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!

Radio Playlist: New Music November 2012

Time to post another Spotify update for new music (see October's playlist here).  It's limited, of course, in that if an artist hasn't chosen to post a song on Spotify, I can't put it on the list, nor can I feature songs from as-yet-unreleased albums.  But, hey, there's always next month.

Check out the list here or go right here if you're in Spotify.

**** New Music November 2012 (November Kindie Playlist) ****

Todd McHatton – Fuzzy & Orange
Doctor Noize – Welcome to Grammaropolis
The Harmonica Pocket – Turkey in the Straw
Big Bang Boom – Bicycle
David Tobocman – Run Run, Race Car
Boxtop Jenkins – Wag More (feat. Indigo Girls)
Vered – At 63
Jennifer Gasoi – Little Blue Car
Elizabeth Mitchell – May This Be Love
Randy Kaplan & Kristin Mooney – John the Rabbit (feat. Jack Saxenmeyer) (from PLAY Music Vol. 2)
Helen Austin – Five Little Things
The Tumble Down Library – Bartholomew
Jonathan Grossman & the Nerdz – Who I Am
Beth Nielsen Chapman – The Big Bang Boom
Zak Morgan – Nancy Jane

Introducing Z7: 7 Artists, 7 Songs, 7 Days. Lucky You.

I've been pondering how to improve the service I provide to you, dear reader, and like a bolt out of the blue, it hit me.  What you want, dear reader, is really good music for the whole family, delivered with just a click or two to your computer.  Oh, yes, make it free, please.

Done.

Introducing Z7, a set of seven songs from seven just-released or soon-to-be-released albums.  All the songs are top-notch, and the albums they come from are going to appeal to a lot of you as well.  What's more, these are exclusive downloads -- you won't be able to download them for free anywhere else during the seven days they're available.

Wait.  What do you mean, "seven days they're available."

Well, you didn't think they'd be free 'til the end of time, did you?  No, you've got exactly seven days to download the tracks before the files go away.

OK, how awesome are these tracks?

This awesome:

The Board of Education - "I'm Not Here Right Now"
Doctor Noize - "Noun Town" from Grammaropolis
Todd McHatton - "So Nice to Meetcha"
Elizabeth Mitchell - "Blue Clouds"
Elena Moon Park - "Poong Nyun Ga"
David Tobocman - "Escalator"
Vered - "Hands in My Mouth"

You're right, that is awesome.  Sign me up.

Well, I can't do that... but you can.  Simply sign up for the Zooglobble newsletter and if you do so by next Wednesday morning (October 24th), I'll make sure you get the links for this most recent offering.  And even if you stumble upon this after the 24th, sign up anyway -- November's offering is almost set!

Thanks to the artists for participating and to you for signing up.

Kindie-Chartin': Kids Place Live's Top Songs of 2011

Last year I reviewed the most popular songs of the year on Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live radio show.  It was an imprecise attempt to gauge the popularity of artists and songs on a national level.  Given that the show has nearly 17,000 fans on its Facebook page, its listenership is not small.

Almost every weekend, the channel broadcasts its "13 Under 13" show, a Casey Kasem for the kiddos which counts down the week's top songs.  As noted last year, the list is not totally objective -- there is a subjective nature to the list which takes into the station's directors' sense of buzz, for example, associated with each song.  There's a practical limit to the number of times the station can play a song in a week without annoying its audience through oversaturation, a limit which may not totally reflect the demand for it via listener requests.

Having said that, there does appear to be a rational relationship between the rankings and actual airplay.  For example, the most recent "13 Under 13" had the Board of Education's "Why Is Dad So Mad?" at #1, Keller Williams' "Mama Tooted" at #7, and Caspar Babypants' "Sugar Ant" at #14.  The total number of airplays (excluding double-counts) for the week that roughly corresponds to KPL's week, according to Dogstar Radio, was 25, 16, and 13,  respectively.

Once again, I used the Kids Place Live Fans page as the source of my data, making assumptions regarding chart placement when Gwyneth wasn't able to record the list for the week.  I counted all songs which first charted in 2011.  (Note: some are still charting in 2012.)

Now, all the standards and caveats from last year's effort still applies -- there are data gaps, it's not perfect, and may or may not be the best songs of the year.  But these are the songs to which, once they started getting some airplay, kids really responded to.

I'm presenting here the Top 13 songs of 2011, a year-long "13 Under 13," as it were.  That's mostly because the data lent itself to a nice division.  (It also makes for a nice comparison to KPL's own summary from New Year's weekend.)  And due to the data gaps, I'm presenting them in three relatively distinct groups points-wise, ordered alphabetically within each group.  So here goes:

Top 6

• Baron von Rumblebuss - "Did You See (What the Cat Dragged In)?"
• Caspar Babypants - "Butterfly Driving a Truck"
• Todd McHatton - "I Think I'm a Bunny"
• Mike Phirman - "Chicken Monkey Duck"
• Barbra Streisand (Llamanator Mix) - "Duck Sauce"
• Keller Williams - "Mama Tooted"

Notes: the McHatton and Williams songs are still charting, more than half a year after they first made the chart.

Next 5

• Blue October - "Jump Rope"
• Seth Decker and the Missing Piece - "Cucumber Canoe"
• The Fray - "Mahna Mahna"
• Joe McDermott - "Kitty Fight"
• Recess Monkey - "Flapjacks"

Final 2

• Cars 2 - "Collision of the Worlds"
• Recess Monkey - "Grandmom's House"

Note that Jonathan Coulton's "The Princess Who Saved Herself," which made the Top 5 list last year, would have made this list had it been expanded to Top 15.  It is without much doubt (according these lists, anyway), the most popular song of the past couple years.

Finally, there are always some artists who don't score massive hits, but get multiple hits.  So, the top 10 artists if you look at songs which first charted in 2011, listed alphabetically, are:

• Baron von Rumblebuss
• Caspar Babypants
• Joe McDermott
• Todd McHatton
• Mike Phirman
• Recess Monkey
• ScribbleMonster
• Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
• Barbra Streisand (Llamanator Mix)
• Keller Williams

Thank you for letting me indulge my inner numbers nerd just a little bit.

"Felt Around the World" - "We Are the World" for a New Generation

Felt Around the World coverBig news in the kindie world today as more than a dozen kindie puppets officially released a new song, "Felt Around the World," designed to raise awareness of puppet rights.  Accompanied by a video and a brand new organization -- Hand Aid -- the song is designed to make listeners aware of the inherent dignity of sock-, felt-, and cotton-based puppets both inside and outside the kindie music world.

The song is the brainchild of puppet songwriter Marion Aeder, who's written for such puppet music luminaries as Kermit the Frog, the Von Trapp Family puppets, and the version of Punch and Judy currently being performed by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.  "I was tired of seeing my puppet friends treated like mere toys," and wanted to give voice to the feelings all puppets have," says Aeder.

So he contacted his friend, the puppet impressario Mayor Monkey.  MayMo is best known, perhaps, as the excitable hand puppet band manager of Seattle kids music band Recess Monkey, but he also has served stints as a Public Interest Research Group organizer, and it turns out MayMo had been hearing many of the same concerns Aeder had.

West Ginger Liberty

The two puppets banded together -- Aeder providing the music and lyrics, and Mayor Monkey contacting his many compatriots in the kindie world.  For example, Socrates Monk, sock puppet manager of Australian-American kindie band The Mudcakes, was happy to join in.  Likewise, West Ginger Liberty, Princess Katie's right hand-er, puppet, also immediately said yes -- her performance on "Felt Around the World" is her first on-record singing performance.

Aeder and MayMo -- like Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, or Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, and Quincy Jones before them -- merged an anthemic song with a cast of stars.  Unlike "Do They Know It's Christmas?" or "We Are the World," however, they didn't need to all gather in one place.  Technological advances of the past 25 years meant that they could all record in the comfort of their own... homes, and send their work into Mayor Monkey, who by this time had also managed to corral (hound? badger?) Recess Monkey into playing backup and Jarrett J. Krosoczka into contributing album art.

Enthusiasm among the kindie puppets ran high for the project, with many new kindie puppets joining in, sometimes for very personal reasons.  "Felt" participants Macho Nacho and Mouth Trumpet from Musical Stew met after being placed in Time Out after a peaceful 2004 demonstration in Medford, Oregon as the "Puppet Movement" was gaining momentum. Others, like Yosi's super-exuberant Eugene (he of the instantly memorable adlibs during the song's bridge) or Todd McHatton's Marvy had no personal tie to the project, but found themselves instantly drawn in.  (Marvy is rumored to be working on a solo record, in fact.)  And clearly it gave some puppets like The Wolf, best known for his demolition business, an opportunity to share skills he's honing with Debbie and Friends.

Felt Around the World co-mastermind Mayor MonkeyWhile the primary purpose of Hand Aid and "Felt Around the World" is to raise awareness of puppet rights, it's also going to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.  (All net proceeds after mixing, mastering, and Mayor Monkey's new megaphone he bought to keep everyone in line will go to St. Jude's.)  Listeners got a sneak peak of the song yesterday at Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, Ages 3 and Up!, Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl, and Hilltown Families.  But you can purchase the song today at iTunes, Amazon (affiliate link), and CD Baby.

Or enjoy the video right here.  Remember, folks, puppets are people, too.  OK, they're puppets.  But they deserve our respect.