Review: Desert Island Disc - Recess Monkey

Rather than complaining about Recess Monkey's incredibly high level of productivity and quality as I have multiple times in the past, I thought I'd try to, you know, straight-up review the Seattle band's tenth (!) album for families, the recently-released Desert Island Disc.

Novel, I know.   (Besides, how am I ever going to top this interview?)

As with many Recess Monkey albums, the band's latest album is nominally a concept album, loosely tied around the theme of being stranded on a desert island, the follow-up to their last album, this summer's Deep Sea Diver .  And as with most Recess Monkey albums, following the theme isn't strictly necessary, as the songs stand up well enough without the scaffolding of a theme to prop up interest in their young listeners.

Indeed, if the songs hold together in any particular way, it's more in their sound.  In the orchestrations (from Jherek Bischoff, brother of drummer Korum Bischoff), toned-down retro-rock, and love songs, this is easily their most Beatles-esque album since their little-heard debut Welcome to Monkey Town .  From the shuffle of "Pearls of Wisdom" to the sweeping strings on "Dessert Island" to the gorgeous love song "Long Gone," there are lots of echoes of the Fab Four's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band  (save for the "Getting a Sunburn," for which the band is probably getting lawyered up in anticipation of the inevitable cease-and-desist copyright letter from the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson).  Maybe it's just all the ukulele -- never a bad thing in my book -- but the mellow sound puts more emphasis on Drew Holloway's songwriting.

I don't necessarily hear the band playing many of these calmer songs in concert (notable exception: "Hide and Seek"), but I could see this desert island disk being a popular choice for snowed-in wintry mornings.  And, yes, I said "love songs" -- "Long Gone" and "Smooth Sailing" are sweet songs, as emotional as anything as the band's recorded, packing a wallop.

The 40-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 9.  As noted above, it's not necessarily as danceable or totally goofy as some of their previously albums, though that's a deliberate choice.  You can stream the whole album here.

One would think that it's difficult for a band to turn out as much great music as Recess Monkey has in the past not-even-a-decade.   I could be stranded on a desert island for that entire period of time and be lucky to write a small fraction of the great songs they've produced over that time.  So let's be thankful that the incredibly productive and focused trio continues to produce wonderful music.  Regardless of Desert Island Disc  actually makes it onto your own family's "desert island disks" collection, it's really good. Highly recommended.

Note: I received a copy of this album for possible review. 

Review: Baby Beatles - Caspar Babypants

Let us first stipulate that there is no need for a Beatles cover album. The most popular rock band of all time, I have no doubt full cover albums number in the thousands (let alone individual songs, which probably approach if not exceed a million in recorded form).  The originals are permanently lodged in listeners' heads, often in a way that those listeners might wonder why anybody would even try improving upon them.

So, having said that, what of Caspar Babypants' latest collection of songs, Baby Beatles?  Is this just a cop-out, the kindie equivalent of digging into the Great American Songbook as a final musical cash grab?

Let's answer that last question with a firm "no."  As he noted in a recent essay, Chris Ballew, the Caspar Babypants mastermind, owes a great deal of his musical career to the inspiration of the Beatles.   It is better, perhaps, then to view this album as an homage to the lads from Liverpool and their songs, and in that regard Baby Beatles works quite nicely.

Ballew's entire Babypants career has been dedicated to making music for the youngest listeners -- while he certainly would welcome the kindergarteners who want to dance along, he's more interested in their younger siblings.  So while he's always been interested in stripped-down arrangements, that becomes even more important in a covers album where the tricky part is retaining the song's essence while giving the artist's own spin.  That's especially tough given how familiar some of these songs are. 

For the most part, I think Ballew succeeds, usually by making the songs nimble and as light as a feather, even more so than his previously-released songs.  "Here Comes the Sun" is peppier than the original, an incredibly joyful way to kick off the album (his version of "Ob La Di Ob La Da" with Jen Wood gives me similarly happy feelings).   I love the use of faint handclaps on "Birthday."  "Blackbird" hews very closely to the original, but why wouldn't it when it's so perfect to begin with?

I'm not enthused with every reworking -- "Yellow Submarine" and "Octopus's Garden" in particular sound too thin -- but the hits here exceed the misses.  And while some of the song choices seem odd and perhaps picked because of their ostensible ties to childhood ("Mother Nature's Son," "Little Child," "Cry Baby Cry"), those choices at least prevent the album from just being a recap of the Beatles' greatest hits.

The 20-song has a runtime of about 48 minutes and is most appropriate for kids ages 1 through 4, though, c'mon, it's the Beatles.  Just about everybody will recognize at least some of these tracks. 

I don't think any Beatles cover album is essential -- just listen to the originals -- but Baby Beatles is just different enough to hold the listeners' attention far more than they would for some random (often Muzak-inspired) cover.  There is no such thing as a bad Caspar Babypants album, and while I look forward to the next album of his original music and less-well-known traditional songs, this will do quite nicely in the meantime.  Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.

Review: Deep Sea Diver - Recess Monkey

Another summer, another Recess Monkey album.   No kindie band challenges the kids music reviewer as much as the Seattle trio: their amazing productivity (at least one album a year for the past eight years, plus a second one to be released later this year) and consistently high quality makes it difficult for humble reviewers like this one here to figure out how to say what is essentially the same thing ("this is really good -- you should get it") in new ways.  (No, I will not be writing this review in limerick form.)

All the qualities that have endeared Recess Monkey to thousands of families nationally from their Pacific Northwest perch are in ample display on their brand new album Deep Sea Diver . Humor (the wry look at those scavenging birds in the mellow Beatles-esque "Seagull" or the punny title of "Choral Reef"), kid-focused topics (disco-dancing with "Walkie Talkies" and complaining about being short in "Shrimp"), and, yes, hooks galore.

I mean, what did you expect on an album themed around the ocean and water -- of course  there would be hooks.  The catchiest tracks are front-loaded -- "Tambourine Submarine" is a pure pop hit, and the samba-tinged "The Deep End" will have you singing along with the chorus or dancing (if not both).  But there are some gems buried on side 2, as it were -- "Seagull" is a tiny gem of a portrait and the back-and-forth sonic touches on "Making Waves" neatly echo the song's subject.

Musically, Drew Holloway and Jack Forman sound as good as ever, with new drummer Korum Bischoff essentially introduced to the band's audience in track #2 "Fish Sticks" by showing off his ample chops.  Friends such as Johnny Bregar and Dean Jones pitch in, and after listening to the strings on "Stranded," somewhere Burt Bacharach is thinking maybe he should do a kids' album.

As with most RM albums, this one's pitched at kids ages 4 through 8.  You can listen to the whole 41-minute album here.

So here am I at the end of my review and I still don't know if these words are adequate to convey how great this band is.  I'll just leave you then with Deep Sea Diver  is really good - you should get it.  Highly recommended.

Video: "Let's Skateboard" - The Not-Its

As can be implied from my review of The Not-Its' KidQuake​ album, I am not up-to-date on my skateboarding lingo.  "Stalefish."  But with The Not-Its' new video for "Let's Skateboard," none of that matters, because its shots of skateboard kids accompanied by the propulsive song makes me almost absurdly happy.  The boys in tutus are a nice touch.​  (Via Cool Mom Picks)

The Not-Its! - "Let's Skateboard" [YouTube]​

Review: KidQuake - The Not-Its!

On the fourth album KidQuake, Seattle's Not-Its have ​settled nicely into their kid-pop-punk groove.  Of course, "settling nicely" implies that perhaps this is a more relaxed and down-tempo album than its predecessors and that would be a total lie because this is one of the worst just-before-bedtime albums ever.

It starts out with the title track, which praises kids' energy (and hopes to channel it into changing the world), then moves on to the even higher-energy "Let's Skateboard" (if you, like me, listen to the song and wonder what a "stalefish" is, here's your answer).​  And then there's "Busy," which alternately celebrates the busy lifestyle (lots of "go's" and horns) while sonically suggesting that we're just all a little too busy.  Band guitarist Danny Adamson sometimes jokes about new Not-Its songs "melting faces off," but this is definitely music to bounce to, with Sarah Shannon's vocal range another key component of the song's allure.

​The band's lyrics and subjects have always been targeted right at young elementary schools, and over time I think they've improved their ability to write from the kids' perspective without talking down to them.  Songs like "Participation Trophy" ("Second Grade basketball: 9th place! / Participation Trophy") and "Tarantula Funeral" ("Bob, we didn't know you very well / We never could tell just what you were thinking") serve as good counterpoints to the more eager/irony-free songs like "Walk or Ride."

The 28-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 9.  ​You can stream the whole album here.  As always, the band's album packaging (once again courtesy of Don Clark) is visually distinctive, a nice complement to their tutu-ed and black-tied performance outfits.

From their debut album, the Not-Its have not made any great stylistic leaps, but rather have refined it.  There's something to said for the methodic steps the band's taken, because KidQuake​ is their best album yet, a blast of fresh air, and a ton of fun. ​ Highly recommended.  (Except for right before bedtime.)

[Note: I was provided a copy of the album for possible review.]​

Video: "Busy" - The Not-Its!

You know, they had me at the kids playing horns.  But the first video from the Not-Its new album Kidquake! also features slow-motion video, sped-up video, and most-importantly, a song that serves as its own alarm clock.  Squeeze this one in.  (Via Red Tricycle)

The Not-Its - "Busy" [YouTube]