Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at 1:52AM Or, rather, a new Land of Nod Nodcast Podcast, this time with Dan Zanes. The 20-minute podcast includes a new podcast theme song (Bill, why stop at They Might Be Giants?), Dan's vote for "Best Barbara Brousal Song" and "Best Instrument To Start A Family Band With," and sound effects galore.
Sunday, October 22, 2006 at 1:41PM I don't know whether Robert Schneider's kids' music album to be released by Little Monster Records in early 2007 under his Robbert Bobbert alter ego will be any good.
But if the tunes on his Myspace page are any indication of what'll be on the album, it'll be one of the oddest albums to come down the pike in some time.
"I Love the Animals" is a catchy New Wave/Beach Boys, Casio-accompanied tune which would be somewhat odd in its own right were it not accompanied by "Fee Fi Fo," which I can only describe as "The Chipmunks meets 50 Cent." It's a rap song from a mouse.
All I can say is, go listen for yourself.
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 9:58AM Another day, another song posted to the Colours Are Brighter website.
Or, in the case of this particular day, two.
The Kooks turn in a 311-esque "The King and I" which, well, doesn't really sound like it was all that kid-focused while Jonathan Richman does "Our Dog Is Getter Older Now," which, well, I can take or I can leave.
The Four Tet track is still the coolest one I've heard.
Yes, I will eventually stop talking about this, I promise. But I've gone this far down the path.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 12:46PM "Listen To This" is my brand-new category for music that doesn't really fit a review format but deserves a mention. I'm going to inaugurate it with music from Ben Fairfield, an artist out of Hawaii who, he says on his website, was inspired by the NPR story that drew many of you here. (I am sure that it was Justin Roberts and Brady Rymer who inspired him, not me or Melissa Block.)
Fairfield's music is acoustic guitar-accompanied folk-pop covering such kid-friendly topics as dogs, penguins, and homework. Lyrically, he's got an environmental/ecological bent, so if your kids interested in that, these tunes are perfect. He's not above silliness (his conversion of Shel Silverstein's "The Homework Machine" into song) or sweetness ("Goodnight"), though. (The friendliness of the first track, "Hello," may, however, puzzle some kids who've had Stranger Danger drilled into their heads.) The combination is somewhat a combination of Johnny Bregar and Jack Johnson. (Those are just the two artists whose musical and lyrical concerns struck me as familiar here.)
As a collection of songs, it doesn't work quite as well because of the relative same-ness of approaches, but the individual tracks are pretty strong. Try listening to "Hello," "It's Men That Try To Run the Universe," and "Goodnight" for a representative sample.
And drop him a line and tell him to get the CD pressed and to start working on the next batch of songs pronto.
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Benjamin Fairfield, Listen To This 
