Review: Anthems for Adventure - Tim and the Space Cadets

Tim Kubart, head of Tim and the Space Cadets, left the kindie band The Jimmies nearly years ago because he wanted to write and perform his own kids music.  Along with another Jimmies veteran, Matt Puckett, Kubart released an awesome video and 5-song EP in 2010 and slowly crafted the full-length debut, which gets released next week.

The result, Anthems for Adventure, is a big, sprawling, messy album.  I like to think of it as one of those big arena-ready albums you might have heard released in the '70s.  There are echoes of Elton John and the Eagles, mellow pop-rock for the kindie set, but there are some more indie sounds as well.  ("Bumblebee," for example, could be the shiniest song Clap Your Hands Say Yeah never wrote.)  Hand-claps and sing-along choruses (hi, there, "Superhero!"), it's an album whose songs are meant to be heard in concert.

When I say "messy," I don't mean sloppy.   I really liked the slow-building arrangement of "Endless Summer," about celebrating summer even in the midst of summer.  One of the standouts, "Upbeat/Downbeat," honors its theme of making music with a serious Motown-era groove.  And with more than a couple dozen different musicians making an appearance, there's a lot of musical firepower providing a miniature wall of sound.  My only warning is that the lyrics are very focused on the kids, celebrating their perspective (see, for example, "Double Knot," an emotional ode to an outsized pair of shoes).  Many folks will see this as an good thing -- and who could blame them? -- but if you prefer your kids music to take a more parent-inclusive approach lyrically, this probably isn't your first choice.

The album is most appropriate for kids ages 4 through 8.  You can hear some of the tracks at the band's website.  Anthems for Adventure might be the most apropos kindie album title of the year as it's filled with songs about explorations large and small, songs to be sung along with.  Tim and the Space Cadets wear their corduroy-patched heart on their sleeve; sympathetic adventurers will enjoy this spirited celebration.  Recommended.

[Disclosure: I received a copy of this album for possible review.]

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.

Christmas CD Reviews (2011 Edition, Part 1)

So many Christmas albums have crossed my desk (real or virtual) this year that I'm splitting my reviews up into 2 parts -- one for kids music artists or albums targeted at kids (this one) and one for the rest of the musical world. That distinction is a little fuzzy, because Christmas music, generally, is pretty family-friendly as it is. In any case, there are one or two albums here that could have been in the next installment, and there are a handful of artists in that next installment whose names are familiar to the kids music world.

Because what people are looking for in Christmas music differs dramatically, these reviews are ordered in rough order of most to least "goofy." "Goofy" is merely a descriptive term, not a pejorative term -- it just helps those different people who want different things from their holiday music figure out where on the spectrum they should be reading.

It is not terribly surprising that I would lead off this list -- the "most goofy" -- with an album from The Jimmies. Ashley Albert and crew have expanded their holiday EP from last year into a full-length Mama Said Nog You Out. (The title alone should clue you in on their attitude.) It's not that they're disrespectful to the season, just that they're more interested in its absurdities. The chant-y original "Nogturne in C Minor," turning "Sleigh Ride" into lite-funk, and making the-already-not-too-reverential "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" into a Marcia Ball-style blues strut -- these are not the songs of someone who's going to somberly celebrate. (And with several songs celebrating non-Christmas holidays, it's appropriate for wiseacre families of every creed.) Available exclusively at Barnes and Noble, or get a free download if you order their latest album Practically Ridiculous from the Jimmies at their website.
Billy Kelly is next up with Dear Santa Claus, a 5-song EP featuring the typical Billy Kelly-ian stew of wordplay and earnestness mixed with a little bit of Bart Simpson. The classic song here is "Glebells Jing!," which Kelly first featured a couple years ago and has somehow managed to rope an entire chorus to sing its mind-bending alteration of "Jingle Bells." (I think the cheer at the end of the song is one of relief.) The other tracks do a better job of celebrating the (secular) season, but none will stick in your head like "Glebells Jing!" Purchase the album at Amazon or iTunes. All proceeds will benefit Camp Victory, a Pennsylvania camp designed for kids with chronic health illness or disabilities.

Trout Fishing in America released their Christmas album Merry Fishes to All way back in 2004, but I'm just now getting around to listening to it. In typical TFA style, it features a number of silly songs, giving voice to the inner kid ("Chocolate Christmas," "Santa Brought Me Clothes," "I Got a Cheese Log"), mixed in with some more tender moments -- "Snow is Falling" and "Snow Day," for example. And then there are the just-plain oddball tracks - "The Eleven Cats of Christmas," for example, a re-work of sorts of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and the classic "Bob and Bob," about identical snowflakes. Trout Fishing fans certainly already have this, but others may also find the jazzy and folk-y blend of humor and empathy a nice addition to their slightly more traditional rotation.

Miss Gail and the Jumpin' Jam Band, out of Atlanta, released A Jumpin' Christmas, a 5-song EP. This was probably my least-favorite disk out of the ones reviewed here, but there were a couple tracks I think are worth checking out. I liked the leadoff track "Winter," which uses a swaying 6/8 meter to paint a picture of snow falling and the play that ensues. And "Hark" is an uptempo pop-rock rework of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" ("oh-woah-oh-oh-oh / we're gonna go-go-go") that's pretty good if you like that sort of thing (I'm OK with it, though I'm generally a carol traditionalist). I personally do not like AutoTune, and so will not be listening to this version of "Jingle Bells" ever again. You can pick up the EP in various places, including iTunes.

San Diego's Hullabaloo turns in a low-key collection of 11 secular Christmas carols and one original song on Santa Songs. These are fairly faithful renditions of the carols with comparatively minimal musical arrangement (though a few songs like "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" bring in some additonal instruments like fiddle and mandolin). Given the familiarity and simplicity of the tunes, my favorite track on the album is the one original song, "All of the Above," a gentle duet between lead Hullabaloo-ster Steve Denyes and Beth Crocker celebrating the peace and love of the season. (I also like their album-closing rendition of "Auld Lange Syne." Buy the album here and listen to 3 songs from the album here.

Harry Connick Jr. has turned his song "The Happy Elf" into a kids' TV special, stage musical, children's book, app, and, yes, a soundtrack. If you stripped the album of its cover art and first track (featuring Connick Jr. reading his book), you (or your kids) wouldn't really know that it's a Christmas album. The Harry Connick Jr. Trio evokes another famous Christmastime trio (no, not the three wise men -- the Vince Guaraldi Trio, silly) and the whole thing has a bit of a Charlie Brown Christmas feel. It also has a bit of a When Harry Met Sally feeling, harkening back to that soundtrack a couple decades old, which leads to the issue here -- strip the CD of the track which features Connick Jr. reading the text of the titular book, and there's not much to make you think it's a Christmas CD. The title track sounds like a happy elf, I suppose, and "Christmas Day" has a peaceful, relaxed vibe, but nothing is particularly Christmas-y (or kids-music-y, for that matter). It's good jazz, and would fit unobtrusively into a more festive playlist. But unless you (and your family) are familiar with the story and its other incarnations, you would be disappointed in getting this specifically for its holiday mood-setting. (Available at Amazon and elsewhere.)

Finally (and best of all if you're looking for a Christmas album that most closely matches the spirit of the season), Dan Zanes has released a new iTunes exclusive album called Christmas in Concord. It's got a simple, rootsy vibe that very much feels like the DZ&F crew packed into Zanes' living room and, with a little banjo and slide guitar, sang all the big Christmas carols. My favorite is "Angels We Have Heard on High," but they're all good -- it's the Christmas album here I'm most likely to be spinning for Christmas 2021.

[I received copies of all albums discussed here for possible review.]

Best Kids Music 2011: Top 25 Songs

Next up in my list of the best kids music of 2011 are my favorite songs. Now, seeing as I listen to literally thousands of kids songs every year, picking out 25 (less than 1%, probably) is very difficult, and if you asked me to make this list up next week I'm sure at least a couple of songs here would be replaced by others. Growing this list to 25 (last year's was 20) didn't make things any easier -- it just shifted the bubble.

But these 25 (listed alphabetically by song title) are definitely among the year's best recordings.

-- Bad Blue Jay - Caspar Babypants (Sing Along!)
-- Bonfire - The Jimmies (Practically Ridiculous)
Bonfire
-- Cooperate - Sugar Free Allstars & Secret Agent 23 Skidoo

-- The Crocodile Synchronised Swimming Team - Too Many Cookes (Down At The Zoo)
-- Dandelion - Steve Weeks (Dandelion)
-- Didn't Know What I Was Missing - Alastair Moock/Lori McKenna (Planting Seeds, These Are My Friends) -- listen here
-- Freeze Tag - The Not-Its (Tag, You're It!)

-- Garbage Man - Mr. Richard & The Pound Hounds (Backyard Astronauts) -- download free here
-- Henry (Hudson), How Ya Gonna Find a Way? - The Deedle Deedle Dees (Strange Dees, Indeed)

-- Hey, Josie - The Hipwaders (Golden State)
Hey, Josie!
-- Hey Pepito! - Key Wilde & Mr Clarke (Hey Pepito!) -- listen here
-- I Think I’m A Bunny - Todd McHatton (Galactic Champions of Joy)

-- John Kanakanaka - Dan Zanes and Friends (Little Nut Tree) (this is a solo performance below)

-- Let's Dance - Lucky Diaz And The Family Jam Band (Oh Lucky Day!)
-- Metaphor - The Alphabeticians (Rock)

-- Mushy Berry Pie - The Thinkers (Oh Zoooty!) -- listen here
-- A Piano Is Stuck In The Door - Beethoven's Wig Featuring Richard Perlmutter (Beethoven's Wig: Sing Along Piano Classics)

-- Place in My Heart - Frances England (Mind of My Own) -- listen here
-- Quarter Moon Shining - Chip Taylor & the Grandkids (Golden Kids Rules)

-- Please Don't Move (to Another Time Zone) - Lunch Money (Original Friend)
-- Skywriter - Baron Von Rumblebuss (Agreeably Loud!!)
-- Soft Things - Brady Rymer/Laurie Berkner (Love Me for Who I Am) -- listen here
-- Waters of March - Jamie Broza (I Want a Dog!)

-- Wisconsin Poncho - Gustafer Yellowgold (Gustafer Yellowgold's Infinity Sock)

-- Your Favorite Book - Recess Monkey (FLYING!)