The Shins' New Yo Gabba Gabba Video, or, Why Won't Somebody Think of the Mac Users?

Remember I told you about new music from the Shins? Yeah, well Nick Jr. has now posted a sneak peek music video from the band here, no, here.

Great, right?

Yeah, unless you're using a Mac, in which you're screwed because apparently the "technology... to support Parents TV on a Macintosh" is not available.

"So, uh, what do you think?," says this MacBook user.

New Music from the Shins: "It's OK, Try Again" (from Yo Gabba Gabba!)

I think most people would probably consider me a fairly straight-laced guy. Sure, I occasionally drive faster than the speed limit and go back for a second donut in the office lunchroom, but for the most part, I think "goody two-shoes" would not be a wholly inappropriate appellate for me.

Which gives you an indication of exactly why I'm not going to be posting a copy of new music from the Shins, people! You heard me, the Shins!

I totally understand one of the impluses behind mp3 and .rar blogs -- new music falls into your lap and all you want to do is share it with others. Preferably before anyone else does. But even though the record industry's approach to file-sharing seems somewhat... misguided... to me, I've always felt that the copyright holder should get to call the shots.

So that means I'm not going to post the 2-minute track from the Shins from the new Nick Jr. show Yo Gabba Gabba!.

Well, there is one other reason. Although it's a good track that sounds like the Shins (particularly a soaring la-la-la part near the end), it's not an awesome track. It's not even the best track on the 9-minute sampler CD I received. Perhaps at even just 2 minutes in length it's too long to convey a message which is -- literally -- "Sometimes you win / sometimes you lose / sometimes you win / sometimes you lose / But it's OK / you try again."

That honor of the sampler's best track goes to the LA band I'Kona, which turns in a strutting, funky 90-second song called "Hello, Goodbye" that G. Love would be proud to call his own.

The band Paco (whose lead singer Dominique Durand also sings in Ivy with Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger) turns in a nicely muted "Listen," which is about 180 degrees from the Aquabats' hyper "Pool Party." (Aquabats lead singer Christian Jacobs is also a co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba!.)

The list of artists appearing on camera or turning in songs for the show is enough to keep music-minded parents intrigued -- Mya, Sugarland, Smoosh, Cornelius, the Postmarks, Dean & Britta, Jason Falkner, Low, Jason Lytle, Mark Kozelek, among others.

I have no idea how the on-camera appearances or videos will turn out. Nick Jr. reps have indicated that the Shins video will be posted to the Nick Jr./YGG website shortly, so you can judge that song for yourself. (And for those of you just wanting the CD, they're hoping to put one together sometime in the future.)

I've also seen the first episode, schedule to debut Monday, August 20th. But I'm gonna need a little time to process that one...

Review: Class of 3000: Music Volume 1 - Andre 3000

In reviewing this CD, let me be clear from the start that ours is not, for the most part, a television-watching household. It's not really a principled stand as much as it is a reflection of our busy lives. We just don't have much time to watch TV if we want to do other things like, you know, bathe and eat.

Having said that, I do wish we had a little more time, because if we did, we might find time to watch Class of 3000, a Cartoon Network show co-created by, executive produced by, and starring Andre 3000 of the hip-hop duo Outkast as musician/teacher Sunny Bridges. Even if the animation was lousy, we'd still have the music to enjoy.

Released earlier this month, Class of 3000: Music Volume 1 features one song from each of the first season's thirteen episodes, plus the show's theme song. That theme song by itself is more adventurous than most kids' music, going from funk to jazz and even picking up a nursery rhyme along the way. (You can download a copy here, courtesy of Sony, or listen to a Windows stream here or a RealPlayer stream here.)

Luckily the rest of the CD is just as creative and funky. "Throwdown" could be a hip-hop hit. "Cool Kitty" sounds like it was written 40 or 50 years ago, with a snappy surfer/girl-group vibe. "Oh Peanut" is a slower track that shows off some more classical instrumental grooves (listen to a Windows stream here and a RealPlayer stream here.) "Life Without Music" is one of the better "educational songs" of recent years. And, hey, how often on a major-label kids' music release do you get the pure instrumental bebop jazz of "My Mentor?" Rarely, oh so rarely.

If there's a drawback to the album as an album, it's that some songs are clearly tied to the visuals. In some cases it's not much of a drawback -- while I might like to see the visuals associated with "Fight the Blob," the drumline march of the tune is so strong, it works fine a song told in music. In other cases, such as "UFO Ninja," I'm clearly missing something. I'm not saying you need to have seen the series, just that I think those who have might enjoy it (and understand the story-driven songs) slightly more. For those of you don't like cartoony voices, well, I'm usually right in that camp, but the vocal characterizations here are pretty strong, and I think you'll enjoy 'em. (I did.)

The songs are probably most appropriate for kids ages 5 through 10, though with the exception perhaps of the darker "We Want Your Soul," everything here is A-OK for youngsters, too. You can hear samples at your standard internet retailers, but I'd also recommend checking out the videos from the show, available at the show's website. You can hear many of the album's tracks there.

In the end, what I find so wonderful about Class of 3000: Music Volume 1 is that a major label gave an exceedingly talented musician the freedom to create an album that takes so many risks. In the jazz interlude of the theme song, one character says, "But, Sunny, radio doesn't play songs without words anymore," and Sunny says wearily, "I know..." It'd be a shame if the public doesn't hear these tunes, be it by radio or some other way. The album is a smartly crafted collection of kid-friendly funk, hip-hop and jazz. Definitely recommended.

Dora the Musician-Explorer

For those musically-obsessed families out there who are also Nick Jr.-obsessed, the next four weeks promises to be particularly good (or tunefully repetitive) as the channel will air five music-themed shows, one a day, for four of its shows. Starting tomorrow (Monday, July 23rd) and for the next four weeks, Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets!, Blue's Clues, and The Backyardigans will each get their turn in the musical sun with a week apiece of music-themed episodes. The channel will also be premiering Yo Gabba Gabba! videos. Anyway, you get the idea -- lots of music.

Dora the Explorer gets the biggest PR push as it's the one show getting a new episode premiere, "La Maestra de Musica." It debuts on Monday, July 23rd. What's this episode all about? Well, let's go to the press release...

"Boots and Dora walk to school and bump into Boots’ music teacher, La Maestra de Música, who is singing Boots’ favorite song, “Hola, Hola.” When the chain breaks on La Maestra’s bicycle, she needs Dora, Boots and the preschoolers at home to help her figure out the quickest way to get to school..."

Anything more would just spoil the fun, now wouldn't it? (Although I will say, that the episode features the slowest schoolkids I have ever seen. They get to school a good 20 minutes late. Oh, and those snakes are so not scary.)

We've given a screener of the episode of few spins, and it was popular with the younguns. It follows the same template as every other Dora episode, so it's not like this breaks any new ground. In fact, the most fun is Swiper's appearance, in which he doesn't swipe the valuable can't-be-named-here-object, but in which he handles his rejection is with more style and grace than he typically does.

The music itself is perfectly competent, with the "Wheels on the Bus" getting a slight linguistic and contextual makeover. It's not exactly Raffi, though. In fact, what struck me in watching the episode is what nice little songs the hyper theme song and the closing "We Did It!" song are. The opening track in particular is ear-wormy the way few TV theme songs are nowadays. On the other hand, unlike those songs, the songs in this episode actually encourage the kids to sing along. That, by itself, is a good thing.

One final note -- that is not, as I'd first wildly thought (and hoped) upon seeing the image, Laurie Berkner. (Unless she's credited here under a fake name and using an archly stylized singing style.) So I'm just throwing that out there, Viacom, a Dora/Laurie Berkner crossover. It'd be huge.

(Illustration courtesy Nick Jr.)

Are Rufus Leaking and Meg White an Item?

I haven't spent nearly enough time talking about the inspired weirdness of Pancake Mountain, but for now, these YouTube videos will have to do.

And, frankly, with hipsters (The White Stripes, Wayne Coyne, Lily Allen, Lewis Black) at Bonnaroo, low-fi production values, and Rufus Leaking, the greatest goat this side of The Sound of Music, these clips pretty much tell you all you need to know.

Rufus and Meg don't exchange many words, but I think it's love...

Highlight on this one -- Wayne Coyne and friends singing "Daydream Believer"

Highlight here -- "John the Revelator" duet with the White Stripes and Rufus

(Thanks to Stereogum for the heads up.)

For what it's worth, the video below, the Mountain's first (going back a number of years), is -- all due respect to They Might Be Giants -- the best vowel song ever.

The Evens - "Vowel Movement"

I tell you, this idea of culturally cool stars on TV shows ostensibly for kids is such an invention of this generation of parents.

(Of course, at least we don't post Confederate flags in our music videos.)