Funny Faces - Michael and the Rockness Monsters

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.

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.

Animals - Jonathan Mann

Artist: Jonathan Mann

Album: Animals

Age Range: 5 through 10

Description: Jonathan Mann is best known for recording and releasing a song a day, every day, for more than 6 years. So when he came up with the idea of revisiting and rerecording some of his best songs, he clearly had a large batch to choose from. Animals is, as you'd surmise, a collection of animal-related tunes that, while not specifically a kids' album, is definitely kid-friendly. (Mann notes that while he was thinking of this as his "kids album," none of the songs were written as kids songs.)

The poppy and synth-assisted songs themselves are pretty silly -- "Penguins Having a Party" and "Kittens in Space" lead off the album, and they're about exactly what their titles suggest. The songs generally tend toward the fanciful (another song: "Steve, the Hippo with Multiple Personalities") and so while there's some factual information, that's not the purpose of these tracks. Because of their origins -- hey, you try writing a song a day every day -- some of the songs are pretty brief and feature a single idea. When it comes to kids' songs, though, that can be a feature, not a bug. ("Deer Licks the Cat" is a gloriously dorky singalong focused on a chorus basically consisting of the title... and it won't. leave. your. brain.)

You can stream and purchase the digital album here. It's a light album, catchy and happy. Slide some of these into your next playlist. Recommended.

Appetite for Construction - The Pop Ups

Artist: The Pop Ups

Album: Appetite for Construction

Age Range: 3 through 6

Description: Again, I'll let my NPR review of the album do most of the talking: "Brooklyn duo The Pop-Ups take the listeners back to 1985 on their album... If MTV had a kids music channel in their video heyday, "All These Shapes" would have been in constant rotation... They sing about making puppets, creating photo collages and trying on all sorts of clothes at a costume party." This is definitely geared at your preschooler or kindergartner, though the sounds and hooks may keep it fresh even for a first or second grader. Not to mention, well, you. Highly recommended.

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.

We're All Young Together - Walter Martin

Artist: Walter Martin

Album: We're All Young Together

Age Range: 4 through 10

Description: I said almost everything I'd care to say about the debut solo album from The Walkmen's Walter Martin in my NPR review of the album. It's nearly a 180 from his work with the Walkmen in that it's goofy, heartfelt, and sometimes swoony. There's such a sweetness to this album, it's hard not to smile at some point while listening. Highly recommended.

Hello, Hello, Hello! - The Itty Biddies

Artist: The Itty Biddies

Album: Hello, Hello, Hello!

Age Range: 2 to 6

Description: An offshoot of NYC-based pop-cabaret trio The Lascivious Biddies, the Itty Biddies chart a very non-lascivious musical path on their debut EP. The trio -- Deidre Rodman Struck, Lee Ann Westover, and frequent Dan Zanes collaborator Saskia Lane -- sing sunny songs with bright harmonies. The songs were originally commissioned by Carnegie Hall's CarnegieKids performing series in New York, and songs like "Safari" and "Jump Around" sound like they were specifically written to encourage interaction. While those songs are well-done, from a non-interactive distance, my favorite tracks are the 2 bonus tracks, "Texas Girl" and "Neighbor (The Mister Rogers Song)," which are free of any need except to entertain.

You can listen to the 21-minute album here (it's the only place to get the 2 bonus tracks). The album is a promising start for this Biddies' side project and if it isn't quite what I'd hoped for given the band's background, maybe that's just me sitting on the other side of the country without a Biddies show to take the kiddo to.

The Dirty Socks Come Clean - The Dirty Sock Funtime Band

Artist: The Dirty Sock Funtime Band

Album: The Dirty Socks Come Clean

Age Range: 4 through 8

Description: New York's DSFB comes back with their third and most insane album yet. "Insane" is really a positive term here -- the album is nothing if not an audio soundtrack for the TV show the DSFB should really have (and have even produced some episodes for). Songs like "Robots from the 4th Dimension" and "Monster's Lullaby" have a silly theatricality that works well in audio-only form, but would be even better with visuals to go along with them. The power-pop is leavened with a great deal of humor, a lot courtesy of "Mr. Clown," whose duet with a very game Laurie Berkner on "We're In Love" is one of the album's highlights. This is an album where songs like "National Hiccup Day" are the rule and earnest songs like "Mama's Song" are the exception. You can stream the album here. The melodies here are nice, but if your family are fans of "Weird Al" Yankovic or other "funny song" artists, this'll be a great kindie transition. (And if those things make you cringe, well, then, this ain't for you.) Recommended.

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