Holiday Kids Music Reviews (2012 Edition)

There were fewer Christmas and holiday CDs released this holiday season, but those that were all will probably appeal to at least a few families.  Yes, it's Christmas Eve, but you can still download those albums in time, right?  (And there's always 2013.)

Renee & Jeremy - Sunny Christmas

If I had to pick just one holiday album for this season, I think this EP from the Los Angeles duo would be it.  Perhaps that's a function of one too many Christmases in a clime that sometimes lets you wear short sleeves while eating your figgy pudding.  As always, the duo are in fine vocal form on the five standards ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is the standout) and one original, the title track.

The Laurie Berkner Band - A Laurie Berkner Christmas

Berkner offers up the most traditional-sounding album, with fine arrangements throughout.  Having said that, given how you may hear many of these tracks multiple times any particular December day, the two best tracks here are the less-familiar "Children Go Where I Send Thee," a duet with Brady Rymer, and "Silent Night," which features Berkner and Elizabeth Mitchell, the two best female voices in kids music.

Mr. Richard & the Pound Hounds - Merry Christmas!

Florida-based Mr. Richard has much to be thankful for this holiday season -- his family's been battling some medical issues this year -- so not surprisingly, his new extended EP is a bouncy one.  A mix of Christmas standards and originals, my favorites are the jangly original "Up In My Christmas Tree" and the album-closing instrumental "Cantique de Noel" (aka "O Holy Night").

The Jimmies - Mama Said Nog You Out

This album's a year old, but it's no longer a Barnes & Noble exclusive.  So that means you can stop by your local, er, Amazon or iTunes and pick up a copy of Ashley's take on the season.  (Hint: there's no rendition of "O Holy Night" on this album -- this album's for the folks who like the mad rush of December.)  I liked the album last year, and I still like it this year.

Key Wilde & Mr. Clarke - Sing Songs of Christmas Cheer

Speaking of 2011 albums, I realized shortly after I published those reviews last year that I'd inadvertently excluded the extended EP from one of my favorite kids' bands (I think the album came out fairly late in the cycle as well).  In any case, the album is as goofy (and hard-rockin') as the rest of the duo's work -- "Angels We Have Heard On High" is epic in every sense of the word.

Dan Zanes - Christmas in Concord

I should also note that Dan Zanes' 2011 holiday EP has been expanded into an extended EP.  He adds a couple songs -- an original ("I'm Counting the Days (Until Christmas)") and a traditional spiritual ("Rise Up Shepherd and Follow" with Suzan-Lori Parks).  Though both are note, if you got the EP last year, neither track is a required addition.  Having said that, it was my favorite holiday album of 2011 (probably tied with the Key Wilde disk, and edging out the Jimmies disk), so if you don't have it already, it's worth picking up.

Big Bang Boom - The Holidays Are Here

I had to ask the title to these 5 songs (hence my original title, "untitled Christmas album"), but it's pretty good nonetheless.  As you would expect from the band and their cheeky attitude (see: "Santa Didn't Come Last Night"), there's no reverent rendition of centuries-old hymns, but it's generally tender and nostalgic.

Free Music Player for Myspace at ReverbNation.com

SpongeBob Squarepants - It's A SpongeBob Christmas Album

Yes.  SpongeBob Squarepants has a Christmas album.  (Why not?  Everybody else does.)  Here's the thing -- it's actually pretty good.  OK, the opening track sounds tacked on, but once you get past that, it's clear that more thought and care went into the album than was necessary.  Folks with no TVs (or senses of humor) won't appreciate it much, but it's more entertaining than I, not any big SpongeBob fan, expected.

Holiday Kids Music 2012 Roundup

You wouldn't know it by reading this space, but there's been some holiday kids music released this Christmas/Hanukkah/winter-holiday-of-your-choosing season.  Not as much as in years past, but enough stuff worth your time checking out (and my time writing up).

I'll be reviewing some albums in a subsequent post, but here are a few tracks to stuff in your kids' stockings.

Free Downloads

The Not-Its change gears and offer up a tender, acoustic... aw, who am I kidding?  There are loud guitars, natch.  It's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," not "Tip-Toein' Around the Christmas Tree." 

OK, for those of you who really did need a slower, wintry song, try Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band's "Snow Day."

Bari Koral offers up her take on the familiar gingerbread man tale with a zippy "Gingerbread Man."

Brady Rymer is spending his holiday season "Untanglin' the Christmas Lights," though the song seems way too happy for that frustration.  Available here for the price of an e-mail.

It's not quite a Christmas (or Hanukkah or even Halloween or Arbor Day) song, but it feels appropriate for the season.  SteveSongs gifts you "Our World" -- just click on this link to start the download process.

Streams

My favorite kindie Christmas song this year?  Groovy David's "Sorry Santa!" has a funky groove and horns.  Horns, people!  (Hanukkah 2013 is, like, only 11 months away, so save "The Great Dreidel Tournament" 'til then.)

Randy Kaplan delivers a nicely understated version of the classic "Frosty the Snowman."  With the harmonica, it's got a touch of Dylan.  (Again, Hannukah 2013 playlist early addition?  "Oh Hannukah")

Todd McHatton's Christmas Songs started out as a mini-EP, then over the years became a full EP, and now at 11 songs, I think it's graduated to full album status.  McHatton added another song this year, "I Think I'm a Christmas Bunny."  Download the whole thing for just $1.99, and as an extra stocking stuffer download "Ooh Shiny" (appropriate for a season of gifts and ornaments) for free.

Other Stuff

The great Gustafer Yellowgold (opening for The Polyphonic Spree's 10th Anniversary Holiday Extravaganza in six cities this holiday season) has been running videos from his Year in the Day DVD all year -- check out the ever-awesome "Fa and a La":

It's a little brief, but feel to check out the Spotify Holiday Kindie Playlist 2012 (or listen here in Spotify directly)

• The Laurie Berkner Band – Children Go Where I Send Thee
• Renee & Jeremy – Deck the Halls
• Mr Richard and the Pound Hounds – Up in My Christmas Tree
• The Jimmies – Mashamallow World
• Key Wilde & Mr Clarke – Angels We Have Heard on High

Finally, it was a one-time-only download last year, but you can always stream Kris Kindie, a fun collection of holiday music curated by me in a mad rush last December.

Happy holidays, y'all!

Video: "Give It Away" - Renee & Jeremy

It's been a long election season.  And while I celebrate all things electoral and watch relatively little commercial TV, even I would admit to looking forward to the impending absence of political ads from our airwaves.

Instead of watching six political ads, can I get you and your kids to watch this trippy 3-minute video for Renee & Jeremy's unique cover of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" from their covers album A Little Love?  It will make you feel much happier before you dive into your exit polls, pundits, and electoral maps for the day.

Renee & Jeremy - "Give It Away" [YouTube]

Review: A Little Love - Renee & Jeremy

Cover albums are, depending on one's perspective, the last refuge of scoundrels or a songwriter's tribute to classic songs.

Of course, that's an adult's perspective.  Such debates are nowhere to be found in kids' music, mostly because preschoolers don't truck in adults' notions of hipness and because the history of the genre has been one of handing down songs from generation to generation.  There's a reason why kids have been singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for hundreds of years in dozens of languages -- it's because it's a damn good song.

And lullaby albums are especially susceptible to the cover treatment.  It's hard work crafting loving songs that are memorable (but not too memorable, because, hey, the kids are supposed to go to sleep).

One of the bands that have worked the lullaby seam quite well in recent years are the LA duo Renee & Jeremy.  Many of their chilled-out songs (especially on their debut It's a Big World) are mellow, modern gems of love.  So it was with a little trepidation I gave their new album A Little Love -- a collection of ten covers given a mostly down-tempo burnish -- a spin.  "They write a good song," I thought, "why would they want to record others'?"

Whatever their motivation, the resulting album highlights Renee & Jeremy's number one weapon in making parents weak at the knees and kids very relaxed -- their voices.  Jeremy Toback and Renee Stahl are the best vocal duo in kids' music, bar none, and it's the interplay and harmonies between them that turn what could otherwise be a collection of "why bother?" covers of overly familiar tunes into something much bigger.  "Daydream Believer," "Shiny Happy People," "Love" -- all songs I never needed to hear other than by their original artists, but which R&J give a sufficiently mellow spin and artfully draw out the lullaby-ish nature of the song to prove me wrong.  And in some cases, like their take on Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" and Coldplay's "Yellow," they provide an entirely different perspective from the original, breathing new life into those songs.  Some of that is due to the arrangements, but much of the credit must go to duo's voices, which seem perfectly matched.

It's mostly a lullaby album (ages 0 through 5), but besides the parents, the 25-minute album will probably translate well to the toddlers' older siblings as a mellow-afternoon spin.  (You can listen to 90-second samples via the widget below.)

I expected to like A Little Love, but was surprised how much I ended up enjoying it.  It has nothing to do with the fact that they're covering songs of my musical childhood and everything to do with the fact that they're turning those songs into music of our collective childhood.  That, and the fact that I'm pretty sure I would buy an album of the duo singing anything, including the happy hour menu at TGI Friday's.  I actually have a lot of love for A Little Love.  Definitely recommended.

Red Eyes and Nemeses: Kindiefest 2012

There are relatively few benefits of living on the West Coast from a Kindiefest perspective.  It's a long plane flight, which means reduced flexibility in choosing how you get to Brooklyn, how long you stay, and what you do when you get there.

One advantage, however, is that you get a 5-hour flight.  That's not so great when you're going there anticipating the conference (or when you have to do it on a red-eye as I did this year).  But when you're flying back, it's a lot of time to sit and think about all that you heard during the weekend.

It is hard to overestimate just how much listening one does at Kindiefest.  There are the panels, of course - those are more typically geared toward musicians, but if you are more broadly interested in how one carves out a career as kids musician, a non-professional musician can find nuggets of things to ponder.

Besides the panels, there is all the music.  The showcase performances on Saturday night, the public festival on Sunday -- it's more than 7 hours of music in total, from all sorts of genres and all around the country.

And depending on your personality or need, you can spend more time than either of those just listening to others in one-on-one (or more) talks. Conversations are two-way, of course, but as a member of the media who isn’t looking to do interviews but meets a lot of artists who want to say ”hi” or tell me about their album plans or just introduce themselves, I do a lot of listening then, too.  It's enough to make you want to see a museum or go out for a run on Sunday morning, neither of which I got to do this year.

What did I do at this year’s Kindiefest?  Well, I got into Littlefield, the conference's home for the past 3 years, about 12:15 PM Saturday after the aforementioned red-eye, so I missed the keynote on Friday night and the post-talk schmoozing.  Which meant there was even more schmoozing to do in the limited amount of time I was there.  I did a lot of it -- seeing old friends, like Jeff and Dave and meeting folks I had previously known only through the magic of the Internet (hi, Jeff Giles!). I also talked with a lot of musicians and booking artists and PR folks.  I don't think I talked with every single one of the 350 or so record-setting number of attendees, but there were times when I felt that I did.  The only way I know I didn't is that there were folks that I wanted to talk to whom I realized on the flight home I didn't.

Late in the afternoon, I moderated a lively panel on The State of Kindie, a free-flowing discussion on all things kindie music.  An hour-long discussion is way too short to even scratch the surface of the various topics covered, such as what's improved over the past 10 years (too much to mention), what concerns still remain (sometimes a lack of diversity in audiences), and whether or not the Grammys matter.  On top of that, people gave their one piece of advice to artists.  (Mine had to do cooperating and competing, out of which the notion of nemeses -- that one person who brings out the best in you in competition -- took hold.)  If this description sounds dry, I assure you the panel itself was not, as the panelists were funny and engaged.

The showcase was even more crowded this year, with 10 different artists taking the stage.  The number of artists meant that the performances themselves were shorter than in past years.  There were way too many (and probably too brief) to adequately give them all justice in a review, but a handful of memories from the evening:

-- Renee & Jeremy captivating the audience with their chilled-out lullabies (not to mention Chris Ballew joining in on their version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away).  For those of you wondering if the duo sounds as good live as they do on record, the answer is an unequivocal "yes."

-- Speaking of Chris Ballew, I was so glad to see Caspar Babypants play live.  As you might expect give how long he's been performing, he's very good at holding an audience's attention with nothing more than a voice and a guitar.

-- Lori Henriques playing a solo piano set, including a great new song, "Dinosaur," which was great as a kids' song about a dinosaur and also as a metaphorical song about a relationship breaking up (that was, to be clear, my interpretation and not -- I checked -- Henriques' intent).

-- Mista Cookie Jar put on an energetic performance with Ava Flava, the youngest performer of the night, rapping and singing.  All that and a roller-skating backup dancer.

-- Elska's performance, which between the music (electronic), costumes (sewn), and songs (fanciful), was the most eclectic and unusual of the night.

-- It is always good to see Dan Zanes perform; this time he eschewed his ”Friends” for a different set of friends, the Latin band Bomba Yo.  There was a 20+ (er, 10+) minute song featuring one of the band's female members dancing in front of the stage, then the pink-tutu-ed Sarah Shannon of The Not-Its joining in, then other women, then Chris Ballew, Rudy Trubitt - even I ended up joining in (shyly) near the end.

On a related note, I must say (again?) that one of the things I will always love about the Kindiefest showcase is that there is nothing like an audience of musicians for crowd harmonizing and fill-in hand-clapping.  Does my harmonizing, fill-in hand-clapping soul good.

After the showcase and some chatter at the venue, a large group of us went to a bar a couple blocks away and continued the conversations we'd all been having all day.  Artists, media, bookers, etc. -- while I learn stuff from the panels, I learn much more from these informal conversations.

I woke up too late and was moving too slowly to be able to take a jog through Prospect Park, so instead I went to see Recess Monkey play at 92Y TriBeCa.  I realized I hadn't seen them play live in a couple years, so I got to hear some newer tunes, including 3 off their upcoming album.  They are a fine-tuned machine playing live at this point.  They are, I would note, the model of the new kindie band.  Skilled musicians and songwriters, talented at more than just music (note how many videos they make), and always seeking new opportunities to have their music heard (they're playing with a circus, for cryin' out loud).  They are good nemeses for other musicians to have, though it's hard to curse them.

I skedaddled back to Brooklyn for the public showcase. Again, too many bands (and I missed Apple Brains, SteveSongs, and almost all of KBC Kids), so I'm not going to provide individual comments, but I will note that the hard work of publicity for the event paid off.  What was often a somewhat lightly attended event at least early in the afternoon in past years was completely packed when I walked in around 12:45.  Good to know word got out.

Why do I spend so much time talking about an industry-only conference, you might ask, particularly if you're not in the industry.  It's because this is one of the most significant events of the year and what transpires here leads to stuff you’ll end up enjoying for years to come.  Plans are hatched, songs are written, connections are made that will lead to some awesome experiences for kids and their families.  I'm sure I know but a small amount of everything that results from this gathering of artists, but even if you never come to Brooklyn, this weekend matters.

Hats off to the organizers, thanks for asking me to join y'all again.  Totally worth the red eyes.