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.

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]

Listen To This: "Le Grand K" - Pointed Man Band (World Premiere!)

Who’s in the mood for a jaunty song about the weight loss of a tiny Parisian cylinder made of platinum and iridium!?!?!

Believe it or not, YOU are.

That’s right, Dan Elliott and his allusion-dense chamber-pop-for-kids music of Pointed Man Band have a song for you based on this very topic. It is ten tons of fun, or, er, one kilogram of fun, or, er, ever so slightly less than one kilogram of fun.

Elliott wrote the song a number of years ago, around the time of Flight of the Blue Whale, but never recorded it. Now as he went into the studio to record new music earlier this year, he dug the song out and the result is the track “Le Grand K” below, a world premiere for you!

And, yes, there’s more new music from the Portland band on its way — Amongst the Tall Trees will get a release later this year, tentatively set for late spring. Until then, consider “Le Grand K” a bonus track for your edification and enjoyment.

Pointed Man Band - “Le Grand K” [Soundcloud]

<a href="http://pointedmanband.bandcamp.com/track/le-grand-k">Le Grand K by Pointed Man Band</a>

Video: "Blue" - Ants Ants Ants (World Premiere!)

Yay for new bands making a splash! The band in question is Ants Ants Ants, and even before the release of their debut album Why Why Why? next month, I'm already tickled pink by one of their brand new videos. It's for the song "Blue," about blue whales, inspired in part by a conversation which one half of the duo Johnny Clay had with his daughter -- “On the way to school one morning, my 7 year old asked what the biggest animal on earth was - I told her it was a blue whale and we looked it up together when we got to school. We found out they can be 80 feet long!”

For the gentle, hummable song about blue whales, the Portland, Oregon duo of Johnny Clay and Dave Gulick turned to animator Chris Purdin. The animation from Purdin (who also did the album art) is a perfect fit for the music, friendly and warm. I'm happy to world-premiere the video. And while Why Why Why? isn't available until May 20th, if you pre-order it at all the places you preorder music these days, you can get "Blue" as an instant download. So go forth and, er, dive in! [Slinks away slowly...]

Ants Ants Ants - "Blue" [YouTube]

Bidding a Greasy Adieu to Greasy Kid Stuff

Greasy Kid Stuff logo by Rodney Alan Greenblat

I saw on Twitter yesterday that the radio show Greasy Kid Stuff was coming to an end this weekend, and I thought it was important to publicly celebrate the show before it permanently went off the air.

Longtime readers are probably familiar with GKS, but if you’re not, the show was started 22 (!) years ago by Belinda Miller and Hova Najarian, airing on legendary New York station WFMU long before the couple became parents. From the beginning, Belinda and Hova -- it was always Belinda and Hova, their last names have mostly been an afterthought -- were less interested in “kids music” as much as they wanted to play weird music they thought kids would enjoy as adults. They weren’t the only kids music show (and they probably would issue with the idea that it was mostly for kids, but they were definitely the oddest, a mix of Dr. Demento, Sesame Street, and 120 Minutes. And as kids music moved into a more kindie direction, they certainly shined a spotlight on artists that fit their somewhat off-center sensibility, but never fully embraced the full-on conventional kids music world.

That was, in my view, to their credit and benefit. As I noted in my review of their third and final compilation of music (yep, they released three albums in total, all worth tracking down), I think kids music embraced Belinda and Hova’s approach as much as Belinda and Hova embraced kids music. They weren’t the only radio outlet that took that view, but on the whole I think they did it longer than anyone else.

After moving across the country to Portland, Oregon in 2004 (and also becoming parents), Belinda and Hova eventually moved their show to 94.7 FM in Portland and more recently XRAY.FM. (Why am I noting those links? Because you can still find playlists, at least for WFMU and XRAY.FM, online if you want to see how unique those playlists are.) But after 22 years, they’ve decided to hang up their headphones and microphones. As they put it in a Facebook announcement earlier this month, they have “decided we’d like to see what it’s like to have regular weekends.”

I can’t say I blame them. Twenty-two years is a long time to work on anything, and they have earned the right to break out the bedazzler and make some art (Belinda’s goal). But the kids music community owes Belinda and Hova a big round of thanks for the many years of playing their music and for supporting the idea that kids can embrace music outside of the mainstream.

Greasy Kid Stuff logo by Musho Rodney Alan Greenblat

Monday Morning Smile: "Light As A Feather" - Cat Doorman

Typically these Monday Morning Smiles focus on tracks that weren't conceived as kids music, but I thought this track was just the thing needed for a sunny spring Monday morning. It's "Light As A Feather," in both title and effect, and it was released last December by Portland's Cat Doorman, with help from fellow musician and artist Alexis Gideon. You can not only stream the track below, but all proceeds from buying the track (just $1) will go towards Save the Children's Syrian Refugee Fund.

Win win, all the way 'round.

<a href="http://catdoorman.bandcamp.com/track/light-as-a-feather">Light As A Feather by Cat Doorman with Alexis Gideon</a>

How I Got Here: Dan Elliott, Pointed Man Band (Graceland, the Library and Midnight Vultures)

Sometimes I see the submissions for the "How I Got Here" series by kids musicians talking about albums important in their musical and career development, and their essays are episodes of discovery to me, albums I'm knowledge of in name only. But other times I'm much more familiar with the albums, and reading is an experience of seeing an old favorite through someone else's eyes (or, rather, hearing it through their ears).

That's the case this around, as Portland's Dan Elliott, AKA Pointed Man Band, shares a few words about Paul Simon's Graceland and Beck's Midnite Vultures, two albums I've still got sitting on my actual shelf. And while those albums might not be the first albums that come to mind when you hear Between the Waves and the Cardoons, Elliott's latest lushly orchestral-pop opus, reading the essay, you can see where he's coming from. So step inside his Hyundai and find out how those albums influence him.

Although the name Pointed Man Band is a direct homage to Harry Nilsson’s The Point!, well before I knew that album, I spent my most formative years with Paul Simon’s Graceland. Growing up, our household consisted of plenty of Greatest Hits records but the full album cassette of Graceland was always close at hand. I’m pretty sure we wore it through. This is an album that I know from beginning to end probably better than any other and it’s also the album that I owe much of my musical curiosity.

From the accordion opening of “Boy in the Bubble,” you know you are in for an adventure. And the songs themselves help to sing you across the vast landscapes, combining the familiar with the unknown. There is always a story being told to capture your attention and the South African band presents a new take on what you thought you were going to hear. Paul Simon changed my world with this album and he taught me to always be thirsty for ways to cross cultures, have a sense of humor, and push boundaries when creating music.

Throughout high school I was continually seeking out music from different parts of the globe. Starting with a helping hand of Ladysmith Black Mambazo being an integral part of this album, it became easier to draw paths and connections to other artists. During my late teens and well into my twenties, I was always going to the library to find the the world section which eventually lead to my love of Samba, Tango, Reggae, Indian Ragas, Jazz, Classical and the list grew on and on.

As Graceland opened my eyes and ears to the music of the world, Beck’s Midnite Vultures opened my mind to how to get over teenage angst and have a ridiculously good time while making, more often than not, no sense at all.

One night as a freshman at university, I saw the music video for the first track off of Midnite Vultures and I was hooked. The video was as completely and perfectly nonsensical as the song it accompanies. The album is absolutely incredible, elusive of any one genre, hysterical and a studio and headphone masterpiece. For me this was an amazing example of a person not taking themselves too seriously, on so many levels, but making sure to pay the utmost attention to quality and challenging themselves to advance. I found and still find much comfort in that.

This album is so lush and so well produced that I can’t help but want to revisit it again and again. Lyrics would work their way into personal jokes with good friends and there’s nothing quite like turning some of these tunes up and singing along with your best raucous falsetto. Not to mention, if I can ever find the song “Debra” in a karaoke book, it’s on!

They are two vastly different artists and albums, but together they continue to inspire me to always pursue new and different paths. And above all, not to lose that desire to produce my own personal headphone masterpiece.