Share: "Gimme Some Pancakes" - The Boogers

Who doesn't love free pancakes? I love pancakes, especially the free ones! Warm, with a little maple syrup, maybe with some butter on top. (Or some peanut butter for variety's sake.)

And so I think that it's AWESOME that kids punk band The Boogers are offering their fans free pancakes for the price of an e-mail. I mean, how great is that? You give them your e-mail address, and they send you PANCAKES. All the way from Illinois!

[whisper, whisper]

Oh, it's not actual pancakes? It's a song about pancakes? Sigh. I mean, yeah, the new song rocks, and, yes, you can get "Gimme Some Pancakes" for the price of an e-mail. (And, yeah, Crusty and the crew are workin' on a new album for 2012.) But now I'm hungry.

Share: Free Music from Caspar Babypants, Recess Monkey, The Not-Its (and more)

Big props to Amazon for continuing to offer free kids' music. A couple months ago it was Justin Roberts and Bloodshot Records, among others -- this month it's Burnside Distribution, who's offering a free 7-song sampler of artists whose albums they distribute. Because Burnside's based in Portland, OR, it's no surprise that the sampler's got a big Pacific Northwest tilt -- Caspar Babypants ("I Wanna Be a Snowman"), Recess Monkey ("Flapjacks"), and the Not-Its ("I've Got a Goat") have songs from their latest album on the list. The album also includes The Verve Pipe's deservedly beloved and over-the-top "Cereal" and Kimya Dawson's dorky and lo-fi "Bobby-O" from Alphabutt.

For those of you on the lookout for new music, the album does have a couple less-familiar tracks. One is "Tootsie" from Edukator Jr., a song with an Americana feel (which is a much different sound from the rest of the tracks on their Myspace page). No surprise, Greasy Kid Stuff was all over the album when it was first released a couple years ago.

The other is "Things That Can't Be Pets" from a band called Snack Trap. The track sounds like The Postal Service (if the duo had invited a female singer along).

Share: Stream Laura Veirs' "Tumble Bee" on NPR

I think this is a first for NPR -- a children's music album streaming at their website. It's Laura Veirs' lovely album Tumble Bee, which is officially out next week. It's a half-hour of your time (and your kids' time) well-spent, maybe tomorrow or the rest of the week -- think of it as the antidote to the sugar rush they might just be on. Go here to stream the album.

(By the way, go here to sign up via Facebook for a free download of the title track.)

Share: Lunch Money's Original Friend

Ah, it's Grammy nominating time, and artists are doing as much lobbying as they can... in very subtle, non-obtrusive ways, because all that lobbying that movie folks do for Oscar votes is frowned upon by the Grammy folks.

South Carolina Lunch Money band is by no means the only artist to toot their horns (go here to stream another excellent album on the Grammy ballot), but their page letting you download the album for free is, like the album and the band itself, understated, witty, and generous. So go here and download Original Friend for free. And tell someone else about it, even if "Grammy" means "grandmother" to them. (Need more convincing? Read this.)

Share: Free Halloween Tunes from Ratboy Jr., Todd McHatton, and Mr. Ray

OK, really, it's two free songs and one free...ish song.

Halloween songs for 2011 trickled out slowly for awhile -- there was Roy Handy back in July, then there was Skelly and the Punkins late last month.

But now, like a group of zombies running down the street to catch the bus, three Halloween tunes were released within 24 hours of each other.

Let's start with the "free...ish" song. It's called "Perfect Pumpkins," and it's from California psychedlic kid-popster Todd McHatton. It's a very sunshine-y tune that the Linus (or Matthew Sweet) fan in your family will appreciate. It'll cost ya 50 cents, but it's free for a limited time with a download of McHatton's new album Galactic Champions of Joy. Spin it below...

Moving on to upstate New York, Ratboy Jr. offer up a free track called "Where Do Monsters Go?" It features the duo's signature lo-fi sound and a rap from Frankenstein. You heard me -- Frankenstein raps. (And if the player below doesn't show up for some weird reason, just go here.)

Finally, if that song frightened your little one -- unlikely, I know -- New Jersey's Mr. Ray offers up a more confidence-building pop song, "Do You Believe in Monsters?," which might help encourage the more timid of trick-or-treaters to overcome basic monster fears. You can download the track for free here, or learn more about a video contest he's running here.