Sunglasses - The Que Pastas

Artist: The Que Pastas 

Album: Sunglasses 

Age Range: 3 through 8

Description: The second album from the Que Pastas (and first full-length) tackles a fairly standard set of kid-appropriate topics -- the freedom of summer ("First Day of Summer"), summoning courage ("Gene the Brave"), and pirates ("Pirate from the Past").  Sometimes Gene Davis' vocals can be pretty talky (see "Sunglasses"), but some of the songs from Davis and band partner Simon Flory can legitimately be described as beautiful -- "Love" is a dorky and giddy celebration of the title emotion while album-closer "Hooray for Fall" features a chorus of kids and the most fleshed-out production on the album.  (Davis' relocation to Austin from Denver helped no doubt in getting Salim Nourallah and Jim Vollentine (Spoon) to produce and engineer the album, which sounds good, but is mostly lo-fi in approach.)  Listen to some tracks from the 27-minute here.  Nothing revolutionary, but it's a decent set of songs, with a handful of very good ones making it worth the time to check out.  Recommended.

Puppy Dog Jig - Owen Duggan

Artist:  Owen Duggan

Album: Puppy Dog Jig

Age Range: 1 through 5

Description:  It's been a long time to wait for the follow-up kids' album from Texan Owen Duggan, nearly eight years since An Elephant Never Forgets.  But here it is!  And while the target audience for his first album has long since aged out of his demographic, there's a whole new preschool-aged crowd who can be introduced to Duggan's sweet, gentle voice and song selections.  There are a bunch of animal-related songs, a mix of Duggan originals and covers, including, just as I'd requested eight years ago, a cover of "Puff the Magic Dragon."  There is no sly humor targeted at the parents here, just child-focused folk music with touches of bluegrass, Celtic, and jazz.  The 28-minute album isn't meant for the families look to RAWK, but for families looking for a Raffi old-school sound that isn't, you know, Raffi himself, Puppy Dog Jig is worth a listen.  Recommended.

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

Big Don's Brand New Beat - Big Don

Artist: Big Don

Album: Big Don's Brand New Beat

Age Range: Ages 3 through 7

Description: The Austin-based hip-hop Don Robinson comes back with a second album of kid hip-hop targeted at older pre-schoolers and younger elementary school listeners.  The beats are OK, but compared to, say, KBC Kids, Big Don's vocals are much more the focus.  He's more of a storyteller ("The Tortoise and the Hare") and as a result the songs are a shade slower, so your kids might do less bouncing on their feet and more bouncing on their couch cushions.