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]

World Premiere Video: "PJs All Day" - The Oot n' Oots

The Oot n’ Oots in front of a little Ponderosa pine.

I know, many of us have been a little more casual in our day-to-day wear at some point in the past 18 months or so. So I think a video celebrating the most casual of casual clothing — the pajama (or “pyjama” depending on your portion of the English-speaking world) — would be appropriate.

Enter British Columbia band The Oot n’ Oots.

Their new track, “PJs All Day,” isn’t the first pajama-celebratory song in kids music, to be sure, but it might be the funkiest.

And I guarantee you it’ll put a spring in your step. Maybe not as springy as the step of the 11-year-old dancer from Kelowna, BC named Tepi Porcelli-Newlands, but that’s a pretty high bar to clear.

The track is from a forthcoming full-length from the band, and I’m glad to be world-premiering this song and video. Because it’s a guaranteed mood-lifter, no matter your current dress status.

The Oot n’ Oots - “PJs All Day” [YouTube]

Video: "Color by Number / Bobbing and Weaving" - Mike Phirman (World Premiere!)

Mike Phirman laughing in studio. Photo by Michelle Livingston

Mike Phirman, like some (though certainly not all) kids’ musicians, didn’t start out intending to become a kids’ musician. Instead, he was a comedian who wrote some funny songs. But one of those songs, “Chicken Monkey Duck,” became popular on SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live (and, erm, with me?), and so it shouldn’t have been so surprising that after becoming a parent himself, he turned more directly to making music for kids.

He’s releasing his second album for kids, an EP title Activity Books, on 8 Pound Gorilla Records this Friday, and the second single from the album is called “Color by Number / Bobbing and Weaving.” When you listen to the song or watch the video (world-premiered here!), you might be wondering what in the world the 2 parts of the song have to do with each other. But give it a little time, and it all comes together quite neatly. The coloring-book-inspired video is courtesy of Dan Edwards. All in all, a nifty song (or two) and video that captures it perfectly.

Interested in hearing more from Activity Books? You can preorder/save/whatever it is you younger parents do these days with music rather than trying to remember it with your own brain here.

Mike Phirman - “Color by Number / Bobbing and Weaving” [YouTube]

Photo by Michelle Livingston

Listen To This: "Jumping Through Hoops" - The Bright Siders (feat. Zara Bode & Gabe Witcher) (World Premiere!)

Way more than a decade ago, I noted how kids music — at least a lot of the new music produced in the 21st century — hadn’t really taken emotional intelligence as a theme. Several years later, at least some such songs had been written, but it wasn’t a list that you could put on Spotify and listen to for days on end.

I’m sure that list is out of date at this point, but there’s always room for more music that’s tuneful and meets kids where they are, emotionally.

So I’m excited that the venerable Smithsonian Folkways label — who’s long included music in service of kids as part of their catalog — is releasing the debut album from the new duo The Bright Siders. The band consists of singer-singer Kristin Andreassen (charter member of “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color For Your Eyes” Fan Club here) and Brooklyn-based child psychiatrist Kari Groff, MD.

Their album, A Mind of Your Own, is released next week, on January 21, and it’s a whole album inspired, as they put it in the liner notes, “from our shared desire to connect with children through music, and to spark meaningful conversations between adults and children about growing up and all the emotions that go with it.”

On the track I’m world-premiering today, “Jumping Through Hoops,” the duo turns over singing duties to Zara Bode and Gabe Witcher, two of many artists Andreassen and Groff bring on board for the project. Groff says that the song is a tribute to all those New York City kids who do so much to handle the intensity of a big, hot crowded city and is “intended to inspire all children to have courage and perseverance, especially during tough times.” The song itself is a loping bit of positivity with a sweet bit of fiddle.

Times are tough at the moment — perhaps you need this, too.

Anyway, I’m happy to world-premiere this track — you can find it in all the usual places.

Andreassen and Groff in front of a colorful building (Credit: Jefry Andres Wright)

Smithsonian Folkways · The Bright Siders - Jumping Through Hoops (feat Zara Bode and Gabe Witcher)

Photo credit: Jefry Andres Wright

Video: "Daddy-O" - Frances England (World Premiere!)

Frances England and her favorite Casio keyboard

It has been a long time since San Francisco-based musician Frances England tiptoed her way onto the kids’ music scene with a homemade, handmade slimline CD titled Fascinating Creatures. Nearly 15 years, to be exact. It’s a little hard to remember just how… novel the album sounded at the time. It had a lo-fi sound, and there were just very few kids music artists who were merging a more personal lyrical approach with an indie folk sound. So taken was I that England was the very first interview on this site.

Fast forward lo these many years, and England has moved from sending CD-R’s to the handful of people writing about or playing kids music at the time to playing across the country, earning a Grammy nomination, and recording her first album for the brand new kids’ record label 8 Pound Gorilla Records, an imprint of Nashville’s comedy record behemoth 800 Pound Gorilla Records.

That album, an EP called Honey, is released today and while there are some new songs for England’s fans to enjoy, she also redoes some of her older tracks, including “Daddy-O,” an ode to fathers from that very first album Fascinating Creatures. The gentle, hushed tone of the original is still there, but the new track features some additional guitar work from Ramon Fermin and light drums from Jason Slota to give it a gentle push.

Why did England choose this particular song to re-record? She says that “My husband was definitely the inspiration [for the song], but I was also thinking about my own dad when I wrote it. I included it on this EP because, probably more than any other song of mine, I've heard so many stories from people about what this song has meant to them. It's such a simple, little song but I've seen how families have included it in such important moments, which is why I wanted to re-record it and put out a version of it I was happy with.”

So now the old song has been buffed up and given a new video by England. I’m very happy to get to world premiere “Daddy-O.” Honey is out everywhere today.

Frances England - “Daddy-O” [YouTube]

Photo credit: Meredith Preble

Video: "Blue Beat" - Dean Jones & Jacky Davis (World Premiere!)

Always, always happy for new music from kindie uber-producer Dean Jones. Jones’ music, be it with his main band, Dog on Fleas, or with any of his other musical partners, is sui generis — entirely unique. But I also love the way that Jones’ work and his enthusiasm for the genre binds together a lot of the musicians that have been making music for families, many of them for more than a decade.

The latest effort from Jones is a album of songs with children’s book illustrator Jacky Davis. No fancy name for them, they’re just Dean Jones & Jacky Davis, and their first album together is Where Does Your Mind Wander?. The pair co-wrote the songs, with Jones performing almost all of the music. The whole album is kinda mellow, kinda dreamy, and quite a bit electronic (both Kraftwerk and minimalist composer Terry Riley are cited as inspirations).

This world premiere track is called “Blue Beat” — I dig its lo-fi beat and its lyrical conceit (which takes a few words to grasp). The video is similarly lo-fi. The accompanying video is just as lo-fi as the song, simple and slightly hypnotic. Together they make for a video that would never win a contest to win the most eyeballs, but might just draw a small collection of devoted fans.

There’s a lot more to tell about a site that this video is actually a sneak preview from… but not today. Hopefully soon, because it’s a cool concept and is in the spirit of Jones’ kids music work to be sure. For today, however, you’ll just have to enjoy this track. Where Does the Mind Wander? is out now everywhere digital music is streamed.

Dean Jones & Jacky Davis - “Where Does the Mind Wander?”