Itty-Bitty Review: Acoustic Dreamland (Putumayo) - Various Artists

The sight of Nicola Heindl's illustration immediately brands it as a Putumayo disk. But take off the animated cover of Acoustic Dreamland, the latest collection from Putumayo Kids, replace it with some tastefully sepia-tinged photograph of, I don't know, a moon rising over a barn, and you could totally sell this collection at Pottery Barn, perhaps. Which is to say that this isn't so much a kids music album as it is just a kid-friendly album. But oh what a nicely curated album it is. I never would have pegged Wilco as a source for lullabies, but Mark Erelli's version of "My Darling" outshines the original, methinks. Ditto for Elizabeth Mitchell's cover of the Allman Brothers' "Blue Sky." Kids musicians aren't totally shut out here -- Frances England records a new song, "Here With Me," for the collection, and Kesang Marstrand lends a song from her excellent lullaby collection as well. As with many Putumayo disks, however, the value in the collection isn't so much the individual songs as much as it is the fact that someone has spent the time finding the tracks and saving the listener the effort. The album is appropriate for all ages, though the lullaby nature of means that you're more likely to spin it with kids ages 5 and less. You can sample some of the tracks here. I can totally see Acoustic Dreamland being used at nap time or quiet time or during a nighttime feeding. And, buried on a hard drive and stripped of its album art, long past your kids nap, eat at night, or are ever quiet, listened by you and you alone. Recommended.

Review: Shoe Baby, Flyaway Katie, Penguin - Tom Gray (Gomez)

I'd heard about the music that guitarist Tom Gray of the British band Gomez had done for a couple of kids' puppet shows for at least a couple years now. So was it merely an amazing coincidence or was it fate that I had an e-mail ready to go to Katherine Morton and Polly Dunbar, proprietors of Long Nose Puppets and creators of said puppet shows, when I received the press release saying that that very music would finally be made available on iTunes? The answer is probably irrelevant, but does provide some background as to why I was particularly eager to give the music a spin. Gray's first score was for the 2006 puppet show Shoe Baby, the first Long Nose Puppets production and an adaptation of a children's book written and illustrated by Dunbar's mother Joyce Dunbar. (It's about a baby who disappears in a shoe and has lots of interesting travels.) Compared to the two later productions, the gentle pop-folk music for Shoe Baby is pretty simple in terms of orchestrations, but it might almost be the album that least needs the visual of the puppet shows (or the books) to understand the music.

The second show, Flyaway Katie, was based on Polly Dunbar's book, which (the book -- and presumably the puppet show) is about a girl who dresses up very colorfully and becomes a bird (briefly). As you might expect, there are lots of songs about colors -- a moody one about gray, a mellow one about green, and bright one about the yellow sun. It's more orchestrated than the first show -- literally, in some cases, as strings make an appearance on several songs, and Gray even duets with another singer on one of the tracks. (My favorite track: "The Red Bus".")There's also a Mark Mothersbaugh-like instrumental "The Mice Theme" that is very pretty though makes less sense without the context of the puppet show itself.

The newest show is Penguin, which debuted just last year. It's also based on one of Polly Dunbar's books about a silent penguin. Without visuals for the puppet show, it is easest perhaps to follow along to the narrative arc in this album. (There's another fun instrumental in "A Lunar Tune," all spacy and with bleeps and bloops.) That may make things confusing if you're listening without benefit of the book (who exactly the singer singing to in the funky second-line-like "Say Anything" is not clear unless you know it's boy singing to his silent penguin). But I think the songs here are the most engaging and most beautiful of the three albums -- "Penguin's Song" could easily rest outside the kids music world. The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. The songs are available on iTunes (link to all 3 albums here). You may find the albums a bit pricy -- about $27 for barely more than an hour of music -- so you'll probably want to try a few samples and start off with one of the albums (one of the latter two) before taking the plunge for all three. While the albums don't quite match the (too high) expectations I had for them, Tom Gomez's scores for Shoe Baby, Flyaway Katie, and Penguin feature simple, gentle and occasionally beautiful songs your family would enjoy listening to even if they've never seen the shows that accompany this music. They make me want to rewrite that e-mail to Long Nose to say, "When's your US tour starting?," and that's praise for the music in and of itself. Recommended, especially Flyaway Katie and Penguin. Disclosure: I received electronic copies of the albums for possible review.

Review: See! - Holly Throsby

One thing that's been striking to me is the relative absence of an independent Australian family music scene, at least viewed from the American vantage point. One might think that the tremendous success of four nice blokes in bright t-shirts might have spurred a lot of imitators and counter-revolutionaries, but that doesn't seem to have been the case. In fact, you can argue that the Wiggles have had a lot more influence on the American kids music scene, either through imitators (the Fresh Beat Band), people headed in the opposite direction (many of the artists on this site), and folks with their feet firmly planted in both camps (Yo Gabba Gabba!). So I'm glad to see that Australian indie-folk musician Holly Throsby has peeked her head into the relatively small Australian scene and offered up See!, which is one of most captivating family music albums I've heard this year. Recorded at an old church south of Sydney, the album kicks off with the sound of a horn heard off the coast as the intro to "Putt Putt," a gentle tune about going out into the ocean with a small motor boat. From there, the album moves to "Fish and Mice," which starts out with what sounds like a Casio drum keyboard and eventually leads to an infectious sing-along chorus with a bunch of kids singing interjections ("Fish!"... "Bike!"). This looseness in musical production is carried on throughout the album. It's all very impressionistic -- moods and feelings and lyrics that aren't totally straightforward narratively, as on the winning Americana-by-way-of-New-South-Wales "Diamonds Are So Shiny" ("I have a deck of cards / And I'm in love with the two of hearts / I dug a hole with the ace of spades / I found a bone and some clay / And an old golf ball / That I hit around with my four of clubs.") She even includes an 11-second "Drum Lesson" that simply introduces a handful of drum sounds. (Also, I'm happy that on "What Turns?," Throsby finally writes a second song for a kookaburra, who, frankly, was probably getting tired of sitting that that old gum tree.) The 28-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 8. Right now it's only available as an import or from here -- either way, it'll cost ya about $30 Stateside, so I'd definitely recommend checking out 3 of the tracks here, as well as "The Seasons" here. But See! might very well be worth the $30. It's a combination of Frances England's dreamy songwriting and Elizabeth Mitchell's appropriation of sounds and melodies from everyday life (with a little bit of Stephen Cohen's Here Comes the Band atmospheric tone thrown in). It is described as "experimental," though to American kindie ears it won't sound experimental at all. It is merely delightful in big ways and small. Definitely recommended. Disclosure: I received a copy of this album for possible review.

Itty-Bitty Review: Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots) - The Crayonettes

I think we can agree that England -- the entire United Kingdom, actually -- has not carried its weight in the kids music new wave. Few artists have attracted any attention here in the States, and even those artists would admit that the independent family music scene is as small there as it is large on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Into the breach comes the Crayonettes' Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots). The Crayonettes are a new project from singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams, who actually has a little experience in the genre having contributed a track to the Colours Are Brighter 2006 kid-comp, and Anna Spencer, formerly of the punk band Delicate Vomit. Although the album's overall sound won't be too surprising to regular readers of this website, used to hearing all sorts of songs for all sorts of kids, its folk-electronica music and some out-of-left-field lyrics aren't entirely typical of the more polished kindie sound. "Robots in the Rain" leads off the album with drum tracks, bleeps and bloops, and a mellow song about rusty robots. "Disco Teeth" channels "Odelay"-era Beck to offer this pearl of wisdom: "Toothpaste / Toothpaste is great / 'Cause it cleans your teeth / Disco bright." My favorite tracks are "Emergency," which effectively uses the whah-whah-whah of emergency vehicles as a musical motif and "Illegal," which combines a little trip-hop with a snaky violin and various prohibitions ("Don't pour lemonade in the fishbowl / Don't take the fish for a walk"). I also liked "Spooky Way Home," which is just scary enough for a 4-year-old at Halloween. Having said that, some of the songs don't sound polished enough and sometimes the lyrics are a little too precious (I'm thinking here about "Sweet on the Floor," about not eating, well sweets on the floor). The 30-minute album will be most appreciated by kids ages 2 through 6. You can listen to samples at the UK iTunes page for the album, or listen to "Disco Teeth" here, "Robots in the Rain" at the One Little Indian Facebook page, and an outtake for the price of an e-mail. The Crayonettes' mere existence shows there's hope yet for the UK family music scene. While it's not a perfect disk by any means, Playing Out (Songs for Children and Robots) has a number of tracks suitable for dancing, lounging or being creative to. Recommended for families who are fans of Kimya Dawson's Alphabutt and (to a lesser extent) Saint Etienne's Up the Wooden Hills EP, and for any family willing to be more adventurous in their musical selections.

Review: This Is Fun! - Caspar Babypants

If it's November, it must be time for another album from Chris Ballew's family-music alter ego, Caspar Babypants. Last November it was More Please!; this year he continues to confound Fids and Kamily voters and their Nov. 1-Oct. 31 voting year by releasing This Is Fun!, his third album for families. The title suggests that Ballew is finally feeling comfortable in this his new skin of family entertainer. And while you never would've known that he was uncomfortable after listening to his first two tons-of-fun disks, it is a clue that Ballew has begun to figure out his calling. That calling? Focusing on preschool-aged kids and younger. It's a group that's tended to be overlooked by many of the artists in the kids music new wave, leaving Laurie Berkner to clean up. But songs like the zippy album opener "All You Pretty Babies" and the gentle punk-in-a-bouncer "Baby's Getting Up" are all about movement and music. Handclaps are big, too, such as on "Look at All These Elephants," which is just rhythm and words. The album is often little more guitar and small percussion (e.g., shakers), though it remains fresh for the most part throughout. But lest you think the album is just a small music participation class for 2 year olds, This Is Fun! has more than its fair share of earwormy tunes for all ages. Ballew gives old songs new life -- his takes on "Shoo Fly," "The Cuckoo," and "Buckeye Jim" shake off the cobwebs and make them safe for tired parents. Of course his pure pop sensibility is still there on kid hits like the hyper (for this project anyway) "Googly Eyes" and the sweet "Little Ditty." And Ballew knows how to pick guest artists -- Elizabeth Mitchell and Charlie Hope lend their voices to "Dark of Night" and "Mister Rabbit" while the unmistakable bassline of Nirvana's "Sliver" is played by Nirvana's bassist Krist Novoselic. The 47-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 1 through 5, though older kids will certainly enjoy the melodies and goofier tunes on the album. You can listen to the album at the Babypants homepage (or samples at its CDBaby page). With This Is Fun!, Chris Ballew has now produced three Caspar Babypants albums and had three successes. Call it a hat trick, perhaps, but the optimistic album title his latest is indeed appropriately named. Highly recommended. Disclosure: I was provided with a couple of the album for possible review.

Review Redux: Meet the Squeegees - The Squeegees

This is probably a Zooglobble first. I've double-dipped reviews before for albums getting re-releases, but this is essentially a triple-dip. It's for the LA band The Squeegees. Their album started out as an EP, then doubled in size and was released in February 2008. Now it's getting exclusive national distribution in Target starting tomorrow and I thought I'd pull up that 2008 review for your pleasure, plus offer a thought on the new track... ****** Meet The SqueeGees, the first full-length CD from the Los Angeles-area band The SqueeGees, could offer me a chance to be exceedingly lazy and simply copy the review from their debut EP, The SqueeGees. Well, maybe half the review. Because half of the CD was originally found on that debut EP. Now, that's not a bad thing, perhaps, because that means the bubbly tiny nugget of a song, "Apples Oranges & Peaches," is back, as is "Nala the Chihuahua," with its snaky melodic line and harmonies. And "The Ol' WWW," which really isn't a kids song (though it's totally kid-safe) is back to amuse the parents. Just as with the EP, the Squeegees are at their best when they're not as concerned with the point of the song, such as the dreamy "Bubbles." "I-D-E-A," a song encouraging more environmentally conscious thinking, almost overdoes it with the hitting-over-the-head. (More amusing is the Queen-esque breakdown that starts "So you think that you would like to drive a big car? / Have you seen the gas prices today?" and ends, of course, with "I like to ride my bicycle / I like to ride my bike...") In fact, what struck me the most on listening to the full-length CD is how much care and craft has gone into these tunes, musically speaking. The SqueeGees generally play folk-rock, but there's a lot of interesting bits squeezed in here, like in the song above, or the harmonies in "Nala the Chihuahua." Along with Samantha Tobey's clear voice, they make the most of the songs here. As for the Target re-release, even though the band itself seems to have gone through some changes (Tobey is still there, she's now joined by Rilo Kiley bassist Pierre de Reeder and Rich Sherwood), the album appears (and sounds) to be identical to the 2008 release except for the new track, "Tweet Tweet Tweet." No, it's not a song about Twitter (which would've made for a nice new verse on "The Ol' WWW"), but a song about birds, with a nice full sound. It's not worth getting the album for that one song alone, but it's definitely a pleasant addition. I'll peg the album as most appropriate for ages 2 through 7. You can hear some tracks from the CD at the band's Myspace page. There's a lot to recommend in Meet the SqueeGees. I like the quirky ones more than the standard ones, but that might be personal taste. In either case, there's a high attention to sonic detail that kids musicians thinking of recording debuts could do well to emulate. Recommended. Disclosure: I received a copy of the album for possible review.