Music Is Everywhere - Mista Cookie Jar

Album: Music Is Everywhere

Age Range: 5 to 9

Description: C.J. Pizarro does not discriminate one bit when it comes to musical genre, and his latest Mista Cookie Jar album shows once more why he's as good as anyone in turning a broad-based musical taste into a set of positive vibes. From the sugary hype of "Jelly Beans" to the doo wop of "Be a Little Angel" to the hip hop of the title track, MCJ runs gleefully through most of the genres in your family's iTunes playlist and then some. And while sometimes those albums that feature a variety of styles sound a bit... constructed (as if someone just decides, "on track 6, let's play a reggae song"), the stew all fits together as a whole here. (Listen for yourself here.) And any album that includes a track called "Gratitude" and manages to make the sentiment honest without unearned sentimentality -- like this one -- earns respect from this end. Can't say I liked every single track ("Jelly Beans" is tooo hyped up for my taste), but way more "Yay!" than "meh." Definitely recommended.

Note: I was given a copy of this album for possible review.

Storytime Singalong Vol. 1 - Emily Arrow

Artist: Emily Arrow

Album: Storytime Singalong Vol. 1

Age Range: 4 through 8

Description: While she isn't the first artist to make an kids' album based on children's literature -- and not even the hundredth to make a kids' album about reading -- the Los Angeles-based Arrow might be the first to blend the two relatively seamlessly. Most of the first half of the album are based on individual books, such as The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. The songs generally work even if you've never read the book. In fact, the songs based on the books above are, respectively, inspirational and gorgeous in a way that might remind the parental listeners of someone like Vanessa Carlton.

The second half of the album, while not entirely book-less, deals less with stories and more with the structures of stories. "One Day, The End Song," based on a book, talks about filling in the gap, story-wise, between "One day" and "The End." "Poem In Your Pocket Song" is a groovy song with lots of fill-in-the-blank singalong rhymes -- it's not the first time I've heard such a song structure, but it's probably the most ear-wormy one. Even "Peanut to My Butter," in its simple citing of common colloquial phrases, requires a certain bit of reading comprehension.

The 29-minute album floats by quickly and pleasantly even without a book in a kid's hands. (If you want listen to some of the songs and hear more book-based songs, check out Arrow's music page.) Just as simply playing Mozart for your baby won't make your child smarter, merely playing Storytime Singalong Vol. 1 won't make your child a reader. But as part of a broader culture that celebrates literacy -- in school, in the library, or at home -- the album will fit in quite nicely. Recommended.

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

Backyard Garden - Earthworm Ensemble

Artist: Earthworm Ensemble

Album: Backyard Garden

Age Range: 4 through 8

Description: The Los Angeles group refines their alt-country indie-rock but keeps the eco-sensibility on their second album, the follow-up to their 2010 self-titled debut. As a person who has heard more kids music than 99.999% of parents (99.99999%?), I don't need to hear songs like "Compost" or "Reduce Reuse Recycle," which take a more instructional view of encouraging a greater awareness of the natural world (and our impact as a part of it), though I was amused by the Beach Boys homage midway through the latter track.

More subtle, but still vivid, are songs like the alt-country pop of "Ladybug" or the Beck-ian shuffle of "Bees Make Honey." Telling the story of the predator-prey relationship between moles and coyotes Rashomon-like in two songs -- the bluesy "Mole vs. Coyote" (from the mole's point of view) and the driving "Coyote vs. Mole" (the coyote, natch) -- is particularly innovative.

The 46-minute album features a large cast of guests joining the heart of the band with the resulting songs given a nice sound -- ramshackle when called for, but mostly well-polished. Listen to three songs from the album here. Lots of albums celebrating the natural world can feel stiff and didactic, but Backyard Garden avoids those traps for the most part. It's an album your family would conceivably listen even if it's not the week of Earth Day. Recommended.

Bunny in the Moon - DidiPop

Artist: DidiPop

Album: Bunny in the Moon

Age Range: 2 through 6

Description: For her latest album, Los Angeles-based Deborah Poppink AKA DidiPop structured tracks into two parts: 1) calm down!, 2) go to sleeeeeep. The "calm down!" part didn't interest me given its more "do this" bent, but the last track of the four, the samba-inflected "I Love You Mommy" and a lot of the lullabies on tracks 5 through 14 work quite well. The title track and "Snuggles and Books" (featuring a lot of shout-outs to famous bedtime stories) are the standouts. The 37-minute album (listen to it here) has a very personal feel and takes awhile to fully slow down, so it's not perfect for everyone. (I personally like my lullaby albums hushed and rustic.) But it's well-produced and not too goopy. Recommended.

PLAY music, Volume 2 - Various Artists

Artist: Various Artists (PLAY music)

Album: PLAY music, Volume 2

Age Range: 1 to 6

Description: When it comes to early childhood music and movement programs, we are (or at least have been) card- (and CD-)carrying members of the Music Together family. And while I've heard a bunch of CDs from other programs, none have quite matched the quality and scope of those MT disks. This album is one of the first early childhood music and movement CDs that I would consider adding to our collection. It's from PLAY music, a Los Angeles-based program. The 43-minute disk doesn't quite approach the breadth of a MT disk in terms of song selection -- it felt slightly more American folk-based and more less "odd" in places (e.g., not so many songs in non-standard time signatures or keys). But the quality of the tracks themselves is top-notch -- it's somewhat more organic than the MT disks, thanks to the production of musician Willie Aron (who worked with Peter Himmelman on his kids music) and the presence of kindie musicians Randy Kaplan and Lucky Diaz on a few tracks. I'm not sure what the market is for music and movement disks outside the context of those classes, but this is a solid collection of folk songs and other songs designed for singing (and dancing and rhythm-sticking) along with your kids. Recommended.

[Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.]

Escalator - David Tobocman

Artist: David Tobocman

Album: Escalator

Age Range: 4 to 8

Description: Los Angeles-based Tobocman doesn't rewrite the kindie songbook on Escalator, his third kids music album, but adds at least a couple very good songs to it. The title track is propulsive and a complete earworm, one of my favorite tracks of 2012. "The Owie Song" features a goofy sing-along chorus that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Very Helpful Songs -- the song is silly but fun for all. Several tracks ("Playin' on a Sunday," for example) have a wide-open SoCal feel that might see the parents having Eagles flashbacks, but Tobocman brings in other styles as well; Tobocman's musicianship is, as always, solid. Listen to clips here. Recommended.

Sing Loud! - Melissa Green

Artist: Melissa Green

Album: Sing Loud!

Age Range: Ages 5 through 9

Description: A muscular guitar-pop album from the Los Angeles-based Green. A lot of the songs ("Baby, I Love You," the title track) could fit on an album not targeted at the elementary school crowd. Brooke Shields (who knows her way singing around Broadway tunes for adults) makes an appearance on a couple tracks. In fact, the specifically kid-focused songs ("The Playdate" or "Heyo") are the exception, not the rule. Even the classic "Free To Be... You and Me" gets a propulsive arrangement that makes the original sound a little... weak. It's my favorite of Green's albums, and families looking for a kid-friendly album that doesn't necessarily always sound like "kids music" may find this fits the bill.

It's Love - Ellen & Matt

Artist: Ellen & Matt

Album: It's Love

Age Range: 4 through 8

Description: The late-'60s/early-to-mid '70s references start with the cover art and continue on into the long-awaited second CD itself from the Los Angeles band. Ellen and Matt Kennedy must have listened to more than a few Jefferson Airplane albums in their day, and Ellen's powerful voice carries rockers like the title track and "Playground." This is not exactly a serious album -- the funky "Drive Thru" features the lyrics "Open the window / get ready to order ... / They take our order / they take our order / and then they take some time / to get us what we need." And the biggest love song album is dedicated to the "Capybara." But it's well done and for those families seeking a retro-sounding album of music of kindergarten-friendly themes, It's Love will be just, er, groovy. Recommended.