Itty-Bitty Review: All I Want! - David Weinstone (Music for Aardvarks)

While David Weinstone has been incredibly successful licensing his Music for Aardvarks classes, he has not done a lot of recording for the general public.

Which is a little bit sad, because Weinstone is a pretty good songwriter. And on his latest album, All I Want!, he has a number of stellar songs. While some of the songs seem like they originated out of his MFA classes, many of the songs (for the most part, my favorites) sound like they were created outside of a class context. Like a number of artists, Weinstone attempts to cover a broad range of musical styles, from old-timey Dixieland ("I Want a Puppy!") to fuzzed-out Guided By Voices-style rock ("Mighty Milo") to a harmonica-accented waltz ("Beach Song"). "All I Want!" thrashes harder than any kids' song you'll all year, and probably most of the adult songs, too. Although the genre-hopping can be head-spinning, Weinstone's adept at all of it, while also channeling a bit of Barry Louis Polisar acerbic-kid humor (sample from "Better Keep Your Eye on Me!": "I like cell phones, they taste good / They're expensive, man they should.")

The album will be most appreciated by kids ages 3 through 6. You can listen to a few songs here. All I Want isn't always an "album" as we might typically think of a coherent set of music, but as a collection of songs, it is a pretty good one. Even families who have never heard of MFA are bound to find a least a couple of songs that will tickle their fancy. Recommended.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the album for possible review.

Book/CD Review: Two Albums from Mr. and Mrs. Muffins

Some artists are busy recording music for already-written books, while plenty of other artists write their own books to go along with their music. The Seattle duo Mr. and Mrs. Muffins are charting a third, less-traveled course in the family music world -- writing books that serve as the basis for new music.

Late last year they released a couple book/CD collections -- The Adventures of Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Carrot and The Striped Ladybird. "Book" is probably a bit strong of a word for those families still strongly in the physical object camp, as the only book available is a PDF document. But the books look pretty nice on an iPad while following along to the mp3s.

Musically, both albums are a throwback to a good fifty years or so in the past, with Ladybird offering up some bossa nova and other laid-back Brazilian sounds and chamber pop (even a little Beach Boys), while Ms. Rabbit provides more of a Parisian vibe (dig the accordion). Each album features musical interudes interspersed with narration of the story. The stories themselves are gently moralistic fables, teaching lessons (Ms. Rabbit: making friends is a good thing; Ladybird: it's OK to be different). The concept of the interaction between the book and the music doesn't work perfectly as there isn't enough visually in the book between the narrative to hold the attention of the reader for most of the musical interludes. But the art direction is pretty, especially for Ms. Rabbit.

The stories are most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can stream both albums below, or, go here to stream just the music from both disks (a
"best of" which, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, will be pressed on vinyl). If you're choosing, I'd go with The Adventures of Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Carrot for the art direction and The Striped Ladybird for the music. Recommended for fans of dreamy stories and sounds for a rainy day -- I hope this is just the beginning...

Disclosure: None! I bought these e-books myself.

Itty-Bitty Review: The Little House Songs - Caroline Herring

It's not often ignorance can make for a better review, but it just might in this case. Selected ignorance, in any case. I was actually familiar with Caroline Herring's recording of The Little House Songs, an album (or musical, really) based on the 1942 book The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. I also followed the Atlanta-based Herring as she financed the album via a successful Kickstarter campaign. But the book itself? Sorry, it's one of those Caldecott Medal winners I missed. (I had to check Wikipedia for the publication date.)

So while I can't say whether the album adequately reimagines an obviously well-loved book, I can say whether it evokes a well-loved book, and on that score, it succeeds. In brief -- and I say this solely based on listening to the album (though I've now since seen the summary) -- a house is built in the country, an expanding city encroaches upon it, it falls into disrepair, a new owner falls in love with it and moves it into the country once again. Obviously there are themes of wistfulness and the passage of time, and Herring does a great job of conveying those themes musically, such as on the wistful "The City Grew Up Around Her" and "Shabby." But it's not entirely downbeat -- "Building of the Road" is an uptempo folk-rocker propulsively carried along by rhythm guitar and Herring's voice until it just slows down, while I loved the violin's mimicking of wheels on happy "House on Wheels." It's mostly folk, with some songs tending a little more country, all tastefully arranged.

Kids ages 3 through 7 will most appreciate the 25-minute album. You can listen to all of "House on Wheels" here and other clips here and here. The Little House Songs is a simple little album, made with care, much as the book that inspired it was. (It's also made me want to read the book, which is always a good sign of the quality of an interpretation in a different medium.) Herring reportedly is interested in doing more of these albums based on children's books. Based on this first attempt, I am hoping she is true to her word. Recommended.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the album in my registration bag at Kindiefest.

Review: A Trio of Sleepy Disks

Time once again for another stroll -- a long, langurous stroll we might not actually complete because we're so tired -- down lullaby lane. The last couple times I did this, I reviewed seven lullaby albums, but maybe because I'm only doing this a year after my last list, I only have three to add. Let's get started... you're probably tired anyway.

First up is my favorite of the trio, New England singer-songwriter Mark Erelli's Innocent When You Dream, originally released in 2007 and back in print once again. Like many lullaby disks these days, it's not a collection of traditional (or even standard) lullabies; rather, the album includes songs by "some of [Erelli's] favorite writers that have a certain tenderness to them," and even subtitles the album "Lullabies and Love Songs." Which is why you get folks like Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Wilco, and Shawn Colvin getting covered here. (I already said how much I liked Erelli's cover of Wilco's "My Darling"; the song is originally from this album.) They are songs of comfort and reassurance, so, yes, lullabies, if not ones with easy-to-remember lyrics. Sonically, the album is perfectly pitched, as if Erelli were sitting in the corner of your nursery or around the campfire, singing to you and/or your child, accompanying himself on guitar. It avoids the common lullaby album mistake of being so overwrought that it'll keep everyone awake. Listen to a couple tracks from the 30-minute album here. Innocent When You Dream is a lovely little album and will soothe all but the most savage beast.

A couple more albums after the jump.
Nashville singer-songwriter Jane Roman Pitt's 2009 album Midnight Lullaby is another album getting another new push here in 2011. Compared to Erelli's album, Pitt's album definitely has a shinier sound. In fact, 2 or 3 tracks in, I was afraid that it was one of those albums that was "lullaby" in name only and not in execution. But starting with her take on the Dixie Chicks' "Lullaby" and Tom Waits' "Midnight Lullaby," the album calms down considerably to the point where I could envision actually using this at lullaby-time. If you listen to Pitt's version of Wilco's "My Darling" (listen to tracks from the 37-minute album here and compare that to Erelli's version, I think they each give a fair representation of their albums as a whole. Pick the one you like the most. I may prefer Erelli's album, but Midnight Lullaby offers some elegant charms of its own. Recommended.

Finally, Sweet Water Child - Lullabies for Getty is an album of lullabies from Alex and Angela Dezen. Alex Dezen is the singer-songwriter behind The Damnwells, and on this album he's recorded with his wife a series of impassioned lullaby-ish love songs. The urgency is not surprising given that it's a fundraiser the Getty Owl Foundation, named for a young girl called Getty Storm and who is fighting Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a thus-far untreatable and fatal disease. For the most part it's just Alex and his piano, singing songs of love that sound like they come out of a half-remembered dream. It doesn't quite sound like a standard lullaby album -- it sounds more like something you'd play at 2 in the morning after you've spent an hour or two trying to get a sick baby to sleep. That's got to be one of the weirder sentences of praise I've ever written for an album, but it feels right. (It's a feeling that I would guess families fighting SMA have quite a bit.) You can listen to the 25-minute album here or stream it below. Sweet Water Child is an even more untraditional lullaby album than the other two mentioned here, but I think not a few folks will find its slightly-ragged, insistent sound appealing and its cause worthy. Recommended.

[Disclosure: I received copies of Mark Erelli's and Jane Roman Pitt's albums for possible review.]

Review: Oh Lucky Day - Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band

Lucky Diaz' first album, an EP titled Luckiest Adventure, was a 15-minute blast of folk-pop goodness that immediately caught the ear of all who heard it. As a result, expectations and anticipation for his first full-length disk was high.

Today Diaz and his Family Jam Band release Oh Lucky Day and so you're probably wondering, does it fulfill the promise of those first five songs?

The answer: for the most part, yes. The new album doesn't tremendously expand Diaz' sound or introduce new styles, but that's OK because his well-produced folk-tinged pop and pop-rock didn't need much expanding to begin with. Diaz clearly thinks the world of his daughter, and many of the songs seem written with her in mind. I love the opening track, the goofy "Say What?," which features some funky scat-and-response between Diaz and his daughter. I am less enamored of "Pretty Princess," a song about, well, being a princess. I guess I just don't need more songs about princesses. A large part of the album borders on the edge of sticky-sweet, and if you are looking for an album with a little more "grit," you may stop listening before you get to the latter part of the album, which is my favorite part. "Race Car" is a, er, revved-up song perfect for car-obsessed preschoolers, while "Gato Astronauto" takes a cat on a New Wave-inspired trip. Following that, "Let's Dance" is for all of you that thought "Video Killed the Radio Star" needed to be turned into a preschool rave-up. (Raises hand.) After all that silliness, the sweet ending track, "Dreamland," a duet with Holly Conlan, puts a pretty little bow on the package.

The album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear one song here and samples here.

With Oh Lucky Day, Lucky Diaz has crafted an album of well-written songs and fine arrangements that will satisfy a large percentage of all but the most rambunctious of kid-listeners. It is Diaz' first full-length, but clearly won't be his last. Recommended.

I received a copy of the album for possible review. I also ran a contest to win the album.