Radio Playlist: New Music June 2012

Time again to update the Zooglobble radio station, covering assorted tracks collected this spring.  You can see my April 2012 playlist here.

This playlist airs in the mid-afternoons (West Coast time), but if you can't listen in the afternoon, the tracks are scattered throughout the day, too. The listing below is in alphabetical order; the on-air play order is totally random (due to Internet music restrictions).

"Handbone" - Big Don (Big Don's Brand New Beat)

"Oh My Dog" - Billy Kelly (Oh My Dog)

"Come With Me" - Dan Dan Doodlebug (Dan Dan Doodlebug)

"May The Trail Rise Up To Greet You" - Dave Stamey (Putumayo Kids Presents - Cowboy Playground)

"Fortunate Mistake" - Dog On Fleas (Invisible Friends)

"I Used To Think" - Duke Otherwise (Creepy Crawly Love)

"Your Body Is A Zoo" - Ellen And Matt (It's Love)

"Ice Cream Sunday" - Groovy David (Kiddie Lounge)

"Swingin' Little Duck (Alexander Calder)" - Hope Harris (Picasso, That's Who! and so can you!)

"My Neighborhood" - Johnny Bregar (My Neighborhood)

"I Like Summer" - KBC (Milk Money)

"Raised By Trolls" - Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke (Here Comes Chuckers)

"Alphabet City" - KinderAngst (KinderAngst)

"Itsy Bitsy Spider" - Kori Pop (Songs For Little Bean)

"Lines And Dots" - Lucky Diaz And The Family Jam Band (A Potluck)

"Elephant Shrew" - Michael Hearst (Songs For Unusual Creatures)

"Happy Place" - Mista Cookie Jar & The Chocolate Chips (Ultramagnetic Universal Love Revolution)

"Rad" - Play Date (Fun Fun Records Sampler)

"I Could See (Magically)" - Recess Monkey (In Tents)

"give it away" - renee & jeremy (a little love)

"Evening Star" - Steven Elci & Friends (Crayons In A Box)

"Put 'Em Away (Featuring Marty Beller)" - Sugar Free Allstars (All On A Sunday Afternoon)

"Benjamin Franklin" - Yosi (Benjamin Franklin)

"Oh My!" - Your Imaginary Friend Your (Imaginary Friend)

Review: My Neighborhood - Johnny Bregar

In every reviewer's career, there are the artists you find, follow devotedly, and wonder why the rest of the world isn't quite as enamored as you.

Exhibit A, for me, I think, is Seattle's Johnny Bregar.  I thought his first three albums Stomp Yer Feet!, Hootenanny, and Dragonfly were on par with any recent three-album set from just about any artist you'd care to name.  While they were received positively, with radio airplay and cuts on a couple of Putumayo Kids albums, he hadn't received the attention that his peers (Justin Roberts, TMBG, Elizabeth Mitchell, a few others) had.

And then, 3 1/2 years of silence.  Much of that silence is because Bregar has been struggling to find his singing voice (literally).  And while that condition isn't fully resolved, Bregar has finally released his fourth album for kids, My Neighborhood.  For fans of the first three albums, it is good to hear Bregar's voice once more.

While I don't think Bregar's included too many more guest artists than on Dragonfly, he brought enough guests to his Bainbridge Island studio to make his rootsy Americana with a hint of bluegrass seem like a small party.  There's a mellow, soulful vibe to the album's best tracks, even a bit of wistfulness at points.  The title track recounts a stroll through the narrator's neighborhood, evocative of Mr. Rogers if he'd had a chance to listen to some Jack Johnson.  The next track "Weekend" evokes the best of the Counting Crows sonically in service of praising the fun of Saturdays and Sundays.

While Bregar still invites some younger kids to sing along (as on the uber-confident rocker "Yes I Can"), he's mostly moved on from the preschool songs he originally made his name on.  (I will admit to being tickled pink that Bregar, who I once called "the next Raffi," includes a simple, sing-along version of the Raffi classic, "You'll Sing a Song".)  Bregar's playing (and that of his guests) is unfussy, but there are some nifty instrumental turns.  I will admit to skipping forward past "Pancho," but the vast majority of the songs stand up to repeated spins.

The songs here are most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 9.  You can listen to selected tracks by going here and clicking on the "Listen Now" button.

I've laid it out as best I can without coming over to your house or minivan and commandeering the CD player or iPod and making you and your kids listen.  My Neighborhood is what we expect good kids music to be these days -- musically rich, thematically diverse, and (for older kids, anyway) lyrically sophisticated.  Please please please try it.  Highly recommended.