Seven Sleepy Lullaby Albums (The Sequel)

A couple years ago, I put together a review of seven lullaby albums. It's time to do another review of lullaby albums that have crossed my desk in the past six to nine months and, what do you know?, there are seven more. Must be a lucky number.

The most striking lullaby album in this collection is Until the Light of Morning, the recently released album from New Yorker (via London) Essie Jain. As Jain notes in her liner notes, the 35-minute album is "designed to unwind itself as it goes along, as the music becomes softer and more relaxed, eventually becoming as instrumental as the heart beat." It's definitely the best-constructed lullaby album here, perfected for moving from evening play time to sleep time. The music and lovely packaging make it a good choice for gifting to the new parent... or maybe even your own family. (Listen to a couple songs here and 3 more from a live Daytrotter session.) Definitely recommended.

Sing Me To Sleep from American Laundromat Records is the latest in the time-honored tradition of getting indie rock artists to record music for kids. The For the Kids series can cross "lullaby disk" off their to-do list, because this fits the bill. The indie artists here such as Stars, Dean & Britta, and Tanya Donelly cover others' songs for the album. As you might expect given the compilation nature of the disk, the definition of "lullaby" gets stretched considerably. I love The Leisure Society's take on "Inchworm," but it gets far too peppy to be a lullaby, and I'm not sure "Little Boxes" is really a lullaby in any sense of the word. (Also, can we please put a five-year moratorium on covers of "Pure Imagination" and "Rainbow Connection," both covered here and a billion other kid-related comps?) Far better are Dala's take on "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and Telekinesis' version of "Can't Get It Out of My Head," along with a number of other tracks. There's a limited edition with tracks from Julie Peel and the Coctails, and more -- the tracks from those artists in particular definitely aren't throwaway tracks and are probably worth the extra cash, along with a gorgeous instrumental version of "The Sound of Silence" from the Abbasi Brothers. Peter Broderick's "You Are My Sunshine" may induce nightmares, though, and count me among those wondering why Say Hi covered the Violent Femmes track "Kiss Off" (it does make for interesting listening, though, I'll give it that much). Proceeds from the album will go to The Valerie Fund, which provides support for the comprehensive health care of children with cancer and blood disorders. (Listen to songs from the album here.) It might not be a perfect album, but you can certainly find a good 30 minutes of excellent lullabies. Recommended. I think these two albums are the cream of this particular crop of disks, but there are 5 more after the jump -- you're bound to find at least one of these that appeal to you...

Itty-Bitty Review: Clap Your Hands - Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang

It's been too long since we've heard from Los Angeles' Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang. They released the fine Get Up and Dance in 2007 (review), but aside from a track on a 2008 Disney compilation, silence. So, good news -- they've just released Clap Your Hands, their fourth album, and, yeah, they still rock. Well, not specifically for you -- Gwendolyn's music is still pretty much targeted at preschoolers, though perhaps a kindergartner or two might want to listen in and dance along. Sunny pop (with a few other genre explorationss thrown in) plus preschooler-oriented lyrics, that's always been the GTG formula, and they don't stray from it here. "Clap Your Hands" is essentially a movement song wrapped inside horns and harmonies -- it'd collapse under the weight of its simple lyrics ("You know me / I like to clap my hands / Clap, clap my hands") if it weren't an insanely catchy and well-produced tune. "Alright, Okay, Just Fine" swings while explaining feelings and emotions at a preschool level. "Smile, Smile" sounds like a lost track from a Muscle Shoals kids record. The gentle rocker "Evens and Odds" is the best song about the subject (sorry, TMBG), while "Mix It Up" mixes together crayons and diversity along with an insanely catchy chorus. The album's not perfect (I'm lookin' at you, "Speak-A-My-Language"), but there are a lot more hits than misses. The 27-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 6. You can hear clips of the album at its CD Baby page. Clap Your Hands will have you doing that along with your kids in spite of yourself. Tons of fun for the preschoolers you know and love. Definitely recommended.

Review: "High Five" - Candy Band

The problem with "subgenre" albums in kids music is they sometimes become jokes. "Hey, everyone, wouldn't it be funny if we did "Wheels on the Bus" reggae style? Or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in polynesian tiki music?" And, yeah, maybe it's funny at first, but it gets old. And even if it's not meant to be funny, at some point the subgenre needs to move forward, to write songs that honor where they're coming from but at the same time are very much for kids. After all, those toddlers and preschoolers eventually hit grade school, where "Wheels on the Bus" is, well, not appreciated in any style. Detroit's Candy Band, four moms who play punk and rock for kids, have done reasonably well in avoiding the turning punk rock for kids into a joke. (They, along with Jam Toast and, especially, the Boogers, do yeoman's work in that regard.) They've just released their fifth and latest album, High Five. Don't be afraid of the "punk" label -- from the get-go, this is a high-energy, high-fun album that's accessible to any family not afraid to rock a little. (I'm not a huge punk rock fan, and I dig this a bunch.) "Cookie Jar" gives the "who stole the cookie from the cookie jar" song a energetic stomp; that's followed by the irresistible original "I'm a Monkey," guaranteed to have your kids (and maybe even you) bouncing around the room making monkey noises on the chorus. I know that some of my appreciation of the music is because of the musical shout-outs the band tosses to the adults listening along. "It's Raining Green" is a pitch perfect melding of Green Day's "Brain Stew" and "It's Raining, It's Pouring," while "Ice Cream" throws in the title snippet of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough." But sometimes it's those little things (and they're always pretty little) that mean the difference between cursing at and humming along with the disk if your kid gets attached to it. Also, it takes confidence to pull off a version of "Ode to Joy" on a punk album -- it works out pretty well, as it turns out. Kids ages 2 through 7 will most appreciate the music here -- they're also the most likely to bounce maniacally. You can listen to "Ice Cream" here, as well as buy the disk. High Five is Candy Band's best album and my new favorite punk rock album for kids. Definitely recommended. I was provided a copy of the disk by the band for possible review.

Itty-Bitty Review: Play! - Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band

There is lots of interest in musicians who create new worlds and new songs for the youth of today (and tomorrow). But there is something to be said for making old songs sound new with verve and joy, and so I'm glad Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band is there to take this path slightly-less traveled (at least traveled well) with their debut disk Play!. The Los Angeles-based Swedberg and her band run through a mostly familiar set of tunes -- at least to anyone who knows their Raffi from their Yanni -- but between Swedberg's ukulele and and her band's wide set of instruments (e.g., saw, glockenspiel, slide whistle) they provide new arrangements. (It's supposed to facilitate teaching ukulele, but the end result is something much more fulfilling.) The presence of a few kids (and kids at heart) singing along to songs like "Muffin Man or "Skip 2 My Shoo" make the album accessible for all, but the slightly ethereal takes on "Buckeye Jim" and the "Japanese Umbrella Song" put this in a league above your typical "20 Classic Children's Songs" collection. For the most part, this album is targeted at kids ages 2 through 7. To Swedberg's credit, though, she actively encourages families to sing along and helpfully provides ukulele chords (as an amateur ukulele player, this was super cool) and lyrics to help that cause along. (Listen to song clips here.) If Play! doesn't quite scale the heights of the original-old-songs-in-new-bottles-master Raffi, it comes a lot closer than most. More, please. Recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: Banjos For Babes, Vol. 1 - Josh Turknett

First, let's get this out of the way -- Banjos For Babes is a lot better than its cover might lead you to think. While I admit that the 4-year-old daughter of Atlanta neurologist/banjo player Josh Turknett has more drawing skills than I, a casual viewer might be forgiven if they opened the disk with some trepidation. But once they get the disk into the CD player, they'll be fine, because this is a sweet and simple little collection of, well, songs for the youngest banjo fans. Nothing revolutionary here, just solid banjo playing, nice arrangements, and even an unfamiliar nugget or two. The leadoff track "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" adds a few other body parts into the mix, while "Old Dan Tucker" takes a slightly more leisurely approach to the song than is commonly heard. And I really liked "Coke Oven March," a song whose origin Turknett traces back to a music box. If Turknett doesn't quite have Pete Seeger's golden voice -- and, really, who does? -- it's pretty good, and he does a good job making what is essentially a one-man affair seem much fuller. The song selections on the 42-minute album are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 6, though the arrangements will have a broader appeal. You can listen to samples from the songs here or at the album's CDBaby page. Banjos For Babes is a well-crafted collection of folk takes on kids' classics, one worth checking out. Recommended.

Itty-Bitty Review: Little Boots - Brendan Taaffe

I sometimes get asked for baby shower gift suggestions from folks who don't have kids themselves but who know my gig. Because it'll be a little while before the kids are ready for the more raucous and diverse music targeted at the preschool crowd, I limit my suggestions to a handful of lullaby albums. I think I'm going to add Little Boots from Vermont's Brendan Taaffe to the list. Conceived as a gift of sorts to Taaffe's nephew, it's a quiet collection of traditional folk songs, Irish tunes, and originals that blend instrumentation both traditional (guitar) and not so from a North American sense (mbira, used to particularly good effect on the leadoff track, Pete Seeger's "Well May the World Go"). Seeger is a big influence here -- he endorses Taaffe's effort and gets not only the leadoff track but the album closer, too. It's a little reminiscent of Dean Jones' Napper Delight disk in its instrumentation and that it's not afraid to step lively occasionally. If A Prairie Home Companion did a kids show, this would be the music they'd play throughout. As a lullaby album (for the most part), it's clearly targeted at kids ages 0 through 3, but even more so at their parents, who could use a calming moment or two. You can hear (and download) four of the album's tracks here and sample the rest of the album here. (One other note in favor of its suitability for gifting -- the album's cover art was done by Dan Zanes' partner in artistic crime Donald Saaf.) Little Boots is a sweet little disk your family may find itself listening long after you've packed up the crib. Recommended.