DVD Review: Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World

An innocent wandering through the world is hardly an original concept for a story. The Who's Tommy, for example, or countless first novels.

To say that Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World borrows the concept, then, is no knock on this "Musical Moving Book," as it's called. The concept may be borrowed, but the execution is quite unique and wonderful.

Gustafer Yellowgold is the brainchild of New York-based songwriter and illustrator Morgan Taylor. Taylor has previously self-released several CDs but here has combined his songwriting talents with his illustrating skills to produce a concert which combines live music from Taylor and a small band of musicians with illustrations projected on large screens. It's the music and illustrations behind this live "moving book" which are captured here on the 24-minute DVD. There isn't much of a plot; it's more of a series of character sketches.

Gustafer is an alien from the sun who tells his story of life on the sun in the opening song "I'm From the Sun." It's an uptempo number which shows exactly how difficult life can be on the sun. ("No snowflakes on the tongue" is one of the complaints.) It's a jangle-pop tune with bongos, giving it a little Guster-like feel. The best song on the DVD is the concluding "New Blue Star," which is about, well, a new blue star, but could just be easily interpreted as a love song -- it's a gentle midtempo rockersworthy of Matthew Sweet in his less guitar-focused work (think Blue Sky on Mars without all the synthesizers). Another one of my favorite tunes is "Pterodactyl Tuxedo," a friend of Gustafer's who may be exasperating at times but is also a true friend ("He's always had the time / To pick up the phone / When you're calling way too late / He's always been the kind / To help you pickin' bones / When your faith begins to fade.") The music is hard to peg, but besides the bands listed already, there are hints of the Beatles (in the slow songs), World Party (yeah, a Beatles tribute band, virtually), and the Flaming Lips.

The lyrics here make it sound rather serious, and there's an undercurrent of sadness in Gustafer's story. His eel Slim ("Your Eel") will leave one day. The "Mint Green Bee" is sad and cries. But that sadness is leavened by the whimsical illustrations. This isn't really animation; particular animations are moved around the screen to give a primitive sense of animation. It might not sound compelling, but it's quite engrossing. It's used to particularly good effect in the surreal, vaguely They Might Be Giants-like "I Jump On Cake" ("I jump on cake from up above / I step on pie so warm and lovely / It's mine to punt, vanilla bundt / All freshly baked, I'm on your cake"). A picture of Gustafer moves (with blinking eyes) from up above onto a tempting cake. Pies explode like fireworks.

I'm always one to find nits to pick, and the only thing I can come up with here is that it's a DVD only. Perhaps in the future they'll consider bundling the DVD with an audio-only CD. Other than that, it's great. The album is probably best for kids age 3 through 8. You can see (and hear) video clips from "I'm From the Sun" and "Your Eel" here. You can purchase the DVD from the Gustafer website. Of note as well is the ability to sing along with the video, karaoke-style -- not sure how popular that will be, but since the videos all have the words on the screen, it's not inconceivable that it'd be used.

Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World is a work of great creativity, visually and musically. It's definitely worth your time to check it out.

Review: Silly Reflection - Lunch Money

I think the best way to introduce this review is by talking about how much stuff our daughter has. I'm not talking about massive amounts of overblown toys and games. I'm just talking about her stuffed animals, which almost crowd her out of her bed. Or her My Little Ponies, which she decorates with her ponytail holders. Kids' lives are defined as much by objects and things as they are by people -- favorite books, favorite clothes, favorite foods.

Children's music tends to focus on feelings (I'm happy! I'm sad!) or concepts (numbers, letters). But Silly Reflection, the late-2004 debut album from the South Carolina-based trio Lunch Money, draws its inspiration from kids' stuff. Trains ("Caboose"), roller coasters ("Roller Coaster," natch), umbrellas ("Umbrella") -- these are the things that fascinate kids because they've never seen such things before. Singer/songwriter Molly Ledford likes to use similes to describe these things in ways concrete ("I'd like to introduce the caboose / Last in line, red like a stop sign") and a little more abstract ("Umbrella, you're quite the little magic trick / You start off looking like a stick / But with a little rain / You bloom like a flower"). And here is a sampling of the words used on the album: "vamoose," "esprit," "ukulele," "amphibians," and the phrase "thick as thieves." These are not typical kids' music words.

But it's the music that I really dig -- it's very Kill The Moonlight-era Spoon with some Yo La Tengo and Shins mixed in. Wonderful melodies with the barest of instrumentation which make the small musical flourishes -- trumpet and double bass and fingersnaps and handclaps -- stand out that much more. It's hard for me to pick out a favorite song, but I love the way the wistful melody and harmonizing in "I Want A Dog" mixes with the longing lyrics of a child wanting a dog before getting too old (and constantly changing her mind as to the dog's name). All that, and it's wryly amusing, too. ("I look at the paper, but it's really not up to me / I'll just have to hope and look longingly.")

At 22 minutes long, Silly Reflection is short but sweet -- there isn't a bad song on the album. Lyrically, it will hit home most for kids age 3 through 7. But it really is one of those children's music albums you will find yourself playing when the kids aren't around. You can listen to three songs off the album here -- they're fairly representative of the CD, so if you like those, you'll like the rest of the album. You can buy the CD from Lunch Money direct or from the usual online suspects. Highly recommended.

Review: Giddyup! - Buck Howdy

The Virginia-based Buck Howdy bills himself as "The King of Kids' Cowboy Music." While that might sound like an example of "big fish/small pond," his 2005 album Giddyup! does nothing to make someone doubt that claim and might even gain some fans outside the genre.

Let's start with the best-known song, "Baked Beans." It's a silly story about gastrointestinal distress on the range that would grow old very quick if it weren't so expertly crafted. I mean, between listening to the album and satellite radio, I've heard the song 15-20 times at least -- a song about "cutting the cheese", for goodness' sake -- and it's still tolerable. (Which is a good thing, because I'd imagine 5-year-old boys would want to listen to the song 15-20 times. In a row. Every day. For, like, six months.)

That song is tolerable over repeated playings in large part because the musicianship is top-notch. Howdy's small band plays western swing, bluegrass, and traditional country tunes with precision. Howdy has an appealing voice with just enough twang. The album just sounds great.

The album is split evenly between Howdy originals and covers. If you're worried that the whole album is jokey, don't be. With the exception "Baked Beans" and "My Favorite Kind of Bugs," the originals are straightforward cowboy songs (albeit targeted at 6-year-old cowpokes). Some of the covers work well (Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John"); others, while not bad, left me with a "why bother?" feeling ("Hokey Pokey").

Those of you buying the album for the Trout Fishing in America performances will likely be disappointed, as they don't make much of an impression in their songs ("S'mores," "Giddyup!"). Laurie Berkner's appearance is another matter -- her duet with Howdy on Dale Evans' "Happy Trails" is sweet and makes you wonder where Berkner has been hiding that fabulous voice on her own CDs.

"Happy Trails" is one of my two favorite songs on the album; the other is the last "Bonus Track." To reveal too much about the song would ruin the surprise, so I'll just say that it's a song that will likely amuse the 6-year-olds and possibly make the adults laugh out loud.

Giddyup! is probably best for kids aged 4 through 10. It's available in the usual online and offline suspects. If you want to listen to most of the album (though, sadly, not my two favorite tracks), you can listen to the tracks here. Unless you or your kids have a genetic twang deficiency, you will probably find something to like in the album. Recommended.

Review: Fascinating Creatures - Frances England

I initially approached Frances England's 2006 debut album Fascinating Creatures as if I were playing a game of "spot-the-influence." Did I hear Elizabeth Mitchell (who recorded a low-key and lo-fi debut CD a number of years ago)? Did I hear Cat Power or Yo La Tengo, a couple artists England herself cites an influences?

And after a couple spin-throughs, I thought that to play that game was unfair to England, who has recorded one of the most adventurous children's music albums in some time, quite unlike anything out there at the moment.

England wrote all 13 songs on the album and recorded it with her husband's cousin Billy Riggs. Lyrically, England covers the 4-year-old waterfront -- tricycles ("Tricycle"); trains, trucks, boats and airplanes ("Where Do They Go?"); and the fun of a blueberry pancake breakfast ("Blueberry Pancakes") -- without talking down to the listener. These aren't new topics for children's music, but lines like "Tell me where do all the big boats go? / As they crash against the wild, dark sea / With containers stacked both high and low / The captain steers towards land and safety" aren't a typical children's music lyric.

Musically, the first half of the CD is a low-key affair, primarily acoustic guitars and light percussion. But on "Charlie Parker," the middle song on the album, that the album kicks into a higher gear, adding electric guitar and drums. It's a little odd to hear a rock song about jazz greats (albeit with some scat singing), but it works. The next song, "Digging in the Dirt," about gardening (natch), is an even fuzzier rock song. Eventually the CD winds down again, returning to acoustic guitar and England's voice.

Although England's voice reminds me a little bit of the nasally twang of folksinger Iris DeMent (particularly on "Where Do They Go?"), it wasn't until I heard England rock out that I figured out who she reminded me most of -- Tanya Donnelly in her Belly years, alternative rock in which Donnelly's voice was used as another instrument along with the wall of guitar sound. England yodels, yips, and in general provides the musical variation on the simple instrumental backup.

The album isn't perfect -- the mix of instruments on the rock songs sounded a bit muddied to my ears, for example. And England can sometimes try to fit too many syllables into a lyric. (One of my favorite songs on the CD, the closer "Little Bright Star," doesn't do that, and shines -- pun unintended -- for it.)

But that's quibbling. Fascinating Creatures is a good album, a very promising debut. (My wife likes it, and she's a much harsher critic of these kids CDs than I am.) It's probably best for kids age 2 through 7. Right now the CD is available through CD Baby, where you can hear samples of each track.

Finally, the copy I received was attractively packaged in a slimline case and burned on a nicely printed CDR, which may or may not be the version available for purchase. Those of you looking for a more complete package as with CDs from more established artists may be surprised. But what my copy lacked in heft it more than made up for in the feeling that here was something that I could say was the start of something big, like it was a little secret known to only a few. But I don't think this CD or Ms. England will stay secret for long. Recommended.

DVD Review: All Around the Kitchen! - Dan Zanes and Friends

Let me begin by saying, for the benefit of the newcomers to the site, that I if were trapped on a desert island with an iPod, and could pick just one children and family music artist to listen to (their kids' music only), it would probably be Dan Zanes. In part, this is a matter of material -- he's released 4 kids' albums and another 2 albums easily categorized as family music, so that's 6 albums right there. (Why limit yourself to just a couple albums?) But more importantly, to help me stave off going all Tom Hanks on the volleyball for as long as possible, Zanes' albums are eminently sane, hummable, and hopeful. They're albums I have no problem listening to when the kids are nowhere around.

Which brings us to his 2005 DVD release, All Around the Kitchen!. The DVD is a collection of his videos for Noggin and Sesame Street, along with some concert footage. Let's start with the videos. There are six of them, and by far my favorite is the Sandy Girls' rendition of "Go Down Emmanuel Road," which is an animated video for Sesame Street that shows the numbers one through five to nice anthropomorphic (numero-morphic?) effect. "Hello, Hello" for Noggin, is also animated (looking much like the Zanes/Donald Saaf book on which it's based). The other two Noggin videos are reminiscent of the Laurie Berkner videos -- the band acting goofy in front of a white background with shots of kids acting goofy in front of a white background. The final video, "Wanderin'," consists of concert footage and reminded me most of all those concert-footage videos by hair metal bands in the '80s (think Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive"). I doubt my kids will make that association, though... So that's six videos, 15 minutes, and your kids will probably like them.

The concert... well, I liked the concert, filmed at NYC's venerable Knitting Factory club in late 2004. The sound is great. It's well-filmed. But I don't know how much kids will love it. There are a number of crowd reaction shots where the kids are just sitting there, looking sort of like the audience in the Beatles' first Ed Sullivan Show appearance that wasn't crying uncontrollably. They're entranced, but they're not quite sure to make of 5 or 6 people up on stage making such a large sound. And so your kids may have the same reaction. They may get up to move more when Father Goose makes an appearance for the last 3 or 4 songs; in seeing the concert, I have a much better appreciation for what he brings to the band. The concert, then, is 9 songs, 30 minutes, and your kids' mileage may vary.

For those of you looking for an overview of Zanes' kids music, this isn't perfect, because 10 of the 15 songs come from Zanes' first two albums, with just 5 songs from his other four albums. Having said that, he hasn't changed his musical style much, and if you like the music on the DVD, you should definitely check out all his CDs. You can see a couple of his videos, including "Hello, Hello," here. It's a good DVD, but I recommend the videos more than the concert, at least for the kids.

Now... if I had a video iPod, would I choose Dan Zanes or They Might Be Giants? Hmmmmm...