See How Great the Terrible Twos Can Be

I live in Maricopa County, Arizona, which is about 9,200 square miles large, bigger than the states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island. Well, I may live in a larger county, but the residents of those fine states (and a few others) have the opportunity with just an hour or two's drive to see a pretty cool kids band. (OK, Delaware's probably three hours, but still.)

Bill over at Spare the Rock has some free tickets to give away for this Saturday's Terrible Twos NYC debut at The Livingroom. Go here to enter.

(And if you're wondering, why should I care?, read this review. The album's getting re-released in April.)

How Can We Lose A Record Label? We Never Had One!

Aw, c'mon, let's actually make it into 2007 before we start seeing examples of why the bloom is off the kids' music rose...

This note on the Terrible Twos' website:

The record will be available in stores nation wide in March. It was supposed to come out in January on Kid Rhino but they folded. So, now it's coming out on Paquito Records in March.

Well, gosh, and Kid Rhino was just supposed to be ramping up their efforts.

Worst. Ramp. Up. Ever.

I'm trying to get some confirmation of this, but even if it has everything to do with WEA and nothing to do with kids' music, it's still sorta sad -- I was looking forward to seeing what a label with Warner's resources could do with the album.

Still, for all you people looking for Terrible Twos' lyrics (seeing as I steadfastly refuse to break copyright law by posting 'em), coloring pages with lyrics for "Caroline," "We Can All Get Along With Dinosaurs," "If You Ever See An Owl," and "Oneplusoneistwo" are now available at the band's Myspace page. No chords, but this way you can sing along.

Are The Terrible Twos Better Than the Wiggles?

An interesting discussion over at (sm)all ages about the Terrible Twos and the Wiggles, the closest thing to a KIDS MUSIC BLOGGERS FITE! I've seen in some time. It's worth reading.

In any case, the album, which is pretty awesome, is going to be re-released on Kid Rhino at the end of January. But you can order it now from CDBaby, and here's the cool part -- rather than listening to the same two songs sampled at the Terrible Twos' website over and over, the CDBaby page has nice more-than-30-second samples of all the songs.

(As for my take on the debate, I agree with Eric that it's just poor form for a musician to slag on another musician. Spend time talking about what makes your music yours, not defining it by what it's not. But I think Jeff's close to the mark when he talks about the commercialization aspect. Combine that with the narrow distribution channels of most kids music, and it's no wonder that many parents get tired of the Wiggles... it's because it's the only game in town, the only thing you see as you're tooling around Target with your kids. There's a lot of great music out there -- it's one of the reasons I've been writing about kids music for five years now -- but it takes work to find it, and most families know that time can be a scarce resource.)

About Time

The one downside to The Terrible Twos' excellent If You Ever See An Owl? You couldn't get it except for at New Amsterdams shows or the occasional Terrible Twos' show. I felt kinda bad telling everyone about it, really.

Well, my guilt (such as it is) is near an end, because the band announced late last month that the album would be released in January 2007 by Kid Rhino / Paquito Records. About time that the rest of the world got a chance to hear these infectious tunes.

And for those of you who've managed to snag a copy and are thinking, so what, the band also announced it'd be recording a couple new songs for a "Christmas EP." Methinks "Caroline," the story of a child who's birthday's just a little too close to Christmas for her taste, would also make an appearance on the EP...

Welcome Interstate Managers, er, Salon Readers

Welcome to those of you finding us because of the Salon article on "kindie rockers". (Welcome also, as always, to people looking for downloads of and lyrics to "Great Big World," from Hoodwinked. I still can't help you with those, despite your insistent pleas.) Thanks, Salon, for the link, and for posting some fabulous mp3s from said rockers. (Scott Lamb's article is worth sitting through the Honda ad non-subscribers will have to watch in order to read the article -- it's a nice summing up of the current state of kids' music.)

If you're new to the site, I encourage you to look around -- links to other kids'-music-related blogs as well as to every full album review (including Justin Roberts, Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, and Milkshake) can be found on the right. If you're wondering what to get that 4-year-old nephew for his birthday, check out my page of album recommendations by age. I treat kids' music the way any parent who really likes music would -- with my own set of interests but with an understanding that perhaps not every song off Spoon's Gimme Fiction is going to appeal to my 5-year-old (let alone my 1-year-old).

There's so much great kids' music being made, and not just by the rockers mentioned in the article who have made their way to kids' TV screens. Dig in -- you're bound to find something you and the kids in your life will really like.

Saturday AM edit: You know, I could actually help readers "dig in" if I specifically mentioned a few artists and albums that readers might not be familiar with if they're only sticking to the TV/Noggin crowd. No disrespect meant to the Noggin crowd -- Zanes, Roberts, and TMBG, in particular, are all among my favorites kids' artists -- but these four albums are tremendous, too.
Silly Reflection, by Lunch Money (review)
If You Ever See An Owl, by the Terrible Twos (review)
Fascinating Creatures, by Francis England (review)
Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World DVD, by Morgan Taylor (review)