Artist: Doctor Noize
Album: The Return of Phineas McBoof
Age Range: 5 through 9
Description: As one might surmise from the title, this is the second album from Doctor Noize (AKA Colorado-based Cory Cullinan) featuring the titular music savant who throws it all away at the height of his fame... wait, that's actually kind of the plot of the whole album. The late 2011 album tells the story of how Doctor Noize joined the International Band of Misunderstood Geniuses through a variety of musical genres (hip-hop, soul, opera). It's a fun story and there's a lot of thought and care put into the production. (Also, I kinda want to make "For The Children" required listening for anyone thinking of making music for kids.) You can stream the 63-minute album here; there's also an accompanying book that tells the story in rhyming form. Those of you who are familiar with Doctor Noize's work on Grammaropolis or the first Phineas McBoof album know that the albums throw in everything including the kitchen sink to entertain with the ulterior motive being to educate. The new album is no different -- an amusing story well-told and -sung. Recommended.
