Review in Brief: One Day Soon - The Sippy Cups

With the release today of their One Day Soon EP, San Francisco's The Sippy Cups have followed the lead of other, more adult-oriented bands, who consider EPs an integral part of their musical release pattern. The five songs here were recorded as part of the band's sessions for their upcoming 2009 release, and is the first new album from the band since October 2006. So are the songs worth the wait? Well, mostly yes. "One Day Soon" kicks off the album, a mid-tempo number about growing up (or at least older) that would have fit perfectly on the generally more rocking Electric Storyland. So would have "Ladybug Beat," at least if it had been plugged in (it's acoustic here). I've already talked a little bit about "The Day After Halloween,", which is a bit of departure from the Sippys' normal metaphor-filled and fanciful songwriting. Its melancholy nature is a perfect fit for fall -- it's a Halloween song that isn't just for Halloween, and is my favorite track here. "Listen With Your Eyes" is a sweet lullaby (though there's a bit too much going on for it to be effectively used an actual lullaby). The only false step is "Effervescing Elephant." Ironically for a band which started out primarily playing covers of '60s era psychedelic songs, this Syd Barrett cover falls flat. It's supposedly a live staple of the band, but this off-the-cuff version just doesn't have any oomph. The album will appeal mostly to kids ages 4 through 10. The album is about 14 minutes long and, perhaps most interestingly, is available only as an iTunes download. At $3.99 for the whole album, it's pretty cheap. It's a small but decent collection of tracks which can only serve to heighten anticipation for their upcoming full-length. Newcomers to the band can probably wait (or go back to Electric Storyland forthwith), but fans will definitely enjoy this, too. Recommended.

Review in Brief: You Can't Rock Sittin' Down - The Mighty Weaklings

With several albums for adults under their belts, you would be forgiven for thinking the New York band The Mighty Weaklings was just cashing in on the kids music trend with the recent release of their first kids album You Can't Rock Sittin' Down.That wouldn't be entirely fair, seeing as singer/bassplayer Matt Vogel's been a Sesame Street puppeteer for a dozen years and they've already had a video on Jack's Big Music Show. This album will seriously appeal to families with a powerpop weakness."The Monster Under My Bed" tells about a kid who's best friend is a monster, and rocks in doing so.The album's best song, "The Grumpy Song," features a banjo-inflected bluegrass tune, vocals Sesame Street/Muppet Show/Fraggle Rock puppeteer Jerry Nelson, and a chorus of kids (and adults) shouting "I'm Grumpy" in such a way that is guaranteed to put a dorky grin on the listener's face. The album as whole has a very strong Muppet Show vibe -- interspersed among the 9 songs are 5 skits.At times I thought the skits were pitched squarely at me the thirty-something parent and wouldn't entertain the younger listeners at all.The knowing humor didn't really match the earnestness of the rest of the songs like "It's Sunny When You Share" (get it?), the imaginzative "Rocket Ship" (from Jack's, and the try-try-again theme of "Fallin' Down."You could easily find the materials for an episode or three of The Mighty Weaklings Show inside the album -- it's not hard to picture a TV show, even without puppets. The 33-minute album's pitched mostly at kids ages 4 through 8.You can hear samples here or listen via the player embedded past the jump.Despite some awkwardness from the skits themselves, the songs here are solid kid-friendly power-pop.Your kids will find that You Can't Rock Sittin' Down ranks high on the "rock" scale and low on the "sittin' down" scale.Recommended.

Review in Brief: I Count To Ten and other Very Helpful Songs - David Tobocman

It's been nearly 7 months since I first watched (and wrote about) David Tobocman's fabulous video for his song "Home." (If you haven't watched it, stop reading this, click on the link, and see you back here in about 3 minutes. Really. Go now.) Clearly I liked the video, so you might be wondering, why in the world haven't I review the rest of Tobocman's debut, I Count To Ten and other Very Helpful Songs? And the answer is... well, I have no good reason. I can't blame this on the dog eating the CD or a snowstorm -- sometimes good CDs just don't get reviewed on the site in a timely manner. In any case, many CDs attempt to impart lessons to kids -- I know, I've heard a lot of them -- but very few do so in a totally appealing musical manner. This CD easily makes that small but distinguished list. I think there are a couple reasons for it. The first is that the songs are, for the most part, solid. The jazzy title track and "Brush Your Teeth," the pop of "My Rainbow," the country, banjo-inflected "Buttons and Bows" -- they're great melodies back up by well-crafted instrumentation. And more than half a year after I first heard it, I'm still moved by "Home," easily one of the top kids music tracks of the year. The second reason for the album's appeal I think is that instead of conveying its lessons as a direct "you should do X" or "everybody feel Y," the lyrics are sometimes sung from a first-person perspective, telling the listener how the singer reacts. So the singer counts to ten and doesn't feel so angry ("I Count to Ten"), or the singer keeps his pajamas on through the night ("Jammies Song," based on a real-life problem Tobocman encountered with his daughter). It's not always the case, but there's very little sense of "should" here, and that makes the lessons easier for everyone to take. The songs are most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7. You can hear lengthy clips from the 33-minute album here and here. David Tobocman's I Count to Ten and other Very Helpful Songs is a solid little album. I can't guarantee your kids won't blow their top as much or brush their teeth more willingly with repeated listens, but I'm pretty sure you or your kids won't blow your tops if you listen to this a lot. Recommended.

Review: Rock All Day, Rock All Night - The Nields

With their latest album, Massachusetts' The Nields joins the company of the Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam. Really. That's right, because on their new 2-CD family album, Rock All Day, Rock All Night, the Nields sisters join those two alternative rock heavyweights in putting out an album with both an uptempo and a downtempo disk. (Those two albums, in case you're wondering -- the Foo Fighters' In Your Honor and Pearl Jam's best-of rearviewmirror.) Now, I can't say that the Nields rock quite as hard as those bands do, but I'm also not sure there's anything quite as giddy on those disks as on the sisters' banter on the brass-band-accented "Muffin Man." (Did you know there was a whole neighborhood on Drury Lane? Well, you do now.) The first disk is a mixture of folk songs and originals (some old, some new). The sisters have run a HooteNanny program for families with young kids, and many of the songs sound like they are come from that program. Unlike a lot of CD collections from kids and family music programs, however, the collection actually holds together as a decent listening experience even if you've never taken a class with them. It's probably mostly due to the fact that there are some really good songs here. The traditional "Going To Boston" kicks off the disk, and like many of the tracks, there's a life to the recording that encourages you to sing along. The brass band sounds great on "When The Saints Go Marching In," as it does on "Muffin Man" (as noted above). The new tracks are no slouches either, with "Who Are You Not To Shine" -- a shimmery folk-rock song and worthy successor to "Anna Kick A Hole in the Sky" from the last disk -- and "Superhero Soup," actually one of the oldest songs in the Nields' songbook, but re-purposed here. Not all of the tracks are great, but, like I said, as a whole, it holds together well. The second, slower disk is, unsurprisingly, less focused on singalongs and more focused on great, slower songs. I hesitate to call it a classic lullaby disk as there isn't quite a hush-ness that I associate with lullaby disks. Instead, it's more like a warm nook on a cold day, encouraging you to stay put and contemplate the day and maybe drift off for a tiny nap. (Or, if you're a kid, play with your Legos or read a book.) One of my all-time favorite ballads, "Wild Mountain Thyme," makes an appearance, with the Nields' dad, John Nields singing along (as on the first album, he sings on several tracks). The Nields also engage in some re-purposing here, as "Easy People," one of their most famous songs, gets a simple treatment. I think I like this disk slightly better than the "day" disk, but that's just a personal preference for the more classic songs. The first disk is probably most appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7; the second disk is essentially all-ages. Right now, the disk only available through the Nields themselves (go here to order), though national distribution will start shortly). For samples, you're best off checking out the YouTube clips I've compiled here. The Nields continue to make vital family folk music with humor and tenderness. Rock All Day, Rock All Night is an all-purpose collection of songs that will serve your family well in times both of play and rest. Definitely recommended.

Review: Rocketship Run - The Laurie Berkner Band

In this era when kids are supposedly growing up too fast, it isn't necessarily easy being Laurie Berkner. Even if they're not growing up any faster than their parents did, some kids born after her last release, 2002's Under a Shady Tree are already pretty much too old for Berkner. So after a lengthy layoff reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's after Pulp Fiction, here comes Laurie Berkner with her fifth album for kids, Rocketship Run. In many respects, the album bears the marks of someone successful -- check out the lovely album packaging, for example -- lots of major-label releases albums aren't produced with this level of care. And there are many layers to the production; suffice it to say, there are several songs with strings and orchestration in the mix. Unlike the packaging, which looks far better than that on Berkner's first couple albums, the production doesn't always serves her well. "Walk Along the River," which Berkner first recorded for a CD accompanying her We Are the Laurie Berkner Band DVD, gets a children's chorus added to it. It's a beautiful, tiny little pop song, and the chorus just sort drags it down. There were times throughout the disk -- not always, just sometimes -- when I wished it was just Laurie and Susie and Brian (or, now, Adam) without everything else. And while I'm kvetching, I might as well say that the album's traveling concept doesn't work all that well. It's a bit too loose to have much of an effect, and it doesn't help that the "Going on a Hunt" song -- probably the weakest song on the album -- is played 5 different times (albeit in different musical forms). But those downsides are outweighed by Berkner's strengths -- the overall songwriting and her voice, which are undiminished here. "Mouse In My Toolbox" has got a driving chorus -- "There's a paw on my saw / and an eye on my drill / And her little tail is wrapped around my pliers" -- that will stay lodged in your brain for some time. "Five Days Old" is an obvious and worthy homage to Woody Guthrie's "One Day Old." "Candy Cane Jane" is a sweet tune that with its name alliteration and rhymes is almost as catchy as "Victor Vito." Berkner continues to write songs that are targeted to kids without so much as a wink or a nod to the parents, but still without driving those parents away. I've also long felt that Berkner has one of the great voices in kids music, and she sounds fabulous here, especially on songs like "All Around My Room" or her cover of "Fly Me to the Moon" where it's basically her voice and guitar. She very much needs to continue to explore those kid-friendly covers of classic songs. Credit is also due to Berkner for more fully integrating longtime collaborators Susie Lampert and Adam Bernstein into the album, most notably by including 5 of their songs on the disk. If none of them are quite as catchy as, say, "Walk Along the River," they're all good, particularly Lampert's "Pigbasket" and Bernstein's "Jump and Fly." You do feel like crediting the album to "The Laurie Berkner Band" (rather than just Berkner herself) is the right choice. Kids ages 3 through 6 will most appreciate the music here. You can listen to a couple of the new songs at the band's Myspace page. If there isn't a song as enduring as "We Are the Dinosaurs" or "Victor Vito" on this album, that's probably too high of a bar to set. Rocketship Run is Laurie Berkner's most consistent and ambitious album to date and should attract a whole new set of fans to her music. Here's hoping it's not another six years before her next release. Definitely recommended.

Review: Jerzy the Giant - The Terrible Twos

Though there are many charms of kids music, subtlety is usually not one of them. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you, but most kids' music is direct and to the point, especially lyrically. Which is what makes the music of the Kansas-based band The Terrible Twos not like most kids music. The band, which is the kids' alter ego of the Matt Pryor's band The New Amsterdams, has never been interested in making simple kids music. (Pryor once famously -- for the kids' world, anyway -- branded the music of Barney and the Wiggles as "incredibly annoying crap." There are a legion of kids who would disagree, though the parental vote may be much more evenly split.) For some kids in the age range suggested by Pryor's band's name, the music will fly right over their heads, though they may bop along to the often uptempo melodies. Older kids (and their parents), however, may find the more indirect lyrical approach of the band pretty appealing. On their second album, Jerzy the Giant, the Terrible Twos tell tales of people and emotions. On a few songs, such as the winning, near-perfectly constructed album opener, "Old Man Miller," the band tells a direct story (this one about the growing friendship between the song's narrator and an elderly neighbor) while using metaphor and simile to embellish ("Old Man Miller was a porcupine," Pryor sings, a line that will cause confusion in the toddler-aged set). Other songs are much more impressionistic in nature, such as the oooohing "Elliott Oooh" or the sweet "Amelia Minor." The songs here range from the folky end of the pop spectrum (the shuffling "Archibald McAllister," about a particularly stinky boy) to the rocking end (the latter part of "Lily Names Everything Sandy," the title of which is pretty much self-explanatory and describes a very real -- for Pryor, anyway -- parental frustration). "Jerzy the Giant" (the song) is a breezy pop-rocker, while "Olly Olly Oxen Free" has a soaring chorus. The only song that set my ears on end was "Great Big Poop," which I place in the category of songs that break up otherwise outstanding albums -- file it alongside "Fitter, Happier" or "Underneath the Bunker." (Having said that, it's the most direct song on the album, and may be the one that your youngest kids may most relate to here. And, Pryor's daughter Lily, who co-wrote the song, also helped out on "Elliott Oooh," so perhaps she gets a pass.) The album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 9. At 29 minutes in length, the 16 songs here zip by, none more than 2 1/2 minutes in length. You can preview the whole album here. The Terrible Twos continue to write great family-friendly songs. Jerzy the Giant is a fabulous album, thirty-feet-tall with sweet melodies and kid-appropriate lyrics. Even if your kids love the Wiggles, one day they'll outgrow them, and when they do, there are many far worse albums to graduate to than this one. Highly recommended. [Note: Just to reiterate the possible conflict of interest, I was asked by Vagrant Records, which released the album, to premiere the album stream. I wouldn't have done so if I hadn't wanted to have a lot of people listen to the CD, based on my feelings above. But now you know, in case you hadn't before.]