Orangutan Van - SteveSongs

Album: Orangutan Van

Age Range: 4 - 8

Description: Taking a bit of a break from his work as Mr. Steve on PBS Kids, Steve Roslonek comes back with all-new album of SteveSongs, er, songs. Several songs -- "Recess Rocks," "Orangutan Van (and Banana Transit)," "Flat Stanley" -- show off the ability of Roslonek and his songwriting partner (and album producer) Anand Nayak to craft a nifty hook. I've always found the best SteveSongs to be those that allow Roslonek's humor to shine through. "'A' Is For Silly," with Silly Vanilli, for example, or the cooperative/competitive duet of Roslonek and Nayak on "Song Without a Rhyme" -- they're distinctive in a way that more earnest songs like "All in This Together (MLK)" or "Our Tune," though perfectly well-crafted, are less so. But the wide range of approaches means that listeners are likely to find at least a few (if not most or all) songs worthy of repeat spins. Recommended.

Get Moving with Ella Jenkins - Ella Jenkins

Artist: Ella Jenkins

Album: Get Moving with Ella Jenkins

Age Range: 2 to 7

Description: Whereas her last album A Life of Song found Jenkins surveying her career via a collection of brand new recordings, this new album is a compilation of previously-released recordings from the past few decades by the much-loved Chicago musician. The title of this collection is deliberate -- all the songs encourage physical movement. As is typical with most Jenkins albums, Get Moving will be most enjoyed if your kids (and you) actually join in, singing (and moving) along. If, however, you're a preschool teacher (or a kindie musician), you could hardly do any better than this master class, listening with a view to learning how Ms. Jenkins manages to get her tiny charges to play and sing along with enthusiasm. As is commonly the case, Smithsonian Folkways' packaging and liner notes for the 46-minute album are excellent. Fun for kids, essential for those teaching music and movement. Recommended.

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

How To Listen To Great Music - Robert Greenberg

Author: Robert Greenberg

Book: How To Listen To Great Music: A Guide To Its History, Culture, and Heart

Age Range: 12 and up

Description: This book puts in writing what composer, professor, and historian Robert Greenberg has taught in his popular Teaching Company CD/DVD course. It's an entertaining survey of what we in the Western world commonly refer to as classical music and which Greenberg prefers to call concert music, focusing on the concert music composed between 1600 and 1900. He's a biased observer and lets that come through in his writing, which is usually good in that it helps focus the attention on particular artists rather than letting the reader get lost in the weeds of dozens of artists whose music is unknown outside their most devoted aficionados. (It's sometimes a bit excessive, as when he presents the superiority of concert music over every other style of music as essentially fact, and not just a reasonably argued opinion.) Some music reading ability is helpful, though I think you can get a fair amount out of it without that knowledge.

Why am I mentioning it here on a kids music site? I didn't get much theoretical and historical knowledge of classical music of when I was Miss Mary Mack's age and learning the organ and violin, and in retrospect, I wish I had. So if your kids are starting to take lessons of their own, and exploring the concert repertoire, I think this would be a good book for you and, if they're mature older tweens, for them to read to give a framework to understand the different eras of classical music.

[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book 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.

Science Fair - Various Artists

Artist: Various Artists (Spare the Rock Records)

Album: Science Fair

Age Range: 5 to 10

Description: A kids' album, but one with ambitions. Designed to raise awareness about the gender gap in science -- something happens between grade school and grad school -- the album succeeds that without forgetting that awareness-raising combined with dull music is pretty much a press release on a shiny disk. A diverse set of musicians both kindie and kindie-friendly pitch in on a set of constant-surprising tracks. Songs are both extroverted (the Nields' "Butterfly" and Wunmi's "Rainbow") and introverted (Frances England's "Goldilocks Zone" and Elizabeth Mitchell's recording of a Molly Ledford original, "Phytoplankton"), and typically focus on the questioning mindset of a scientist rather than nuts-and-bolts explanations of How Things Work. Highly recommended. (Listen to my NPR review here.)

Because I Said So! - Big Bang Boom

Artist: Big Bang Boom

Album: Because I Said So!

Age Range: Ages 3 through 8

Description: Filling the niche in your family's kindie CD collection for kindie jam-band music you didn't even know you needed filled, Chuck Folds' North Carolina trio successfully translates its energetic live act to disk with a surprisingly heartfelt set of songs. "Make Me" is a rocking plea from the point of view of a kid who occasionally messes up and wants (gentle) parental guidance; it's one of my favorite tracks of the year. Is the band making fun of the "Hippie Mom" or is it affecting teasing coming from a place of love? (I think it's the latter.) The band's got more of an attitude than a lot of kindie bands ("Are We There Yet" owes its debt to the Beastie Boys in more ways than one), which sometimes doesn't feel quite right on an album that features a counting song, but is right down the alley of older kids. Listen to almost all of the 28-minute album on the widget below. (Watch "Make Me" here.)

The band took a big step forward with the album, it's their best yet. Recommended.

Picasso, That's Who! - Hope Harris

Artist: Hope Harris

Album: Picasso, That's Who!

Age Range: Ages 5 through 8

Description: What makes this album about famous people from the Virginia-based Harris stand out from most albums about famous people? 1) It's much more narrowly constructed, focusing on artists rather than a broader cross-section of people. 2) The participation of Dan Zanes collaborator Rob Friedman, who produced and plays on the album, and who gives Harris' songs a professional polish without stifling the life within. While the majority of songs take a more straight biographical, I think the strongest and best songs on the album are the ones that capture the art they create more obliquely (such as "Impression, Monet," or "Who Made the Splash?," which raises a bunch of questions I'd definitely encourage kids to ask about David Hockney's iconic painting A Bigger Splash). This may sound like a backhanded compliment, but it's straightforward praise -- this would fit right in at your local art museum's gift shop. Families with young art fans should check it out.

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.