Christmas Songs 2011, Part I

There is no shortage of songs from kids' musicians celebrating the Christmas season this year. I expect a few Hanukkah songs, maybe even a Kwanzaa song or two, before December is through. (Still waiting on Festivus kids music, though.) I'm titling this "Part I" fully expecting there will be at least another part or two this year. So let's get to it.

I doubt you're gonna find another Christmas kids music video this year as hyper -- and, frankly, as awesome -- as this new video from Mista Cookie Jar. It's for a new track called "Robot for Xmas," which you can download for free here. But, really, it's the video that makes it.

Mista Cookie Jar and the Chocolate Chips - Robot for Xmas [YouTube]

You think I'm stopping here? Oh, no, there's plenty more...
OK, after that video, you might need something a little more soothing for you and your kids. And there aren't very many kids' artists who are more soothing than the California duo Renee & Jeremy. They released a holiday single last year, and this year they've got an original tune, "Sunny Christmas" for your holiday pleasure. You can download it at iTunes or listen to it at their website.

Laurie Berkner is also getting into the holiday video game this year, creating a new video for her seasonally-appropriate song "Candy Cane Jane," off her Rocketship Run album. She's selling the video as a download on iTunes and elsewhere, but you can watch the whole thing on iTunes. (Odd warning before you watch it with your kids, though -- it's on Berkner's VEVO channel, which runs an ad before the video. Which I don't mind at all, it's just that VEVO doesn't seem to have given any thought to the ads that run before the video -- the most recent time I watched it, it featured an anti-meth ad that seemed pitched at perhaps a slightly older crowd than would typically be watching a Laurie Berkner video.)

The Laurie Berkner Band - "Candy Cane Jane" [YouTube]

Joe McDermott has a new song and video which is totally ecumenical and secular -- it's all about "Holiday Break" and explains why this can be the (second-favorite) time of the year for your kids' teachers. The Official Wife of Zooglobble is in the educational system herself -- she can totally relate.

Joe McDermott - "Holiday Break" [YouTube]

For those of you looking to actually celebrate a little Christmas with your kindie friends, Roy Handy and the Moonshot offers up a version of "The Friendly Beasts" (available on iTunes here). It's a melodic line I wasn't familiar with, but which says comes from a Burl Ives disk (or actual vinyl record) that's nearly 50 years old at this point.

Roy Handy and the Moonshot - "The Friendly Beasts" [YouTube]

Finally, a couple kindie artists have created "holiday cards" for your video perusal. DidiPop and Joanie Leeds have each created an animated card, but beyond that, they're very... different. You will have to decide for yourself which you prefer (and which music is original).

Best Kids Music 2011: Top 10 Debuts

I'll kick off my review of the best kids music of 2011 with a look at the year's best debuts.

As was the case last year, we didn't know many of these artists a year ago (or if we did, we had no idea they had a kids music album in them). But these albums caught my ear fairly quickly and some of them even made my top albums of the year list.

I should note that, as I did last year, by using the word "debut," I'm assuming that this isn't the last family music album from each of these artists. Albums from Holly Throsby and Chip Taylor, for example, would've been considered for this list, but I've made the assumption that their family albums will be their sole foray into the genre. I would be happy to be proven wrong, next year or at any point in the future.

So here are ten debut kids music albums (listed alphabetically by artist) worth celebrating.

The Alphabeticians
Rock
Leading off this alphabetical list is this Portland, Oregon duo (Eric Levine and Jeff Inlay, AKA Mr. E. and Mr. Hoo) who trade in sharp, hook-filled guitar jangle-pop and slightly absurd lyrics. (Sample song title: "Eric Saw Peter Buck's Girlfriend and Then He Saw Peter Buck".) But then again, isn't looking at life through a child's eyes a little absurd once we've left our adult glasses on too long? Listen here.
Cat and a Bird
Cat and a Bird
Energetic gypsy-jazz from the future. Lyrics about the animal kingdom. They had me at "violin." The duo of Vasiliy Taranov and Emily Chimiak make folk music for people who think they don't like folk music, and on their debut they somehow manage to combine catchy songs with some nuggets of knowledge regarding the animal kingdom that even the parents might not know. They are called "Cat and a Bird," after all.

Lori Henriques
Outside My Door
Let me quote from my original review: "Outside My Door: Songs for Children of All Ages is unlike any kids' CD I've heard in a long time. It's a throwback to 1970s piano jazz, nothing but Henriques' voice and nimble piano work. It's inspired by Sesame Street, though the lyrics especially are a bit advanced for the preschoolers who are that show's target audience." It's also -- more importantly -- really good.

Caroline Herring
The Little House Songs
Why Caroline Herring and not, say, Holly Throsby? Because I'm pretty sure that folksinger Herring wants to continue making these albums based on children's books. Herring got a boost from a Kickstarter campaign to turn her songs chronicling the fade and rebirth of a tiny house into a full-length album. It's simple album, made with care, and, given its subject matter, covers a wider range of emotions than many albums for kids. If it's the only kids' album Herring makes, it's a fine piece of work. (But I'm hoping it's not her last.)

Johnny & Jason
Go,go... go, go, go!
Another sign (beyond the Alphabeticians and Portland-based Henriques) that the Portland kindie music scene is coalescing into one of the country's hot spots. The Portland duo of Johnny Keener and Jason Greene have a homegrown and hook-filled sound that sounds friendly to all ages. You can listen to the album here. This summer, I called it a "definitely a contender for one of the year's best debuts"; now I'll confirm it.

Mr. & Mrs. Muffins
The Adventures of Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Carrot / The Striped Ladybird
The Seattle duo also used a Kickstarter campaign, in this case to press the music from their two books, The Adventures of Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Carrot and The Striped Ladybird, onto vinyl. But you don't need a record player to listen to or enjoy the music -- the books and music are designed for 21st-century mediums like the iPad. Their breezy sounds could have been recorded 50 or 75 years ago, but they're just as lovely as background music for Skype-ing with Grandma.

Meadows
The Littlest Star
Composer Keith Kenniff and his wife Hollie Kenniff are in about a kajillion different musical projects -- for their latest, they give some traditional tunes (and a handful of originals) a spin around the block. Relaxed arrangements and vocals -- nothing is reinvented here, but sometimes you need a collection of classic kids' tunes that sound like they weren't on played on a keyboard in a brightly-colored plastic case.

Papa Crow
Things That Roar
An album from Michigan's Papa Crow, AKA Jeff Krebs, that proves that "hushed" isn't just an adjective that applies to female musicians. Inspired by folks like Elizabeth Mitchell and Dan Zanes, Krebs turns in a quiet -- but not sleepy -- album of originals that sound great at any time of year, but especially with a sweater on, maybe sipping a cup of hot chocolate.

Mike Park
Smile
Mike Park isn't the first person to make punk music for the preschool set, but he probably has the nicest pedigree, being the bassist for Skankin' Pickle and releasing music from bands like the Alkaline Trio on his Asian Man Records label. This album is targeted right at the preschool set, focusing on basic concerns like counting and animals and jumping. (Hey, I think jumping is a useful skill for a future punk. Or just about anybody else.) Again, why include him and not Chip Taylor? Just a feeling that this isn't the last foray into kindie punk from Park.

The Thinkers
Oh Zoooty!
Super-fun, imaginative bouncy pop -- which is either a description of the Boston-NYC-based band's debut album or a fizzy soda from Japan. I'm going with the music. Will your kids laugh? Yes they will. Will they dance? Yes they will. There's been a lot of radio silence from them since their summer tour, but I'm hoping we haven't heard the last of them.

Best Kids Music 2011: An Introduction

Well, it's December, and if you write for, well, just about any website, you are now constitutionally obligated to start putting together lists of the year's best stuff. Last I put together a comprehensive list of kids music worth your time and this year's list is even bigger.

Better? Well, that's up to you, but from my perspective, there is no sign that the creative flowering of the genre shows any signs of slowing down.

As always, my year meets the definition of the Fids and Kamily year -- November 1, 2010 through October 31, 2011. I'll be updating this post with links to the relevant subject posts as they go up.

Top 10 Debuts
Top 10 Album Packages
Top 25 Songs
Top 25 Albums
Big Ideas

Thanks as always for taking time out of your day to read this or anything else on the site. I appreciate it!

Video: "It Makes You Feel Good" - Renee & Jeremy

It's getting cold, even here in Arizona, so this new video from Renee & Jeremy (who are otherwise promoting their poppy "Sunny Christmas" single) will probably serve as a welcome respite from Old Man Winter (or at least his grumpy Brother Late Fall). It's for "It Makes You Feel Good" off their album C'mon and it's filled with images of pools, beaches, and jumping on beds. Good vibrations all the way 'round.

Renee & Jeremy - "It Makes You Feel Good" [YouTube]

Review: Coal Train Railroad Swings! - Coal Train Railroad

There are not many artists who play jazz for kids, which is a sad thing. Sad not because Jazz Is The American Art Form and more kids should be aware of their country's musical heritage (even though that statement is true). Sad because jazz can be one of the most playful musical forms, and who plays better than kids?

On their second album, Coal Train Railroad Swings!, Nashville's Coal Train Railroad are every bit as playful as their pint-sized primary audience, adding several musical exclamation points to that in the title. From the get-go vocalist Katy Bowser throws herself into the preschool-focused lyrics with abandon. On the swingin' leadoff track "I'm Diggin' Me," Bowser sounds hopped up on pixie sticks as she fully inhabits the bouncing-off-the-walls-let's-play-superheroes! narrator. On big band-inspired "Dirt," I love the way Bowser throws off the word "dirt" at the end of every line, a statement of fact mixed with "what-are-ya-gonna-do?" insouciance. And I think you can probably guess the vocal approach she takes on the gypsy-jazz "I Hab a Code."

Which isn't to imply that the music is just jokey -- they come from a kid-centered focus. Bowser can turn in gorgeous vocals as well, as on "With A Box." And she's very ably backed up by her CTRR co-founder, producer and bassist Christopher Donohue, and the rest of the band. They provide great accompaniment, playful when necessary, solid through and through. The album is very preschool-focused lyrically, which may very well restrict the repeatability for folks when kids aren't around, though the album closer, the gorgeous "On Our Swings," is a worthy successor to the West Coast jazz sound Vince Guaraldi made famous to a broad audience via the Peanuts TV specials.

The album is more appropriate for kids ages 2 through 7, though that's a lyrical distinction -- musically, it works for everyone. You can hear the whole 27-minute album via the widget at the bottom of the page.

I liked Coal Train Railroad's debut, but I really like Coal Train Railroad Swings!. If it's not quite the all-ages classic that Medeski Martin & Wood's Let's Go Everywhere is, it gets close. It's musical, smart, and, most importantly, fun. Definitely recommended.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the album for possible review.