Funny Faces - Michael and the Rockness Monsters

Funny Faces album cover

Artist: Michael and the Rockness Monsters

Album: Funny Faces

Age Range: 4 through 8

Description: For his second Rockness Monsters album, New York musician Michael Napolitano turns up the funny a little bit more.  The standout tracks include the '70s groove leadoff track "Cardboard Cutout Man" and the epic "Squirrel Fight."  (It's like the Thrilla in Manila, except it's about squirrels.)  And while normally I'm not a big skit fan, the concept of "Elevator Song" -- the band's found a great, free rehearsal space, the only bad news is that it's an elevator -- is amusing, and the execution comedically solid.  I admire the commitment to silliness on many of the tracks here, but note that that the approach probably overshadows the less silly tracks like "Together Forever" (featuring Sonia de los Santos) and "Who I Am."  (Napolitano and co-producer Dean Jones play all the instruments, so musically the entire album is tight.)  Fans of the pop-rock goofiness and sweetness Recess Monkey brings will find a lot to enjoy here.  Recommended.

Note: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.

Hamster Pants - Ratboy Jr.

Hamster Pants album cover

Artist: Ratboy Jr.

Album: Hamster Pants

Age Range: 4 through 7

Description: Different kids musicians have different strengths -- for some it's intricately-crafted musical productions, and for others it's an energetic live show.  For the Hudson Valley duo of Timmy Sutton and Matty Senzatimore, their strength is their loopy attitude, which thoroughly permeates their music.  How thoroughly?  Well, on this, their third album, the song "Sponges" features a chorus -- an incredibly catchy one -- with the lines "Even Billy Ocean / Uses sponges from the ocean."  This is a line that really makes very little sense in the context of the song but is so goofy that it will likely delight listeners of all ages.

Their affinity for improv is heard in other songs like "Littlest Giant" and "Marian the Barbarian Librarian," which are synth-assisted raps that sound off-the-cuff and overloaded lyrically.  While I suspect those songs amuse in concert (try not to shout "Plate Tectonics" along to "Poofy"), on record I think the band shines the most when they polish their ideas into irresistible crunchy pop nuggets, like "Dancing Room."  The band also does the occasional tender song well ("Sleep Like One..." and album closer "Try").

The band brings in guest musicians (including co-producer Dean Jones) here to round out their sound on the 41-minute album.  The goofiness might be too much for the surliest and serious amongst you, but most folks young or old who've ever taken a liking to "Weird Al" Yankovic, They Might Be Giants, and Barenaked Ladies will find much of the music appealing.  Recommended.

Note: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.

Buy One Get One Flea - Dog on Fleas

Artist:  Dog on Fleas

Album:  Buy One Get One Flea

Age Range: 4 through 9

Description:  Saying that "band X sounds like band Y" is easy shorthand for music reviewers, but there is no easy shorthand for New York's Dog on Fleas.  Their sound is sui generis, a mixture of jazz, vaudeville, and breezy pop that has no analog on the kids music scene.  (It doesn't have many analogues in music, period.)  On their eighth album, the band emphasizes the jazzier elements of their nature in songs like album opener "Hinterlands" and "It's a Ruse" and "Pardon My Pajamas" (side note: how has that song title not been turned into a kids song before now?).  The band is sometimes too weird for its own good -- while I dug the brief kazoo-accented takes on a couple orchestral classics by the "Backyard Dorkestra," songs like "Dry Beans" and the jokey "High School Reunion" were almost too weird (and that's saying something for a Fleas album).  I mean, when Dean Jones can toss off beautiful and uplifting pop songs like "Thinking Good Thoughts" and merge the sweet and silly on "If I Were You I'd Give Me a Kiss," it spoils the listener for anything else.

You can stream several songs from the 33-minute album here.  I'm not sure if this is the quintessential Fleas album (I still have a great deal of fondness for When I Get Little, and their "hits" collection The Bestest of the Best is a fine introduction to their wild and eclectic career), but Buy One Get One Flea will still make your family smile and dance, which is reason enough.  Recommended.

Invisible Friends - Dog on Fleas

Artist: Dog on Fleas

Album: Invisible Friends

Age Range: 3 and up

Description: "Like a preschool collage, Invisible Friends mixes stuff together that adults have long stopped mixing together but in spite of that (or possibly because of it) produces art.  Highly recommended." / Full review / Listen

Can't Wait - Grenadilla

Artist: Grenadilla

Album: Can't Wait

Age Range: 3-7

Review: A sunny, danceable album from Debbie Lan and her New York band.  The band plays kwela-inflected music -- for those of you who don't know what "kwela" music is (and, hey, I didn't, either) Wikipedia suggests it's a "happy, often pennywhistle-based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat." Based on the sounds on Can't Wait, the band's second album, that's about right.  There aren't lesson songs or slice-of-life stories here -- just odes to being happy, walking around, and playing or singing, all with a smile on one's face.  Gentle and often retro-sounding, yes, but also with a bit of a groove.  Dog on Fleas' Dean Jones produces his former bandmate Lan with his typical organic touch, letting the six voices of the band take center stage.  With a sound unlike just about any other band, Grenadilla targets a niche in the kids music world and hits it.  Recommended. / Listen