Review: Everybody Plays Air Guitar - Joe McDermott

EverybodyPlaysAirGuitar.jpgWith all apologies due to Spinal Tap, there's a fine line between sweet and schmaltzy in children's music. Topics that in one musician's hands produce a moment of "A-ha! That's how life is!" in another's hands produce a moment of "Duh. Of course that's how life is." Frankly, the same track can produce those two moments in two different families. On his very recently released fourth CD for kids, Everybody Plays Air Guitar, Austin-based Joe McDermott very carefully walks that fine line. How you feel about the CD depends on how sweet you and your family like your music. Let me start out with the album's strengths, which I found to be the simpler tracks in concept (if not necessarily execution). The leadoff title track (bolstered by its simple but catchy chorus) basically just talks about how great it is to "air guitar" (yes, that's a verb). On the closing track, "Anything Is Possible," McDermott channels a little mid-career James Taylor in a sweet ode to possibility. And the album's strongest cut, the poppy "Dolphins," is a trifle of an idea with far-ranging lyrical flights of fancy (Hemingway, AFLAC insurance). "Ride, Ride, Ride," a live cut, while out of place mixed in with its more polished companions, shows off McDermott's sense of humor. There are other tracks, however, that a number of listeners will probably tune out, "Sport Comes to the Rescue" and "Our Family Car Is A Helicopter" are a little goofy, but there's something about the humor that doesn't pack much of a punch. (They're not as sharp as McDermott's earlier, classic track, "Baby Kangaroo," which worked so well on so many different levels.) It's not that the songs are bad or arranged poorly -- in fact, McDermott's attention to detail is well-appreciated (check out the string quartet on "Momma's Gonna Have a Baby"). But some listeners -- and you know who you are -- will just find those tracks a hard slog. The songs on the 36-minute album are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear samples from the CD at its CD Baby page or previous cuts (including "Baby Kangaroo") here for his last album, with links to other albums, too.) In the end, if I sound a little conflicted in this review, it's because I am to some extent. There are some great songs here, and there are some that, while, expertly done, just don't have much "pop." So while I'm recommending the CD, it's really a combination of the people who will find this album absolutely wonderful and of the people who will find it, well, just a bit too safe. But, overall, recommended.

See, Mom? External Validation!

Welcome to any readers finding me from this morning's article on kids music in the Austin American-Statesman. For a YAKMA (Yet Another Kids Music Article), it's pretty good. I say that not because it quotes me (pshaw, who cares?) or Dan Zanes (I think it's in the kids' music journalist bylaws that one interview him on the subject), but because it also quotes more under-the-radar artists such as Austin's Biscuit Brothers and Barry Louis Polisar. OK, maybe the mention of the Fids and Kamily poll had a little something to do with it. And the fact that the the Statesman is my hometown paper away from my hometown paper was kinda nice. My mom -- who still lives in Austin -- got a kick out of it, too. Anyway, look around the place for lots more great kids music, regardless of whether or not you know my mom.

Austin Kiddie Limits: The Early Guide

Anyone who's read Neal Pollack's Alternadad knows that Neal's family's experience 2 or 3 years agao at the Austin City Limits Festival, though not a debacle on the level of Woodstock '99, wasn't a familial high point, either. Still, that's not gonna bring the fine friends at the ACL Festival down, because once again they're organizing Austin Kiddie Limits, a separate stage just for the young folk at this year's edition scheduled for September 14 through 16, 2007. (Note: that's "young folk," not "Young Folks" -- Peter Bjorn & John are on an entirely different stage.) In any case, I'll leave the obsessive "this lineup is awesome/this lineup is sucks" discussion for the 93% of the lineup not specifically for the kids to other websites; this is the place for the obsessive "this lineup is awesome/this lineup is sucks" discussion pertaining to kids music. Now, the lineup can be basically divided into two categories: 1) Adults Playing For Kids 2) Kids Playing For Adults In the former category, you have the following: -- The Sippy Cups -- Psychedelic-inspired kids rock, with a hint of punk and Replacements tossed in. Also, costumes. As a result, those attending ACL for Bob Dylan and Bjork might find them slightly amusing. -- Daddy A Go Go -- Straight-ahead rock 'n' roll with a side of smart-aleckness. It's exactly as if ACL artist LCD Soundsystem played Southern-fried rock with teenagers. OK, it's nothing like that, but until Jimmy Buffett plays ACL Fest, I got nothin'. -- Farmer Jason -- Countryfied rock without a trace of irony. The obvious parental equivalent would be Jason and the Scorchers, but no dice. -- Sara Hickman -- I understand from the folks in charge that she'll be pulling double-duty, playing both an adult and the kids stage. -- Q Brothers -- Good-time hip-hop and rap. (Is there any other kind for kids? I mean, is gangsta rap for youngsters doomed to be forever untapped? -- Jambo Kidz -- Bluesy stuff from LA -- Bummkinn Band -- Gentle country for the kids. Not Shania Twain country, much more traditional. -- Jellydots -- If you've been reading this website for any length of time, you're familiar with Doug Snyder and his band, The Jellydots. Awesome stuff. In the second category are bands made up of youngsters or recently-adulted young folks. I really got nothing on these three except that the School of Rock has a Police song up on AKL's Myspace page (a perfectly acceptable version, and timely to boot), and the Steps is an Austin-based band. -- Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars -- The Steps -- We Go To 11 As 2 1/2 afternoons of music go, pretty good. (And the evenings, not for the kiddos, might have a band or two worth catching...) If we can avoid chucking juice boxes onto the stage, then even better. More details to come.

Review: Mommy Says No! - Asylum Street Spankers

MommySaysNo.jpgLongtime fixtures of the Austin music scene (with fans in the U.S. and abroad), the Asylum Street Spankers would probably rank low on the list of bands you'd expect to see turning out a kids' album. Any band that counts EPs entitled Dirty Ditties and Nasty Novelties as part of their discography clearly hasn't made their name by recording albums suitable for use in your kid's preschool. So it's not unreasonable to ask -- is Mommy Says No!, their first family-friendly kids album, really family-friendly or for kids? The answer is yes, sort of, mostly. The band, who have made their name playing a broad range of musical genres using acoustic instrumentation, apply that same formula to a more benign set of song topics. Learning to ride a bicycle ("Training Wheel Rag"), wondering about being an adult ("When I Grow Up"), or being afraid of the dark ("Don't Turn Out the Light") -- these are all standard subject matter for kids music. But rather than setting those topics to pop fare, they turn them into a swinging rag (with some killer fiddle), funky New Orleans brass-band strut, and a sweet pop tune interrupted by some "Thriller"-like vocals. Whatever the style, throughout the album, the band sounds great. What distinguishes the album from most in the genre is its winking sense of humor, which at times ignores the kids and aims straight at the parents and at times may give parents pause. More benignly is Christina Marrs' "Be Like You," a sweet little ditty with toy piano and a background chorus of the guys in the band sounding like SNL's old "Unfrozen Cavemen Lawyers." Wammo's "You Only Love Me For My Lunchbox" may have some of the more nervous parents in the crowd skipping for the next track as Wammo leads the rest of the band through a set of tongue-twisters that ends with one more apropos for the over-21 crowd. The band's bluegrass cover of Nirvana's "Sliver" is downright awesome, though lyrically ("Mom and dad went to a show / they dropped me off at Grandpa Joe's / I kicked and screamed, said please no / Grandma take me home") is hardly the paean to childhood a lot of parents want. (Whether kids appreciate the familiarity of the situation is another matter.) With all due respect to Trout Fishing in America's "Alien in My Nose," I shouldn't let this review go on without noting the best song about snot ever written, the wildly amusing "Boogers" -- it strikes the perfect balance between juvenile humor for the kids and sly references (Quiet Riot -- haven't thought about them for years) for the adults. So, I'm pegging the age range at between 4 and 9 years of age, though a couple of the songs on the 46-minute album do seem pegged somewhat above the 4-year-old mark. The album's been available at the Spankers' website since August 2006, but is getting a proper release next week. You can hear a medley of songs there or go to major internet retailers to hear snippets. In the end, sometimes the band is referred to as, simply, "The Spankers." Whether you think that's a particularly good or bad name for a band recording an album for kids will go a long way toward determining whether you like the album. Some mommies will say "no" to Mommy Says No!. A sizeable minority of families won't like it all. But I think most people who are reading this review here will find it a hoot, energetic enough and tuned into kids' lives for the kids, while entertaining for their elders. Definitely recommended.

Review: Down at the Zoo - George Carver / Papa Mali

DownAtTheZoo.jpgUsually when I review CDs that aren't of the most recent vintage, it's because I want to go back and touch on a reasonably well-known CD and see whether or not it's stood the test of time (recognizing that that test might just be two or three years long). I've been writing reviews in one form or another for five years now, and even though I might not have reviewed everything, I've heard quite a bit, and heard of a lot more. But every now and then I stumble across a CD that makes we wonder how this escaped my radar screen. Down at the Zoo falls into the latter category. Even though I'm just now hearing the CD, it didn't completely escape notice -- it won an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal award. But this 2002 disk, from Austin musicians George Carver and Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne (each with more "adult" recordings and bands), deserves greater attention, even almost five years later, because it's an excellent collection of family-friendly tunes. The 35-minute CD includes 10 songs, all about the zoo or zoo animals. This theme, however, doesn't become at all tiring because the tracks are so strong. From the Cajun-styled opening title track all the way through to the final reggae tune, "Jammin' at the Zoo," Carver and Welbourne have crafted strong melodies and matched them with accessible lyrics. The pure country of "I Don't Like My Cage" touches on the good and bad of zoos for endangered species ("I don't like my cage / It's not where I should be / But it's all that's keeping my kind / from being a memory.") On top of that, Carver and Welbourne have recruited an able group of musicians to join them on these tunes, which besides those mentioned above include the folk-blues ("They Got Feet"), big band ("Jungle Swingers"), and what a Tom Waits kids' track might sound like ("Snake House"). The band really tears it up on my favorite track, the soulful and funky "The Funky Yak." The album's best for kids ages 2 through 7, though older kids may still dig it well past the age of 7. You can hear samples at the album's CDBaby page. Better late than never? In this case, yes. Down at the Zoo may be five years old, but this fine album is worth a listen even today. Definitely recommended.