New Recess Monkey Album: A Sneak Peek

I was in Seattle last week with my family and although there were a number of kids' musicians playing in the area at the time (Captain Bogg & Salty, and Eric Herman, I believe), I didn't want to turn the family vacation into a total kids' music busman's holiday. After all, we had lots of pictures of the Seattle skyline to take so when we got home we could ask ourselves why we took so many pictures that weren't cropped anywhere near tight enough. Oh, and we needed to watch people throw fish at Pike Place Market. (Not really sure about that in retrospect.)

But when loyal reader Katy mentioned that her daughters were participating in the Recess Monkey camp and said I was welcome to sit in on one of their end-of-the-day performances, I thought that it'd be a fun way to spend an hour or so. So my daughter and I joined up with them.

For those of you unfamiliar with Recess Monkey's last album, Aminal House, it was made with lots of help from kids at a similar camp last year (read more about that camp here). The basic process was the same this year, with the band coming up with some basic song structures, and the kids helping fill in some of the gaps musically and lyrically.

The result, if the 25-minute set of song highlights the trio performed on the last day of that week's camp is any indication, will be an album that will meet the high level of expectations set by Aminal House. I didn't take notes or pictures (because, let's face it, that just would have been waaaay too weird), but there was lots of cool poppy goodness in those song snippets. With studio wizardy and the promised "sick guitar licks," I think it'll be a big hit, both with kids and their parents.

The album -- "Wonderstuff" -- will be a double-CD set, which, I don't know, might be a first. The band's nicknamed it the "Yellow Album," though I'm hoping the Beatles references end there and that drummer Daron Henry doesn't walk out on the recording for a while. (If they play the roof of the Sub Pop building and break up, we'll know they've taken their Beatles idolatry too far.)

The story that loosely ties the CDs together concerns the Wonderbees who, according to guitarist Drew Holloway, "gather nectar from the magical meadows and turn it into Wonderstuff. The bees sting wonderstuff into people and creatures, providing them with dreams, good ideas, and inspiration galore. One day however, the bees travel to the meadows only to discover the grass and flowers have been replaced by an endless grey." This story will be told in part by song and in part by narration, hopefully by bassist/keyboardist Jack Forman, who delivered his narrative amusingly while, for reasons best left unexplained, dressed in a barrister's wig.

The track list (at the moment):

Disc One
1. The Wonderbees
2. Busy Bees
3. My Pet Rock
4. Don't Wanna Go to Bed
5. Magical Meadows
6. Bad Ideas
7. The Rat
8. The Sun Will Shine for You
9. Backpack!
10. Best Friend

Disc Two
1. Pool
2. Come Out of Your Shell
3. The Funniest Thing I Ever Did See
4. The Grey
5. Rollercoaster
6. The Golden Seed
7. Hula Hoop
8. My Friend Shadow
9. Helping Hands
10. The Wonderbees #9

OK, I'm kidding on that last one. It's just a reprise.

Anyway, the CD should be out by October.

Welcome Austin Chronicle Readers and Westwood High Alums

If you stopped by after (or while) reading this week's Austin Chronicle story on the Rockabye Baby! series, welcome. While I don't have a review of a CD from the series (though I've got about a dozen sitting around here awaiting a review of some sort), there's lots of other kids music info here. Dan Zanes, the Jellydots, Asylum Street Spankers -- they're all here, just search up there at the right or follow the links on the left.

If you live in Austin (and if you read the Chronicle, you probably do, natch) and you're not currently debating whether to see the White Stripes or the Arcade Fire on Saturday, September 15th at the Austin City Limits Festival, there will be a great kids and family music show at Ruta Maya starting at 6 PM with Laura Freeman, the Telephone Company, Joe McDermott and, all the way from Brooklyn, the Deedle Deedle Dees. Tickets are just $5, infants are free. The show is sponsored by myself and Bill Childs, who hosts a kids and family radio show at Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. It'll be a great time.

And in the "small world" portion of the post, I, like Valerie Aiello, who came up with the idea for the Rockabye Baby! series, also attended Westwood High. But, uh, before her time.

If I Were At Lollapalooza

I've already given you a brief guide to the Kidzapalooza festivities which kick off tomorrow with the rest of the Lollapalooza.

I won't be attending (actually, I'll be handling both kids by myself as my wife heads out of town for a girls' weekend away), but if I did, I'd be getting sunburned, feeling dehydrated, and running my very own Chicago Marathon as I dashed between sets as follows... (Note: If I were there with, say, my two kids and not my wife, my actual schedule would be a lot different. Maybe I'd catch the Wee Hairy Beasties and play the rest by ear.) Click on the dates to see the master schedule for each day.

Friday, August 3rd
11:30 - Rock for Kids Youth Jam Band
12:00 - Illinois (caught 'em with the Hold Steady. Good set.)
12:30 - last 15 minutes of the Hipwaders set (don't worry, I'm catching their full set on Saturday. Or, er, if I were actually attending, I would.)
1:00 - G Love
1:30 - Son Volt or Ted Leo, can't decide (The Sippy Cups are playing, too, but I'll catch their set on Saturday).
2:30 - last 15 minutes of Peter Himmelman (catching his full set on Sunday).
2:45 - last 45 minutes of the Polyphonic Spree
3:30 - Sparklehorse (I'll catch the School of Rock Allstars on Sunday)
5:00 - The Rapture
6:30 - The Black Keys
7:30 - LCD Soundsystem (though Femi Kuti would be hard to miss)
8:30 - Daft Punk (I mean, c'mon, coming from an LCD Soundsystem set, you have no other choice but to go hear Daft Punk)

Saturday, August 4th
11:30 - Wee Hairy Beasties
12:15 - The Blisters
1:15 - The Sippy Cups
1:45 - Tapes 'n' Tapes (catching the middle 30 minutes of their set)
2:15 - The Hipwaders
2:45 - Alvin Ailey Theatre
3:15 - "Very Special Guest" on the Kidzapalooza stage
4:30 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
5:30 - The Hold Steady. Do not miss the Hold Steady, even if it means missing Roky Erikson, whose return is a pretty big deal, considering his medical/mental health issues.
6:30 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7:30 - Spoon
8:30 - Interpol

Sunday, August 5th
11:30 - Peter Himmelman
12:15 - Q Brothers
1:15 - Candy Band
1:45 - Smoosh
2:30 - tail-end of Peter DiStefano & Perry Farrell
2:45 - tail-end of Amy Winehouse. Assuming, of course, she even shows up.
3:15 - School of Rock Allstars featuring "very special guest"
4:15 - Hmmm... Iggy and the Stooges or Kings of Leon. Iggy, just to say I did...
5:15 - Yo La Tengo
6:15 - My Morning Jacket
7:15 - Cafe' Tacuba
8:00 - Pearl Jam

Anybody going, even if they don't plan on attending any of the Kidz acts? Anything I missed?

New Music from the Jellydots: "San Diego"

The Jellydots traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina about a month ago to perform at the Tricycle Music Fest. In addition to performing a special version of their hit "Bicycle" (take a wild guess at how they modified it and watch here to see if you guessed correctly), they debuted a song from their upcoming album.

Musically, it's got a sunny, late-California afternoon sort-of vibe. It's sort of hard to make out the lyrics in the muddy audio mix, but the chorus is pretty clear:

"Why don't we go to San Diego? / We can sign up this year / Why don't we go to San Diego? / I'm gonna pack up my gear."

The song seems pretty relatable to kids, but considering the line midway through - "It gets so hot in Texas" - it seems like this is a case of real (adult) life inspiring the song, as Jellydots main man Doug Snyder recently moved from Austin to here in Phoenix. Now, ordinarily I might cry foul ("Hey, where's the song about Phoenix?"), but I gotta tell you, "Phoenix" is not nearly as easy to stick in a chorus as "San Diego."

"Why don't we fix transportation in Phoenix?"
"Why do I get neck cricks looking at houses in Phoenix?"

So Doug gets a pass.

Anyway, enjoy.

Review: Music Makes Me Happy - Robbi K

For those of you wondering, yes, this album is better than its cover. Usually.

New York-based Robbi K has pretty impressive musical credentials -- backup singer for Mary K. Blige, Aretha Franklin, and Harry Belafonte, among others. And for her third kids' CD, the recently-released Music Makes Me Happy, Robbi is joined by a great group of musicians, include Brady Rymer, Hayes Greenfield, Guy Davis, and her husband Bakithi Kumalo (who played with Paul Simon) on bass and as executive producer.

The result is an album that, for the most part, effectively blends solid jazz, world-beat, and bluesy tunes and kid-focused lyrics to strong effect. As I listened to the 44-minute album, I ended up thinking of it in three parts. The first three songs don't break any kids' music molds, but they're well done, such as the fun "Eating Some Pizza," featuring a saxophone solo from Hayes Greenfield.

The next five tracks are the album's strongest, I think. There's a funky version of "John Henry" that's top-notch, and her jazzy cover of "My Favorite Things" would sound great on any CD, kids' or otherwise. That stretch also includes the album's best original track, "Music Makes Me Happy," a strutting blues number that features Brady Rymer and blues musician Guy Davis. It's hear that the band lays its best grooves and Robbi K's powerful voice is used to its best effect. If you're gonna move to the beat, it's here you'll do so.

And then there's the last three tracks, which I tried to listen to and enjoy, but just couldn't. The song "Happy! Happy! Happy! Happy! Happy!" made me anything but, and it's followed by a song called "I Love My Teacher." While I enjoy the comparative lack of irony and cynicism in kids' music, sincerity can be taken too far, and lyrics like "I love my teacher, I'll tell you why / She knows everything clear under the sky" just don't ring true to me about how kids think about teachers, even ones they love.

I think kids ages 3 through 7 will most appreciate the lyrics here (the melodies and beats are definitely friendly to kids of all ages). You can hear selections of Robbi's music at her homepage, her Myspace page, or samples of all the tracks here at the album's CDBaby page.

Many families will enjoy Music Makes Me Happy, though like many kids' albums it does land squarely in the "everything is wonderful and, yes, happy" camp. If you (or your kids) are on the other side of the divide, you'll probably want to stay away. Still, it's a solidly performed album that really grooves at points. I'll recommend the CD, but only if I get to hit "eject" after track 8.