Kindie's Ten Best One-Hit Wonders

Kids music has its fair share of workhorses -- artists like Recess Monkey and Joanie Leeds and Dean Jones who consistently release albums.  And of course there are artists like Raffi and Bill Harley and Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer whose careers have spanned decades and who are still releasing music relevant to an entirely new generation of families.

And then there are the one-hit wonders -- the musicians and bands who released albums for families… and were never heard from ever again.

Well, not in any existential sense, just in the kindie world.  The reasons for recording a single album for kids and families, then deciding to abandon that particular creative vein are, no doubt, as complicated -- or simple -- as they are for any choices made by people.  Perhaps they hated doing it, it didn't fill them creatively, it didn't make enough money, they didn't have enough time -- these are the complications of life, generally.  (As is the work of keeping up a website -- in a few cases, the sites have lapsed, a clear sign that the artists aren't returning to the kindie fold.)

But it doesn't mean that we can't be disappointed that they never came back.  So here's a list of my ten favorite single-shot kindie albums.  I would love to have to take these off the list for technical reasons, i.e., they come back with a second album.

A couple definitional points:

1.  I chose not to include albums from "adult" artists who released one album for families -- think of folks like Harry Nilsson or Carole King or Barenaked Ladies (though I keep hearing rumors that they're working on kindie album #2) as their family recordings were neither their first nor last recordings.  This is a loose restriction -- it's painful not being able to put the Barenaked Ladies or Medeski Martin & Wood's albums on this list -- but if I didn't impose it this list would be long and useless.  (Perhaps what I really need is another list that reflects those artists.)

2.  I gave at least a couple year window -- meaning, if someone's released just one album, but that was within the past couple years, then they were ineligible.  Unless you're Recess Monkey, churning out an album every two years is a normal timeframe.

Here, then, in alphabetical order, is my list:

Newborn: Bears and Lions

There are lots of words and pictures to share from Kindiefest 2013, and I'll be doing that shortly.  But I didn't want too much time to pass by before sharing the music from Bears and Lions, a new band from Hollywood, South Carolina.

BearsAndLions.jpg

I think there were other sets that were more popular and frankly better at the industry showcase on Saturday night.  But I'm pretty sure if I polled those of us huddled stage right, the set that had us laughing the most and saying something like, "I have no idea what that was, but it might have been brilliant" was from this duo of two guys dressed up as a bear and a lion wearing basketball uniforms and strumming guitars, telling the story in song of a bear and a lion who... oh, what does it matter?  They played a song called "Mediocre Kid" which might just be an anthem -- yes, it's about an average -- maybe even mediocre -- kid, but the song somehow manages to be inspirational.  For the song "Good Boy," they managed to get Recess Monkey's Drew Holloway to act like a dog.  It was just a loopy, occasionally surreal performance that resulted in people loudly shouting "Pancake Sweepstakes!" in unison.

​A lot of people were reminded of The Telephone Company, and I totally get that (duo? check; surreal? check), but the first band that came to my mind was The Thinkers (duo? check; surreal? check).  There's even a touch of the late, lamented Quiet Two in there, at least if they had been influenced by Southern rock rather than the British Invasion.  [Edit: Not to mention, of course, fellow showcaser Ratboy Jr., though their songs are more whimsical than Bears and Lions'.]

So I haven't quite made up my mind yet about them, but I can't wait until they're ready to unleash an entire album onto the world.  Listen to 5 songs below plus watch a couple live videos (not from Kindiefest), and pick up a free track here.

Review: Make Some Noise - The Quiet Two

MakeSomeNoise.jpgUnfortunately for New York band The Quiet Two (formerly the Quiet Ones), their 2005 debut Make Some Noise didn't, er, make some noise, or at least not as much as it should have.  And while I can't answer the question of how in the name of They Might Be Giants did this album fly under the radar, I can do my best to explain why it shouldn't have. The Quiet Two are Chrstopher Anderson and Andrew Ure, 2/3rds of the band Muckafurgason, which toured with They Might Be Giants and whose final album was produced by John Flansburgh of the band.  The They Might Be Giants reference is appropriate here, because the album is filled with lyrical flights of fancy that would not sound out of place on a TMBG album.  Take, for example, "Polar Bear," a country-ish tune which starts out with the line "Straight to the point / I wanna be a polar bear," then comes back to the concept later on in the tune with the line "Back to the point of being a polar bear," a meta reference that is likely to amuse the parents within a very kid-friendly song about, well, being a polar bear.  Or "Invisible Trousers," in which the narrator talks about how he "Wore them to the dentist & to the pet store / And everyone was pointing / Because they’d never seen invisible trousers before," which is a punchline that will reward the older kids and parents listening.  For adults tired of listening to kids' albums with too many lessons, the lessons here are few and far between, with the band typically content to tell stories with subjects of interest to kids, like running ("How Fast Can You Run") and superheroes ("Ultrafoot"). Sonically, the album has a very British vibe, with some songs sound more like British Invasion bands ("Make Some Noise"), some like XTC outtakes (the amusing "My Keyboard"), and some like the Beatles (the lovely "I Remember Purple").  And, gosh, I've somehow managed to not mention my two favorite songs, the power-poppy "You Can't Hide Your Bike" (which is about exactly what the title implies), and the narratively exuberant album closer "Fizzy Milk." Well, kids ages 4 through 9 -- especially slightly silly ones -- will enjoy this album the most.  You can hear samples of some songs here or all songs at the album's page at Amazon.  You can also see the lyrics and hear karaoke versions of most songs here. Can you tell I liked the album?  There are no bad songs here, just songs you'll like more or less than others.  At just over the 30-minute mark, the album is short but very sweet.  Fans of power pop or XTC or They Might Be Giants should check out the album post haste.  Like, yesterday.  As for the rest of you, the appealing goofiness and catchy melodies make Make Some Noise also worth your time.  Definitely recommended.