Video: "Beep Beep Beep" - Dan Vapid (World Premiere!)

All Wound Up album cover

Mike Park's Fun Fun Records keeps truckin' along with music for kids -- in this case, almost literally.  The label's latest family release, its seventh, is from pop-punker Dan Vapid (who's also played in Screeching Weasel).  The album's called All Wound Up, and I'm pleased to world-premiere the album's leadoff track and single, "Beep Beep Beep."  It's barely a minute long, but I'd be wary of playing the song in a traffic jam for your favorite kindergartner lest she get too wound up.

Luckily, you're not driving while you're all watching a YouTube video, so you can just enjoy the sketching from Gilbert Armendariz.

All Wound Up is released September 9, but you can preorder it here today.

Dan Vapid - "Beep Beep" [YouTube]

Weekly Summary (6/17/13 - 6/23/13)

Best Kids Music 2011: Top 10 Debuts

I'll kick off my review of the best kids music of 2011 with a look at the year's best debuts. As was the case last year, we didn't know many of these artists a year ago (or if we did, we had no idea they had a kids music album in them). But these albums caught my ear fairly quickly and some of them even made my top albums of the year list. I should note that, as I did last year, by using the word "debut," I'm assuming that this isn't the last family music album from each of these artists. Albums from Holly Throsby and Chip Taylor, for example, would've been considered for this list, but I've made the assumption that their family albums will be their sole foray into the genre. I would be happy to be proven wrong, next year or at any point in the future. So here are ten debut kids music albums (listed alphabetically by artist) worth celebrating. AlphabeticiansRock.jpgThe Alphabeticians Rock Leading off this alphabetical list is this Portland, Oregon duo (Eric Levine and Jeff Inlay, AKA Mr. E. and Mr. Hoo) who trade in sharp, hook-filled guitar jangle-pop and slightly absurd lyrics. (Sample song title: "Eric Saw Peter Buck's Girlfriend and Then He Saw Peter Buck".) But then again, isn't looking at life through a child's eyes a little absurd once we've left our adult glasses on too long? Listen here.