Trees - Molly Ledford & Billy Kelly

Album: Trees

Age Range: 5 through 9

Description: I could probably write a thousand words reviewing this album from Lunch Money mastermind Ledford and the Pennsylvania-based Kelly. Instead, I decided to review the album on NPR. Trying to fit sound clips, host intro and extro, and narrative into about 3 minutes and 15 seconds tends to cut down on the number of words one can squeeze in. Having said that, let me just say that I love this album -- the interplay between Ledford's sweeping palette and Kelly's precise and often humorous views, the interplay between Ledford and Kelly themselves, ably assisted by producer Dean Jones. Kids will dig different songs for different reasons.

You can stream the entire album here. I hope there isn't an album as good as this one this year, because I'm not sure my heart could take it. Get it. Highly recommended.

Appetite for Construction - The Pop Ups

Artist: The Pop Ups

Album: Appetite for Construction

Age Range: 3 through 6

Description: Again, I'll let my NPR review of the album do most of the talking: "Brooklyn duo The Pop-Ups take the listeners back to 1985 on their album... If MTV had a kids music channel in their video heyday, "All These Shapes" would have been in constant rotation... They sing about making puppets, creating photo collages and trying on all sorts of clothes at a costume party." This is definitely geared at your preschooler or kindergartner, though the sounds and hooks may keep it fresh even for a first or second grader. Not to mention, well, you. Highly recommended.

Wired - Recess Monkey

Artist: Recess Monkey

Album: Wired

Age Range: 5 through 9

Description: I'll let my NPR review of the album do most of the talking: "With so many opportunities for kids to stare at screens - big and small - it can be work to get them to use their creativity and make things with their own hands... On their new album, Seattle trio Recess Monkey celebrates makers with songs about school dioramas, duct tape and Legos... The band started out with a heavy Beatles influence. But over the course of 11 albums in just nine years, they've also mixed in a bit of a pop punk sound. Appropriately for an album about playing off of the grid, the band recorded this new album on tape" with John Vanderslice, a musician with whom the band has long been obsessed. I think there have been other Recess Monkey albums with catchier songs overall and so it wouldn't be the single album I'd recommend to a newbie (there's a tough decision to make), but it's certainly another solid album from the Seattle band. Definitely recommended.

We're All Young Together - Walter Martin

Artist: Walter Martin

Album: We're All Young Together

Age Range: 4 through 10

Description: I said almost everything I'd care to say about the debut solo album from The Walkmen's Walter Martin in my NPR review of the album. It's nearly a 180 from his work with the Walkmen in that it's goofy, heartfelt, and sometimes swoony. There's such a sweetness to this album, it's hard not to smile at some point while listening. Highly recommended.

Baby DJ - Luscious Jackson

Artist: Luscious Jackson

Album: Baby DJ

Age Range: 2 through 6

Description: In reviewing the album for NPR, I can't discuss this (or any) album in quite as much detail as I might normally. So here are a couple of additional points to note:

1) The middle of the album is really solid stuff -- "Yeah Yeah No No," "Free," "Hula Hoop," and "Coconut Icee" are fun tracks that would sound just as good on an LJ album for adults as they do here. The album is pretty much worth picking just for those 4 tracks.

2) Your mileage may vary when it comes to the first 2 tracks, "Freeze Dance" and "Baby DJ," and the last track, "It's All Goo." They are definitely more jokey, silly, and goofy in nature. I would not have sequenced the album in that way. Definitely for the younger kids -- you may tire of them.

But overall it's a fun album, recommended, especially those middle 4 tracks.

Shine and the Moonbeams - Shine and the Moonbeams

Artist: Shine and the Moonbeams

Album: Shine and the Moonbeams

Age Range : 4 through 10

Description: Most of what I wanted to say about the long-awaited debut album from the New York City band I said in my NPR review of the album, but I wanted reemphasize how happy that Shawana Kemp finally got her album out into the world. While it's not really the first R&B and soul album in kids music, it's the first that got the sometimes insular "kids music world" excited. And while it's the songs that deal with real-life social issues like bullying and self-respect that could give this album a long shelf life with schools and families, I'm also looking forward to sillier, groovier, jazzier songs along the lines of "Do You Ever Stop" and "Shake for Eight." Lots of fun, lets hope the success of this one makes the follow-up come out faster. Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of this album for possible review.