I know, I just posted the video for "Secret Superhero" 2-3 weeks ago. But if you and the young 'uns don't have some sort of smile on your face after listening to and watching the dance-filled video for "Young Soul" from Secret Agent 23 Skidoo's latest Infinity Plus One, then... I suggest you watch it a second time.
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - "Young Soul" [YouTube]
Infinity Plus One album cover
Aw, man, is there a better time for Secret Agent 23 Skidoo to release this video than the week Comic-Con starts?
One viewing of "Secret Superhero," the first video from Skidoo's brand new album Infinity Plus One, and the answer is so clearly, "no." A whole bunch of kids with a bunch of costumes and powers that are gonna look kinda familiar. It's funny and cool, just like the song itself. There's never been a better use of "arch-nemesis" in a song, I guarantee.
(Make sure you look for Skidoo's Stan Lee-like cameo.)
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - "Secret Superhero" [YouTube]
"Sunshine Family" single cover
It's another super kindie duet from SoCal's Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips. This time, for "Sunshine Family," MCJ brings in Portland's Aaron Nigel Smith for a summery jam with reggae, dub, and a bit of hip-hop in the mix.
Co-written by Mista Cookie Jar (aka C.J. Pizarro) and Smith, you can think of it as a big (BIG) I-5 duet from the the West Coast artists. (And no offense to the East Coast, but the West Coast OWNS summer.)
Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips (feat. Aaron Nigel Smith) - "Sunshine Family" [Bandcamp]
We All Shine album cover
I gave Play Date's forthcoming follow-up to their debut Imagination -- the album We All Shine -- a spin today, and one of my favorite tracks on the album wass "Ninja Pajamas." It's a bit of a left turn for the poppy punk husband-and-wife duo of Greg Attonito and Shanti Wintergate as it's a mellow hip-hop track. But the mellow nature helps it stand out, as does the appearance of Minneapolis rapper-producer P.O.S. It just makes me happy to hear him on such a light track about, well, ninja pajamas.
We All Shine is out on Fun Fun Records July 24.
Play Date - "Ninja Pajamas" (feat. P.O.S)
Southern California's Mista Cookie Jar is testing my hyphenating abilities. His blend of hip-hop, soul sounds, Motown riffs, California vibes, and whatever else he throws in the mix can be too much for the English language too handle.
For his latest track, "HBD, Dude!," MCJ and his Chocolate Chips mix a surf-rock guitar track and some flowing verses that include the word "hashtag" to produce a very 21st-century celebration of someone's birthday. (You can buy the track via that link above, or iTunes and CD Baby as well...)
For the video, which I'm world-premiering here today, Mista Cookie Jar can't be contained to a single POV, either. He takes Beach Blanket Bingo-era footage, hand-animates it a bit, and throws in a nice Facebook/Instagram reference or three. Throw in some kids eating cake and surf-dancing, and you've got yourself a party.
I'm going with "surf-hop."
Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips - "HBD, Dude!" [YouTube]
It's an open question whether "nerdcore" is a larger or smaller niche than "kindie," but almost by definition "nerdcore kindie" is smaller than either, and with Question Bedtime, MC Frontalot (who coined the term "nerdcore") has essentially created the first nerdcore kindie album.
Question Bedtime is the Brooklyn-based rapper's sixth album, and first for families, and instead of addressing subjects like video games in his songs, he's gone back in time to fairy tales from various cultures. But rather than straight-up retellings, he's often given them a twist. Goldilocks and the Three Bears becomes "Gold Locks," featuring rapper Jean Grae as the titular character, who rather than being scared of the bears, is a bear-eating hunter. "Start Over" features a conversation of sorts between the Big Bad Wolf and a chorus of girls who aren't exactly buying his version of events with Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. Nor does he limit himself to more familiar fairy tales you've heard hundreds of times - "Wakjąkága" features the title character who, well… just read Frontalot's lyrics, and you'll understand that it's not common. Besides "Start Over," I also particularly liked "Shudders," whose retelling of the story of the youth who went out to learn what fear is (and is really more about fearlessness) is a useful song in an album that features stories that kids have, at points, shuddered at.
One listen to a handful of songs (or reading those lyrics above), and you'll quickly gather that this is not an album for your favorite preschooler. Not that it's inappropriate or a Joseph Campbell treatise, mind you, just that his dense wordflow and his refusal to dumb down the darker themes of the stories are going to appeal more -- and, really, mean more -- to a significantly older audience, probably ages 9 or 10 and up.
I liked Question Bedtime, but it demands close attention if the listener is to get the most out of it. (And close attention is hard, no matter if you're 6 or 36.) The more you like dense hip-hop wordplay, the more you'll like this, and that's not what every kids music family is looking for. But if you've read this far, and thought, "Hmm, that sounds kind of cool," then I think it's definitely for you. Recommended.
Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.
Zooglobble
Zooglobble helps you find kindie music -- news, videos, mp3s, reviews -- for your whole family.
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