Kickstarter Update: The Kindie Crowd-Funding Continues

Not sure why, but these Kickstarter kids music projects come in clumps. Another fine batch of kindie projects from Kickstarter and its kin, so let's hop to it.

First up is the Kickstarter project from New York's Shine and the Moonbeams. Anyone who saw them at Kindiefest last year knows just how awesome this album could be. Yes, it's a debut album, but with folks like Dan Zanes and Tor Hyams lending their support, it's gonna be pro all the way.

Baltimore's Milkshake's concept for their Kickstarter project features a bunch of music one minute (or so) in length.

Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band's Kickstarter project doesn't officially launch until Friday, but you can watch the preview video now. [And here it is!]Rather than raising money for the album itself (I'm So Glad! comes out April 3), Alex Mitnick and crew are raising money for videos for the album. As someone who likes videos, I say, woot!

Kickstarter doesn't have a monopoly on kids' music projects -- Athens, GA band Like Totally! are pitching their project on IndieGoGo. I've actually been following the band for a little while now and I'm curious to see what a focused producer does with their Elephant-Six-meets-The-Polyphonic-Spree-meets-Sesame-Street vibe.

Now, in the category of "just lettin' ya know," Ralph Covert, aka Ralph's World launched and successfully funded his Kickstarter project to film a pilot for a new TV show called Time Machine Guitar, which features, er, a guitar that allows Ralph to travel Back. In. Ti-ime.

Also, there will be puppets.

The whole project looks pretty cool, with some top-notch talent backing Ralph up to make the pilot really cool. So keep your eyes out for that.
Finally, I've been geeked for a couple weeks now because it looks like the long-discussed Luscious Jackson kids album will -- at some point -- finally make its way into this household. The band has turned to PledgeMusic to help fund its new album and while it has nothing to do with kids music, one of the rewards (beyond new music from LJ, which is also a Good Thing) is a copy of that 6-year-old (unreleased) kids' album, Baby DJ.

Video: "Pancake Smackdown" - Gustafer Yellowgold

Rejoice! It's time for another humorous Gustafer Yellowgold video with food as its subject!

This time it's "Pancake Smackdown," and it's the first, er, taste of the forthcoming Gustafer Yellowgold CD/DVD set Gustafer Yellowgold's Year in the Day, out April 3. It features assorted pancake-related violence, so the gluten-intolerant may want to look away.

Gustafer Yellowgold - "Pancake Smackdown" [YouTube]

Gustavo Dudamel and Elmo: Not Quite Stupendous. But Fun.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's wunderkind conductor Gustavo Dudamel ticked off the first of the two major pop icon checkmarks (the other would be being namechecked on The Simpsons) when he got an appearance with Sesame Street's Elmo to discuss the word "stupendous."

"Stupendous" means "great and amazing," and while I'm not sure that it's quite that cool, the bit is fun. Little known fact: Ludwig van Beethoven originally scored the last movement of his Fifth Symphony for penguin choir, so Dudamel's just reverting to the composer's intentions here.

Monday Morning Smile: "Needing/Getting" - OK Go

If OK Go's songs were as consistently entertaining as their videos, they would be the world's biggest band. As it stands, they are merely the world's biggest conceptual artists. I mean, they created a video in which they play the music by driving through a race course and having implements attached to their car play instruments played along the course. And they got a corporate sponsor to pay for it. So, in case you haven't seen it yet...

OK Go - "Needing/Getting" [YouTube]

A bonus OK Go video after the jump...
The band also appeared on Sesame Street recently, and while the video (and song) they did for that show isn't quite as cool, your family's toddlers will probably dig it:

OK Go - "Three Primary Colors" [YouTube]

Kindiefest 2012: This Time With Pizza

It's true -- Kindiefest is coming back for the 2012 edition, and the fine folks running the show promise pizza this year.

What's that? You can get pizza where you live?

Well, how about Dan Zanes, Kathy O'Connell, Mindy Thomas, Jeff Bogle, the ever-elusive Jeff Giles, Darren Critz, Nerissa Nields, to name just a few? Do those folks stop by on Friday night for pizza night? Thought not.

And, er, me.

Now, it's not easy to get me to fly across the country, but somehow that's what Kindiefest compels me to do every year. After each year's event, no matter how good, I say to myself, "I think I'll probably skip next year's event." And then I find myself taking the train in from JFK and preparing to talk and listen pretty much constantly for the next 48 hours until I get on the train back to JFK. As someone who books shows in Phoenix, it's also an opportunity to see artists who might make a subsequent appearance in these parts. And I pretty much think about the issues raised in Brooklyn the whole year long.

I'm looking forward to the panel I'll be part of (details to come), the artists I'll be seeing perform (Caspar Babypants, Renee & Jeremy, Mista Cookie Jar, Moona Luna, and more), and the conversations I'll join in on. It's a great way to see where the field is at right now, and where it's heading. (You can register here.)

Don't forget that even if you're not part of the genre as an artist, writer, booker, or otherwise, there's the public showcase on Sunday, which usually features a half-dozen or so artists at a crazy-good price. NYC-area families should definitely consider attending.