All Belle and Sebastian, All the Time?

Pitchfork picks up a NME story updating the Belle and Sebastian-curated children's music compilation, Zooglobble goes nuts. (You know, for someone who's a little bit skeptical about this whole endeavor, I'm certainly spending a lot of time talking about it. Maybe I'm talking myself into thinking it might just work.)

First, the actual news -- the compilation on Rough Trade Records is now scheduled for release in October, not September as originally announced. Oh, and the Flaming Lips have been added to the bill.

Now, for pure silliness, let's guess what the best track will be, purely based on the artist and song name:

Four Tet (featuring Princess Watermelon) - "Go Go Ninja Dinosaur"
Rasputina - "A Skeleton Bang"
Franz Ferdinand - "Jackie Jackson"
Snow Patrol - "I Am an Astronaut"
The Divine Comedy - "Three Cheers for Pooh, Cottleston Pie, Piglet Ho"
The Kooks - "The King & I"
Half Man Half Biscuit - "David Wainwright's Feet"
The Barcelona Pavilion - "Tidy Up Tidy Up"
Jonathan Richman - "Out Dog Is Getting Older Now"
Ivor Cutler Trio - "Mud"
The Flaming Lips - "The Big Ol' Bug Is the New Baby Now"
Belle & Sebastian - "The Monkeys Are Breaking out of the Zoo"
Kathryn Williams - "Night Baking"

I've got my bets on the Four Tet and Flaming Lips tracks. The Divine Comedy track could either be a disaster or inspired. As a big fan of the Milne books, it's a track I simultaneously view with anticipation and dread.

Review: An Elephant Never Forgets - Owen Duggan

I would call Owen Duggan the "next Raffi," but the problem is, I already did that with someone else. And even if I no longer believed it (which I do), it would look pretty foolish of me to recant scant weeks later. So let me put it this way -- Owen Duggan is Raffi.

Or, to put it another way, Duggan's late 2005 debut album An Elephant Never Forgets is the album that Raffi could've recorded after The Corner Grocery Store, had he decided to continue mining the vein of classic kids' songs, folk songs, and other musical traditions instead of becoming increasingly concerned with ecology and children -- all Good Things, no doubt, but far from where Raffi started. But Duggan has the sweet voice (here's a man who needs to record "Puff the Magic Dragon") and talented backing musicians that makes Raffi's work so pleasant to listen to.

Duggan, a San Antonio-based music teacher, has put together a wonderful group of musicians to back up this collection of Duggan originals and classic tunes. The gentle humor of the album is evident in one of my favorite tracks, the zippy "The Ants," better known as "The Ants Go Marching." Duggan and his band gives the song an increasingly manic energy, which is released in a jazzy musical outro. I especially liked the brass work of Ron Wilkins throughout the album, but the whole set of jazz and folk musicians who back him up are top-notch. The music switches between gentle kids folk music (the Duggan original "The Elephant Song" and "I Got the Baby Blues"), covers of classics (Tom Paxton's oft-recorded "The Marvelous Toy"), authentic folk music (the energetic fiddle tune "The Green Meadow"), and jazz (the Ellington/Strayhorn "Happy Go Lucky Local"). Duggan closes out the album with a couple lovely lullabies, which seems to be the standard for kids' albums nowadays. (Almost makes me nostalgic for the Raffi albums, which sometimes ended up on an uptempo note.)

This album is targeted right at kids ages 2 through 6. You can hear samples here and order the disk at Duggan's website or the standard Amazon/CDBaby/iTunes trio.

If Raffi makes your eyelid twitch erratically, I really can't recommend the disk to you. But if you have an appreciation for Raffi's work, and are looking for something else besides to play, An Elephant Never Forgets is a nice collection, a little jazzier, a little poppier than Raffi, and every bit as well done. Recommended.

Review in Brief: Children are the Sunshine

Trinidad-born and Bay Area-based, Asheba released his third kids music album, Children Are the Sunshine (2006), earlier this month. Asheba's music draws on his Caribbean heritage, employing reggae and calypso styles on kids' standards and his originals. The strong points of the CD? There are some tracks I enjoyed -- the reggae-fied version of "All Around the Kitchen," for example, or an original version of an alphabet song ("ABC (Alphabet Story)"). But his CD fails to draw enough attention to Asheba's reported strengths as an improvisational artist or storyteller. There isn't always enough musical variety within a song to merit the 4- to 5-minute track lengths of many song, and sweet story songs like "Picoplat Calypso" were more the exception than the rule. And I was disappointed that the album didn't include a single song with steel drum, which Asheba can play.

Asheba is reputedly very popular in the Bay Area, and is working on a Putumayo Kids recording. I hope that that next album, especially with the backing of Putumayo, allows Asheba to use a broader array of instruments and larger number of musicians, thereby drawing out more of the qualities fans see in his live shows. Children Are the Sunshine isn't a bad album, it just doesn't do enough to showcase Asheba.

Huge In Australia

Before I get to the Purple Stripes, a quick story:

Shortly after the NPR interview, I got an e-mail from an Australian comic who was looking for a review I'd done of his CD here on the website. He'd apparently sold some of his albums at CDBaby from people who were referred there from here.

Here's the thing: I'd never even heard of him or the CD, let alone reviewed it.

I told him that if he got me a copy of the CD (which did sound like it'd be fairly amusing and even somewhat apropos for the site), I'd review it here, and then at least it would all make sense. Haven't heard a reply to the offer, though.

I bring this up as a way of saying I must be huge in Australia, because Karl Richter, with the new Australian label Bing!Bang!Bong!, is the first person to ask me to post a kids' music artist's mp3 here on Zooglobble. And since the song is from the new Australian kids' music duo The Purple Stripes, I said I'd be happy to oblige:

The Purple Stripes - The Circle Song (Too late!)

While my favorite song from their 2006 EP is "Bing! Bang! Bong!" (available at their Myspace page), I think "The Circle Song" is more indicative of their EP as a whole -- sweet female harmonizing in a folk-pop way, with just guitar and the bare minimum of percussion for accompaniment. Those looking for a kids' music equivalent of The White Stripes will be disappointed -- it's a little more of a blend of Laurie Berkner and Lunch Money.

Good stuff and a promising debut. Their EP will be on the iTunes Music Store soon.

Review: Song and Play Time - Pete Seeger

Long before Laurie Berkner, long before Raffi even, there was Pete Seeger. His stepmother spent a lot of time recovering folk songs from historical neglect, and her stepson put many of those on record. He was incredibly productive in doing this for Folkways Records, recording 54 albums for them. One of those albums, originally released in 1960, Seeger's Song and Play Time, received a new release on CD in 2001.

More than anything, the thing that keeps Pete Seeger's albums far from the file marked "important-but-unlistenable" is that voice. Crystal-clear and sweet, accompanied only by his adept banjo-playing, and sometimes by nothing his conviction that folk songs are worthwhile, Seeger's voice invites listeners to sit down and listen. (His voice sounds great on this remastered album.)

Until, of course, he encourages them to join in the fun. Sometimes that encouragement is for physical activity, as in "Here We Go Loopy-Loo," the precursor to the "Hokey-Pokey." (Or, since the "Hokey-Pokey" has been around since possibly the Middle Ages, perhaps it's the successor.) Sometimes the encouragement is to sing along, as in the classics "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad" and "She'll Be Comin' 'round the Mountain." (The latter, I would note, includes a lyric about killing the old red rooster -- "hack-hack" -- which got left out by Raffi and Laurie Berkner. I like the addition and it certainly puts the next line -- "We will all have chicken and dumplings" -- in much better context.) And sometimes Seeger simply wills the listener to participate, singing loudly and clapping a cappella on "Captain Jinks."

Kids age 2 through 6 will most enjoy the songs here. You can hear samples at the Folkways page for the album.

At 41 minutes in length, the album may get a bit too repetitive to listen to straight through. But it'd probably fit right in a 5-CD changer on shuffle, either with Seeger's contemporaries or with your contemporaries. And the more you're willing to sit down (or stand up) with Seeger (rather than just putting him in the car's CD player), the more you and your kids will get something out of the album. Seeger's melodious voice and enthusiasm makes this worth exploring for you and the younger kids in your life.