Laurie Berkner: How To Succeed Without Really Trying?

I will stop talking so much about Laurie Berkner soon, but The Lovely Mrs. Davis' post on Laurie and the reasons for her success couldn't go unresponded.

Typically Amy and I are pretty sympatico on our musical opinions, but we've never quite seen eye-to-eye on Berkner. (Though we've never actually "talked" about Laurie in any sense.) But I think the thing that tweaked me about Amy's post is twofold:
1. Laurie's not talented
2. Laurie's not "indie" (and that somehow is bad)

Amy's view is that there are "numerous other artists whose talent for writing and performing kids' music far surpass Laurie's." Taste is, of course, subjective, but I can't think of many artists for preschoolers who are better than Laurie -- she writes good melodies, lyrics, and has one heck of a voice (if you think she can't sing a "regular" song, check out her duet on "Happy Trails" with Buck Howdy on his Giddyup! album). In her videos (don't know about her concerts), she has an engaging personality. (OK, her albums are a bit underproduced, I'll grant you that.)

Her focus is a bit narrower than other artists who might try to hit the elementary school crowd, and I wouldn't play her albums for myself like I might with some other kids' music artists, but Laurie is very, very good at what she does and I'm not sure who'd rank above Laurie for the preschool set. Raffi, perhaps.

As for the "indie" argument, I've always found that argument rather tired. "Indie" has always meant more than the source of the music -- it's meant the approach. But, taking the argument at face value, is it true?

First off, Razor and Tie would qualify as an "indie" label for most people ("New York-based Razor & Tie is one of the fastest growing independent entertainment companies in the United States." -- from Razor and Tie's website). If it's somehow not an independent label, that means such artists as Elizabeth Mitchell (Smithsonian Folkways), the Terrible Twos (Vagrant/Paquito), Gustafer Yellowgold (Little Monster), or Peter Himmelman (Rounder) don't count as "indie," either. "Doing their own marketing" isn't a good way of describing "indie," either, as artists such as Justin Roberts, Dan Zanes, and Brady Rymer all have talented publicity people working for them.

Even if you disagree with my definitions and think Razor and Tie is not "indie", the simple fact is that Berkner is recording her albums on her own dime -- she's just using Razor and Tie for the "production and distribution" of her Two Tomatoes albums. She's like 99% of kids' artists out there -- just with a far, far better distribution arrangement, and one that I guarantee most would take. It's sort of like the Wiggles discussion...

Amy does bring up a good point regarding marketing to kids, and I have no disagreement there.

So I still think Amy's fabulous and lovely. But in this case, I'm gonna have to disagree. Thoughts?

Review in Brief: Songs for the Coolest Kids - Princess Katie and Racer Steve

Let's be upfront and say that the songs on Songs for the Coolest Kids, the debut album from New York-based Princess Katie and Racer Steve, are geared directly at kids ages 4 through 8. Would you listen to these songs on your own, without your kids around? Probably not. Why not? The subject matter and directness of the lyrics aren't written with you in mind. On "Tell the Truth," for example, the chorus goes "Tell the truth! / Nobody likes a lie / Tell the truth / It's okay to cry." Other songs talk about returning lost objects to their rightful owner and how important it is to just try. This is straight-up telling you what's right and what's wrong (or "emotional development," to use Katie and Steve's phrase), and it's great for 5-year-olds (most of the time), and a little dull for their parents.

Having said that, there aren't many albums taking this approach that are as tuneful as this one. The songs here are a collection of well-done pop-rock. "Tell Them How You Feel" has a lo-fi sixties rock feel, replete with handclaps, while "Tell the Truth" sounds like 10,000 Maniacs (not least of which because Princess Katie sounds just like Natalie Merchant (and I know I'm not the first to make the comparison). If some of the tunes sound a lot like other songs ("Kings & Princesses" has a very .38 Special sound, while "Miracle Lullaby" is seems to be thisclose to infringing on the copyright to "Killing Me Softly"), at least the borrowing is judicious, and the kids won't mind.

If you want to listen, you can go to the Princess Katie and Racer Steve website and listen to the "radio" there. You probably won't find yourself sneaking a listen when your kids are gone, but it's an appealing enough spin when they're around.

Laurie Berkner('s) Congas!

I know someone who says it should be a goal to learn something new every day.

So, in that spirit, and thanks to the Laurie Berkner/"Farm Song"-related clarifications of Deb in SF and Katy L, here you go (thanks, Wikipedia!):

Bongo drum: Percussion instrument made up of two small drums attached to each other

Conga: Tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum of African origin, probably derived from the Congolese Makuta drums.

This is my favorite factoid: "Someone who plays the bongos is called a bongocero." "Bongocero" sounds cooler than "conguero."

Bongocero. It's my new favorite word.

Review in Brief: Stories from Duke Puddintown - Greg Loop

When I review a CD that I'm not enamored of, it's often because I hear something that somebody else might appreciate or because I think the artist shows promise.

So let me begin by saying that I think Pittsburgh-based Greg Loop shows a gift for lyrics on his 2006 album, Stories from Duke Puddintown. Take this lyric in "Rhythm Time," for example:

Spills and chills make for little thrills / In the pond live fish with gills / They double bubble, rubble bump / underneath a hickory stump

That's some fun wordplay, and it's repeated often on this 27-minute disk.

What's less compelling is the music. The music in general, garage-folk-rock, is OK -- a bit repetitive, perhaps, over the course of the disk, but it has an agreeable lo-fi sound. Loop's voice, however, is not supple and melodious. While it's too far off the mark to say that his melodies are writing checks that his voice can't cash, it is fair to say that his melodies range too far for his voice. (And perhaps I'm a vocal snob, but you should be used to that by now.) Given those comments, it's not surprising that my favorite track here is "Butterflies," a virtual instrumental showing off Loop's guitar work that sounds quite unlike the rest of the album.

The album will be of most interest to kids ages 3 through 7. You can hear samples here. And while I'm not really a fan of Stories from Duke Puddintown, there are enough good things here to make me want to hear Loop's next attempt.

KidVid: "Farm Song" - Laurie Berkner

If it doesn't quite have the propulsive energy of last year's "Walk Along the River," Laurie Berkner's new song "Farm Song" does have farm animal noises and Berkner's sweet voice.

Not at the same time, luckily.

It's 2 minutes and 30 seconds of animal noises, mad bongo conga drum skillz, and tons of kids' animal costumes. (Jack evidently has a very large costuming budget.) An appealing enough video and a song that'll probably end up on a Laurie "greatest hits" CD someday in the future.

View the video here. Read a profile in the New York Times here. (Who knew therapy could produce a popular kids' tune?)