Review: This Is Fun! - Caspar Babypants

If it's November, it must be time for another album from Chris Ballew's family-music alter ego, Caspar Babypants. Last November it was More Please!; this year he continues to confound Fids and Kamily voters and their Nov. 1-Oct. 31 voting year by releasing This Is Fun!, his third album for families.

The title suggests that Ballew is finally feeling comfortable in this his new skin of family entertainer. And while you never would've known that he was uncomfortable after listening to his first two tons-of-fun disks, it is a clue that Ballew has begun to figure out his calling. That calling? Focusing on preschool-aged kids and younger. It's a group that's tended to be overlooked by many of the artists in the kids music new wave, leaving Laurie Berkner to clean up. But songs like the zippy album opener "All You Pretty Babies" and the gentle punk-in-a-bouncer "Baby's Getting Up" are all about movement and music. Handclaps are big, too, such as on "Look at All These Elephants," which is just rhythm and words. The album is often little more guitar and small percussion (e.g., shakers), though it remains fresh for the most part throughout.

But lest you think the album is just a small music participation class for 2 year olds, This Is Fun! has more than its fair share of earwormy tunes for all ages. Ballew gives old songs new life -- his takes on "Shoo Fly," "The Cuckoo," and "Buckeye Jim" shake off the cobwebs and make them safe for tired parents. Of course his pure pop sensibility is still there on kid hits like the hyper (for this project anyway) "Googly Eyes" and the sweet "Little Ditty." And Ballew knows how to pick guest artists -- Elizabeth Mitchell and Charlie Hope lend their voices to "Dark of Night" and "Mister Rabbit" while the unmistakable bassline of Nirvana's "Sliver" is played by Nirvana's bassist Krist Novoselic.

The 47-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 1 through 5, though older kids will certainly enjoy the melodies and goofier tunes on the album. You can listen to the album at the Babypants homepage (or samples at its CDBaby page).

With This Is Fun!, Chris Ballew has now produced three Caspar Babypants albums and had three successes. Call it a hat trick, perhaps, but the optimistic album title his latest is indeed appropriately named. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: I was provided with a couple of the album for possible review.

Itty-Bitty Review: "The Best of The Laurie Berkner Band" - The Laurie Berkner Band

Why such a tiny review for such a big superstar as Laurie Berkner? Because it's a greatest hits disk, the future of which is somewhat in doubt in the mp3 era. After all, if your family are superfans, you'll get it just for the three new-to-CD tracks, including rerecordings of "Pig on Her Head" and "Moon Moon Moon," both previously seen on video, and the new track "Open Your Heart." (There's a deluxe edition as well, featuring four videos, including a previously-unreleased one for "Mouse in My Toolbox," which is similar in scope to Berkner's other Nick videos. You superfans will probably want that version.) The rest of you? You might just download the extra tracks from the album you don't have (there are no more than four from any particular album).

But that obscures just how important a songwriter and performer Berkner is for the pre-K set. As a whole, it's a solidly constructed disk, with no major omissions -- I personally would've included more tracks from her debut Whaddaya Think of That?, but all the big tracks are here. And over the roughly 15 years or so Berkner's been performing for kids she's compiled a catalog of songs that would be the envy of just about any kids' musician. "We Are the Dinosaurs" is a stone-cold kids' classic, for example, one that works equally well performed live by a band and performed by your preschooler's teacher. "Moon Moon Moon" is the only lullaby written in the past hundred years that I actually sing to my kids. And "Victor Vito" is cheesy, dorky, and stuck in your brain for the next week now that I've mentioned it. And so on.

While other artists slowly slide up to the 4-to-8-year-old age range, Berkner's continued to make music -- darn good music -- for preschoolers. So while I'm not sure many regular readers actually need The Best of The Laure Berkner Band! given the relative lack of new songs, as a collection of some of the best original music for preschoolers of the past twenty years, it's highly recommended.

(Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the regular edition of the album for possible review.)

Seven Sleepy Lullaby Albums (The Sequel)

A couple years ago, I put together a review of seven lullaby albums. It's time to do another review of lullaby albums that have crossed my desk in the past six to nine months and, what do you know?, there are seven more. Must be a lucky number.

The most striking lullaby album in this collection is Until the Light of Morning, the recently released album from New Yorker (via London) Essie Jain. As Jain notes in her liner notes, the 35-minute album is "designed to unwind itself as it goes along, as the music becomes softer and more relaxed, eventually becoming as instrumental as the heart beat." It's definitely the best-constructed lullaby album here, perfected for moving from evening play time to sleep time. The music and lovely packaging make it a good choice for gifting to the new parent... or maybe even your own family. (Listen to a couple songs here and 3 more from a live Daytrotter session.) Definitely recommended.

Sing Me To Sleep from American Laundromat Records is the latest in the time-honored tradition of getting indie rock artists to record music for kids. The For the Kids series can cross "lullaby disk" off their to-do list, because this fits the bill. The indie artists here such as Stars, Dean & Britta, and Tanya Donelly cover others' songs for the album. As you might expect given the compilation nature of the disk, the definition of "lullaby" gets stretched considerably. I love The Leisure Society's take on "Inchworm," but it gets far too peppy to be a lullaby, and I'm not sure "Little Boxes" is really a lullaby in any sense of the word. (Also, can we please put a five-year moratorium on covers of "Pure Imagination" and "Rainbow Connection," both covered here and a billion other kid-related comps?) Far better are Dala's take on "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and Telekinesis' version of "Can't Get It Out of My Head," along with a number of other tracks.

There's a limited edition with tracks from Julie Peel and the Coctails, and more -- the tracks from those artists in particular definitely aren't throwaway tracks and are probably worth the extra cash, along with a gorgeous instrumental version of "The Sound of Silence" from the Abbasi Brothers. Peter Broderick's "You Are My Sunshine" may induce nightmares, though, and count me among those wondering why Say Hi covered the Violent Femmes track "Kiss Off" (it does make for interesting listening, though, I'll give it that much). Proceeds from the album will go to The Valerie Fund, which provides support for the comprehensive health care of children with cancer and blood disorders. (Listen to songs from the album here.) It might not be a perfect album, but you can certainly find a good 30 minutes of excellent lullabies. Recommended.

I think these two albums are the cream of this particular crop of disks, but there are 5 more after the jump -- you're bound to find at least one of these that appeal to you...
Australia's Mudcakes weigh in with Songs For Little Sleepyheads, the album most likely to sound like the album you or I might make. OK, you probably wouldn't have simple accompaniment on ukulele or lap steel guitar. (Definitely not the lap steel guitar.) But the songs -- "I See the Moon," "Twinkle Twinkle," or "Froggy Goodnight" (a reworking of "Goodnight Irene") -- are the type you might have in your repertoire. There are some originals worked into the mix as well, and there's a nice winding down effect. (Listen to songs from the 38-minute album here.) Recommended.

New York-based trio Tres Leches are a one-man, er, three-woman Putumayo crew on their debut 2009 disk Songs, Chants & Lullabies for All Our Relations. The opener African song "Samina" is bright uptempo, but the rest is mostly cooldown music, with harmonies the focus. High points include a sweet and indirect "Itsy Bitsy Spider," the traditional Afro-Yoruban song "Yemaya," and the original "Coo Coo." By the end of the 31-minute album, it's mostly a capella, so it's a good thing the voices and harmonies sound so lovely. (Listen to the album at the band's website above.) Recommended.

Blue Sky Lullaby is from New York's Hammond Sisters, who, being Amy Koza and Davita Robinson, are neither named "Hammond" nor are sisters. It's a collection of original '30s-inspired folk ballads written by the duo that are more quiet-time songs than lullabies. Which isn't to say some of them aren't gorgeous, just that you may find that the songs work better near the front of your personally-crafted lullaby mix CD rather than the sleep end. The 43-minute album is a benefit for Mapendo International, which protects and cares for at-risk refugees in Africa. Fans of Hem I think will particularly enjoy this album, as will folks looking for something to listen to a cold winter afternoon. (Listen to a couple tracks, including the lovely "Baby Mine," here.) Recommended.

Jazz singer Maci Miller's Butterfly Moon is the album for those who like their lullaby albums to have a bit of shine to them. It's partially a benefit for The Mercy Centre, a Bangkok organization working with kids and families. Save for the title track, these are all covers, some of popular songs ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "It's a Small World,"), some more traditional (Brahms' "Lullaby," "Down In The Valley"). It's a bit too slickly produced for my own lullaby tastes, a little too "tinkly." But it's a lot less schmaltzy and restrained than other stuff in the same vein and mostly remembers the notionally lullaby nature of the disk, which sometimes trained singers forget. I don't think fans of Sing Me To Sleep or Essie Jain will necessarily like this, but if for some reason those albums don't speak to you or your kids, this one might. (Listen to 3 tracks here or clips here.)

Finally, Bedtime with the Beatles, recorded by pop-rocker Jason Falkner and released in 2001 on the Sony Wonder. Long before Rockabye Baby came along was this album, in which Falkner goes all Mantovani on us and creates smooth (and synthesized) orchestral versions of 11 Beatles classics. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about these versions, either in concept or compared to the originals, but they're not too tinkly and would be a pleasant diversion while trying to soothe a baby at 2 AM. Just don't expect it to replace your actual Beatles albums.

[With the exception of the Jason Falkner album, I received copies of all albums discussed here for possible review.]

Itty-Bitty Review: Little Boots - Brendan Taaffe

I sometimes get asked for baby shower gift suggestions from folks who don't have kids themselves but who know my gig. Because it'll be a little while before the kids are ready for the more raucous and diverse music targeted at the preschool crowd, I limit my suggestions to a handful of lullaby albums. I think I'm going to add Little Boots from Vermont's Brendan Taaffe to the list.

Conceived as a gift of sorts to Taaffe's nephew, it's a quiet collection of traditional folk songs, Irish tunes, and originals that blend instrumentation both traditional (guitar) and not so from a North American sense (mbira, used to particularly good effect on the leadoff track, Pete Seeger's "Well May the World Go"). Seeger is a big influence here -- he endorses Taaffe's effort and gets not only the leadoff track but the album closer, too. It's a little reminiscent of Dean Jones' Napper Delight disk in its instrumentation and that it's not afraid to step lively occasionally. If A Prairie Home Companion did a kids show, this would be the music they'd play throughout.

As a lullaby album (for the most part), it's clearly targeted at kids ages 0 through 3, but even more so at their parents, who could use a calming moment or two. You can hear (and download) four of the album's tracks here and sample the rest of the album here. (One other note in favor of its suitability for gifting -- the album's cover art was done by Dan Zanes' partner in artistic crime Donald Saaf.) Little Boots is a sweet little disk your family may find itself listening long after you've packed up the crib. Recommended.

Review: Two Feet Tall - Dan Bern

Dan Bern might not be the first person you'd think to release a kids music album -- a discography filled with socially and politically charged songs (sample: "Bush Must Be Defeated") isn't necessarily the typical precursor to singing songs about binkies. But Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Ella Jenkins didn't exactly hide behind their political convictions, so why shouldn't politically-minded contemporary folk musicians be any less free to sing for the preschool set?

Having said that, if you're expecting you're expecting the just-released Two Feet Tall to be your toddler's introduction to progressive politics, you'll be disappointed. Instead, the album features amusing couplets like this in "Hen Party" -- "They'll be playing ball games / They'll be eating applesauce / One thing we know for sure is / They won't be playing an egg toss." The closest Bern really gets to being political is "Labor Day," and that's really just a celebration of walking outside with an infant.

Instead, Bern's more interested in turning a simple story of putting on pants ("Trousers") into a digression on how pants became trousers (Jack Trousers, 1751, apparently -- strange how Wikipedia is oddly silent on that issue). Or a manic telling via lyrical couplets of the people behind Listerine or Kleenex or Schwinn bicycles ("Mister Lister"). Or telling a child she's too young to do things she wants to do with lyrics that will thankfully go over the 18-month-old's head ("If you came to me and said / I want to hold a shiny red purse and / Hang on the corner of Hollywood and Vine / I'd say / You're too, too, too young / You're too young for that / Why don't you sit on my lap / And we'll drink cookies and milk...").

And occasionally Bern comes up with classic kid-folk songs, like "Shoes" ("I like that you don't have a mortgage / I like that you don't have a mortgage / That's OK when you're old and gray / But today you can run and play / I like that you don't have a mortgage...") "Only a Mouse" lists all the things only a mouse knows -- the migratory patterns of cats, certain qualities of cheese, and mixing a sloe gin fizz, apparently, among other things. There are plenty of other tracks here, such as "Donkey to Brunch," "Secrets," and "Monkey and the Kangaroo" that could easily have been recorded on a Folkways album of fifty years ago. Bern's clearly in love with his kid, and that tenderness comes through loud and clear. Well, at least clear.

Clocking in at 38 songs and about 70 minutes in length, the album could have been trimmed by at least a third, not because any of the songs are bad (OK, I'd be happy never to hear again the vibrating chair in "It Vibrates") but because there's relatively little variation in the arrangements, with whistling or bells occasionally offsetting Bern's sightly nasally voice and guitar (or ukulele) playing. (There's a reason I've been focusing on Bern's wordplay here.) The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 0 through 4. You can purchase the album at Bern's store or hear samples through iTunes.

As if he were the child of Kimya Dawson, Barry Louis Polisar, and Woody Guthrie, Dan Bern's put together a collection of gentle and witty lo-fi songs that wear their hearts on their sleeves and occasionally achieve transcendance. Two Feet Tall isn't for everyone, but if you know a relatively new parent (or are one yourself) and are looking for an album celebrating infant- and toddlerhood with some roughness around the edges, you might just adore this album. For those folks, it's recommended.

Disclosure: I purchased this album. Is that a disclosure?