Video: "Dance Party" - Triple Rainbow (World Premiere!)

Screenshot of doll with turntable from “Dance Party” video

I’m a sucker for chocolate ice cream, cool t-shirt designs, and warm-hearted sitcoms with a touch of absurdity and/or acerbity. I’m also a sucker for a deceptively lo-fi kids music video with a well-placed California Raisin cameo.

So, yeah, of course I liked the latest video from Portland, Oregon-based Triple Rainbow. The band is the combination of Jared Mees, head of local boutique chain/indie music label Tender Loving Empire, and his two under-10 daughters, July and Piper. They’ve got an album, You Are Magic, coming out next year and their latest single, “Dance Party” is out today.

“You Are Magic” album cover

The song is appropriately dance-worthy, an electronic bop that isn’t too fast — maybe even well-paced enough to do a little cleaning to. And the video? It’s a sweet little stop-motion video that features art direction and set creation by July Mees. (Jared and July did the animation, Jared edited, and Jesse Bettis did the motion graphics.) Like I implied above, it’s got a lo-fi aesthetic but is quite well done. And, yeah, a California Raisin cameo (not to mention at least a couple other cameos that might be more famous to the current under-10 set).

Anyway, I’m happy to world-premiere this fun video. You can preorder the album here or find the link to your family’s preferred way to stream or watch music here. You Are Magic is out on Jan. 22, 2022.

Triple Rainbow - “Dance Party” [YouTube]

World Premiere Video: "I'm a Muskrat" - Esther Crow

For the record, I think muskrats are one of the cutest wild creatures, so when New York City musician Esther Crow reached out to share her new video “I’m a Muskrat,” I was already slightly biased in favor of it.

And luckily, the mid-tempo rocker with an appealing bluesy feel had a video almost as cute as the muskrat itself. It features Crow and her son Vincent decked out in muskrat makeup, acting out the muskrat tendencies she outlines in the song. In the genus kids-song-about-animals, this is definitely one of the better ones. (And if your kids aren’t into being a Disney/Marvel character for Halloween, maybe you can try a muskrat costume.)

You can find “I’m a Muskrat” on her album All Together Now, which was released this summer. Thanks to Esther for letting me world-premiere this song.

Esther Crow - “I’m a Muskrat” [YouTube]

World Premiere Video: "PJs All Day" - The Oot n' Oots

The Oot n’ Oots in front of a little Ponderosa pine.

I know, many of us have been a little more casual in our day-to-day wear at some point in the past 18 months or so. So I think a video celebrating the most casual of casual clothing — the pajama (or “pyjama” depending on your portion of the English-speaking world) — would be appropriate.

Enter British Columbia band The Oot n’ Oots.

Their new track, “PJs All Day,” isn’t the first pajama-celebratory song in kids music, to be sure, but it might be the funkiest.

And I guarantee you it’ll put a spring in your step. Maybe not as springy as the step of the 11-year-old dancer from Kelowna, BC named Tepi Porcelli-Newlands, but that’s a pretty high bar to clear.

The track is from a forthcoming full-length from the band, and I’m glad to be world-premiering this song and video. Because it’s a guaranteed mood-lifter, no matter your current dress status.

The Oot n’ Oots - “PJs All Day” [YouTube]

Video: "Here and Now" - Renee & Jeremy (World Premiere!)

Whole Lotta Love album cover

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from the Southern California duo Renee & Jeremy. While both Renee Stahl and Jeremy Toback made music in the meantime, particularly Renee with a couple of well-received albums with a series of musical partners (including Toback) under the Renee & Friends moniker, it’s been nearly a decade since the duo last released an album together.

But the memories of parents sitting in quiet rooms with their young ones don’t fade easily. Their first two albums in particular — It’s a Big World and C’mon — were in constant rotation in Little Boy Blue’s preschool years in the Zooglobble household. Those albums were followed in 2012 by a holiday-themed album and an album of covers called A Little Love which showcased the duo’s lovely harmonies on often surprising arrangements of modern classic pop and rock songs.

Luckily for those families with long memories (and for families who might not have even been families nine years ago, R&J are back with a new album next week! It’s called Whole Lotta Love and it’s the spiritual successor to A Little Love as it’s another album of (almost entirely) covers. I’ve enjoyed their first two singles from the album, their versions of the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” and Guns ‘n’ Roses’ “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” (the latter a refreshingly different take on the song), and judging by the YouTube comments (I know, never read the comments), their are lots of families who are eager for the duo’s return.

Renee Stahl and Jeremy Toback standing in a field

The new album dips from the same well of intriguing covers A Little Love dipped from, with a cover of MGMT’s “Kids,” for example, sitting alongside one of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People.” (I particularly enjoyed the leadoff track, a take on INXS’ “Don’t Change.”)

But there’s one original song on the album, “Here and Now,” and I’m glad I get to world premiere the video for that song. The song itself considers the impermanence of things and the importance of being present. (It’s not a Buddhist song… but I think a lot of Buddhists would recognize many of the concepts here.) The video, directed by Ron Hamad, a commercial and film director and friends with the duo, captures the mood and lyrics well, with Renee and Jeremy walking through abandoned buildings amidst the Salton Sea. Toback says the video shoot consisted of just the three of them plus director of photography Wes Cardino “chasing magic,” in Hamad’s phrase. The ending scene under an amazingly glowing moon, happened by accident, they report. Like much of Renee & Jeremy’s music, the video’s a little mesmerizing.

Again, Whole Lotta Love is out next week! Having listened to it all, I know that if your family still grooves to the music they made before, they will dig this, too.

Renee & Jeremy - “Here and Now” [YouTube]

Photo credit: Stuart Burton

Video: "Color by Number / Bobbing and Weaving" - Mike Phirman (World Premiere!)

Mike Phirman laughing in studio. Photo by Michelle Livingston

Mike Phirman, like some (though certainly not all) kids’ musicians, didn’t start out intending to become a kids’ musician. Instead, he was a comedian who wrote some funny songs. But one of those songs, “Chicken Monkey Duck,” became popular on SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live (and, erm, with me?), and so it shouldn’t have been so surprising that after becoming a parent himself, he turned more directly to making music for kids.

He’s releasing his second album for kids, an EP title Activity Books, on 8 Pound Gorilla Records this Friday, and the second single from the album is called “Color by Number / Bobbing and Weaving.” When you listen to the song or watch the video (world-premiered here!), you might be wondering what in the world the 2 parts of the song have to do with each other. But give it a little time, and it all comes together quite neatly. The coloring-book-inspired video is courtesy of Dan Edwards. All in all, a nifty song (or two) and video that captures it perfectly.

Interested in hearing more from Activity Books? You can preorder/save/whatever it is you younger parents do these days with music rather than trying to remember it with your own brain here.

Mike Phirman - “Color by Number / Bobbing and Weaving” [YouTube]

Photo by Michelle Livingston

Video: "Summer All Year Long" - Genevieve Goings (World Premiere!)

Genevieve Goings with umbrella (via her website)

I will say that Genevieve Goings, in addition to being a very talented singer, songwriter and actor, has excellent timing. This is a very good week (if you’re on the East Coast) to release a song about using your imagination to pretend it’s summer while in the midst of, oh, a massive winter snowstorm.

Lots of us kindie old-timers (well, comparative old-timers) recognize Genevieve from her long run in the Disney Junior series she co-created, Choo Choo Soul. But she’s been creating music outside of that series as well, and this new song, “Summer All Year Long,” is from her forthcoming album Great Indoors, out tomorrow(!) on 8 Pound Gorilla Records (also responsible for releasing Frances England’s new album).

The new song is clearly inspired by feeling a little trapped during the pandemic summer of 2020, but I think it’ll jam just as sweetly in February 2022 (or 2024) as it does right now. I’m happy to world-premiere the video, full of cute kids and of course Goings’ bright, clear voice.

Genevieve Goings - “Summer All Year Long” [YouTube]