Raffi as interpreted by Fiona Apple.

The 34-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9.  (It's an album not so much for dancing as for listening, so it might not work for every audience.)  Besides the single track linked above, you can listen via Spotify.  For the moment, it's a digital-only release, though plans are in the works to have an accompanying book featuring the distinctive artwork made in conjunction with the album.

I can't say that Kingdom Animalia is completely unique-- heck, there's already one excellent album about animals that doesn't employ pop-rock as its musical foundation -- but it is lovely and, at times, mesmerizing.  If you've read this far, then I think you have a pretty good idea if your family will love love love this album.  There's room for all sorts in the kindie world -- Raffi and more -- and I'd like to welcome The Short Films to this world.  Please make 'em feel at home.  Highly recommended.

Radio Playlist: New Music October 2013

A bunch of new music has come across my desk or been released since the September new music playlist, so time to post another Spotify update (see the September playlist here).  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 go right here if you're in Spotify.

**** New Music October 2013 (October 2013 Kindie Playlist) ****

Lloyd H. Miller – Working On a Bridge
Todd and Cookie – All These Magical Things
Martykins – The Magic Pick
Josh and the Jamtones – Green and Spakkled Frogs
Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band – When I Grow Up
Jr. Madness – Jim-a-Long Josie
Chris Doud, Willy Tea Taylor & Joey No Knows – Jake the Frog
Davy Andrews – Space Monkey
Cadi Grace – The Craziest Dream (Wake Me)
The Bug Family Band – Hexagon
The Ohmies – Ohmies Jamboree
Jelly of the Month Club – Brand New Friend
Red Yarn – Bob the Rabbit
The Never Land Pirate Band – Ahoy Ahoy
Recess Monkey – Smooth Sailing
The Short Films – The Mysterious Okapi