Video: "Frutero" - Apple Brains

Get Fruity album coverThere are those videos in which a gentle melody is accompanied by a similarly gentle animation featuring bunnies, perhaps, or very loving and slow-moving kids.

And then there's this world premiere video from Los Angeles band Apple Brains for "Frutero," off their debut album Get Fruity!  Live action, sometimes at double speed; goofy animation melded in, leading to visuals like an animated rocket ship landing in a Los Angeles park lake; a band member dressed up like a banana -- you get the idea.  All in service of a bilingual dance paean to LA's fruit vendors.

It is hyperactive, but in good ways.  It suggests that their Kindiefest performance this year could be semi-delirious.  (Also: one hopes that they will bring enough good vibes to encourage more food trucks to stop by.)

Apple Brains - "Frutero" [YouTube]

KidVid Tournament 2012 Champion: Princess Katie & Racer Steve

After a close, hard-fought, and fair battle, New York City's Princess Katie & Racer Steve and their video "Sand in My Sandwich" defeated Los Angeles' Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band and their video "Blue Bear" in a KidVid Tournament 2012 championship match.  This year we ended up having a real Cinderella champion. (OK, that's the last time I'm going to make that reference.)

So, huzzah to all the participants and all the fans who voted over these past three weeks.  Huzzah to all my fellow kindie website operators who hosted matchups over these past three weeks.  And huzzah to Princess Katie and Racer Steve, Champions of KidVid Tournament 2012!

Princess Katie & Racer Steve - "Sand in My Sandwich" [YouTube]

Itty-Bitty Review: Radio Jungle - The Pop Ups

Radio Jungle album coverHas any kids' act in the modern, kindie era raised such a ruckus with their debut album as the Brooklyn duo The Pop Ups with Outside Voices?  You remember that album, right? So did everyone else.

Expectations are high, therefore, with the release of Radio Jungle, the follow-up up to that 2010 album.  Can they meet them?

Pretty much, yeah.  At their very best, nobody makes better modern pop for preschoolers than the Pop Ups.  Leadoff singles "Connect the Stars" (featuring Shine and the Moonbeams' Shawana Kemp on vocals plus Oran Etkin on tenor sax) and '80s throwback "Box of Crayons" should rule kindie radio airwaves through fall.  And if that's enough, "Pop Up City" (with hints of Prince and Springsteen) and the flamenco'd tune "The Bat" there to extend the band's dominance through 2013.  These songs should be blasting out from every lemonade stand and driveway art show.

The rest of the album, starting with "Math Rock," isn't as pure pop joy as those first four songs, but do have their own charms.  All these songs are probably part of the forthcoming Pop Ups puppet show, but it's more obvious with these latter tracks, such as the counting on "Math Rock," the color matching on "Color Wheel," and the phonetic spelling of words on "Elephant."  These last six songs are more Broadway than Brill Building.  (OK, off-Broadway.)

The 38-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 7.  You can hear the album at the band's Bandcamp page (or stream below).  Radio Jungle is a solid follow-up to, and equal of, its storied predecessor.  It's a little more showtune-y than Outside Voices, so your family's personal preferences may vary, but you'll probably still swoon over most of these tracks, too.  Highly recommended.

Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of the album for possible review.

Video: "One To Ten" - Lucky Diaz

A Potluck album coverAm I a big Loog Guitars fan?  Am I a big Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band fan?  I dig my Loog guitar, and Diaz crafts some earwormy hooks, so let's answer in the affirmative.

And now, like some sort of kindie Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, they've joined forces. Diaz has written "One To Ten," a short, sharp pop tune written and recorded by Diaz on the Loog guitar.  I can vouch that the Loogs have that very percussive sound.

Diaz features other instruments on his upcoming album with the Family Jam Band, A Potluck, which is due out May 15 (with a new single, "Lines and Dots" out later this week).  But, you know, Loog hasn't figured out how to manufacture horns and accordions. Yet.

Lucky Diaz - "One To Ten" [YouTube]

Video: "On Hockey Days" - Raffi

On Hockey Days single coverHockey has not exactly had the reputation of a gentle sport; perhaps as a result, gentle kids music legend Raffi is probably not the first kids musician to come to mind when you think of "kids song about hockey."  (Of, course, neither was James Superstar Kochalka, and his song was pretty good.)

But, he is Canadian.  So perhaps that helps explain why he's just released a new song, "On Hockey Days," about the sport, and about youth hockey in particular.  It's a benefit song for his Centre for Child Honouring, and on the song's page for his website, he notes that the new song honors "hockey parents who devotedly take their kids to the rink all winter long, and sounds a call to fun, fair play and respect."  It's not a new album, but as a one-off single from Raffi, it's not bad at all.  The charity single was released north of the border last week and will be released here in the States tomorrow.

Or just watch the video.

Raffi - "On Hockey Days" [YouTube]