Music

CD Review: Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem, “Ranky Tanky”

I’ll get right to the point: I love this album. A lot. I’d never heard Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem before Ranky Tanky arrived in my mailbox, but they’ve made themselves a fan for life, and I’m seeking out their albums for grown-ups as soon as I finish writing this review.

You know what to expect as soon as you lay eyes on the brightly colored, hand-drawn look of the album cover, and when you flip open the CD, those first impressions are reinforced with a picture of the band riding on a trolley and wielding acoustic guitars, fiddles, ukuleles, and wide open smiles. A few inches to the right, and you’re looking at liner notes that include instrumental credits for bottles, jawharp, kalimba, kazoo, harmonium, and some truly weird stuff, like balloon and veggie baster. You get the picture, right? This here’s a back porch kindie jamboree.

Which is all well and good, but all the fingerpicking and fiddling in the world can’t cover up for crummy songs; happily, Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem have lined up a towering stack of venerable standards (such as “The Green Grass Grows All Around”) and clever covers (The Meters’ “They All Ask’d for You,” John Gorka’s “Branching Out,” Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers,” Renee & Jeremy’s “It’s a Big World”) to go with more obviously kid-friendly fare (“If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out,” “Purple People Eater”). The arrangements are solid, the playing is impeccable, the production is clear and warm, and the vocals beam in like sunshine on a spring afternoon. What else can I say? I love this album, and I think you — and I guess more importantly, your kids — will love it too. But don’t just take my word for it — hear some samples here. (Then go buy the darn thing.)

CD Review: “Coal Train Railroad”

The idea of “jazz for kids” might seem as condescending, and as fraught with cheeseball peril, as “science for kids” or VeggieTales or anything else that’s supposed to dumb down supposedly adult material for little brains. And honestly, unless you’re trying to teach your kids about harmolodics, you can pretty much play jazz for your kids without worrying that they won’t be able to appreciate it. Chances are you don’t know your major sixths from your minor sevenths, but you can still appreciate Kind of Blue, right? Right.

Still, it’s hard to argue with anyone who wants to build a jazz gateway for kids, especially when they give it a name as clever as the Coal Train Railroad (say it out loud), or when they kick off the album by asking “what makes that coal train go?” Running the jazz (and jazz-ish) spectrum from jump blues to torch ballads, Coal Train Railroad puts singer Katy Bowser’s supple vocals in front of a crack combo and some smart, easy-to-digest arrangements. Think of it as sort of a jazzy audio equivalent of Bugsy Malone; when she slows down the tempo, Bowser croons like Linda Ronstadt on her Nelson Riddle records, but instead of looking for someone to watch over her, she’s looking for a nap.

It’s fun, well-made stuff. And if it mostly just leaves you wanting to listen to some Brubeck, Jobim, or Ella, then I suppose that’s sort of the point, right?

DVD Review: “Gettin’ Funky with the Sugar Free Allstars”

Aside from Martin & Medeski or the Benevento-Russo Duo, there aren’t many acts a person can turn to if they’re hungry for some stripped down, funky Hammond organ-and-drums action — and in the kids’ music universe? Forget it. With the quasi-exception of Taj Mahal’s songs for children, funk and/or soul is in short supply in the kiddieverse, and if there are two things our children need more than fresh air, exercise, and to leave me alone while I’m trying to write, those two things are funk and soul. After all, like Whitney Houston said, the children are our future. Try imagining a future even less funky than the world we’re living in. Gives you the heebie-jeebies, doesn’t it? I mean, if Karl Rove had been fed a diet of Wilson Pickett and Aretha when he was a little boy, things might have turned out a little differently, don’t you think?

I digress. Here’s what I’m trying to say: There might be bands making music for kids that’s funkier, more soulful, and more fun than the Sugar Free Allstars, but if there are, I’m not aware of them — and what’s more, the band makes music for adults, too. Read the rest of this entry

CD Review: The Bramble Jam, “Move Your Boots”

I could go on and on about this album, but everything you need to know about it is laid out for you before the first note graces your speakers. To wit:

1. The name of the band is the Bramble Jam, which is the coolest. Just the coolest.

2. The title of the album is Move Your Boots. See #1.

3. The band photo on the inside sleeve shows the members of Bramble Jam holding three acoustic guitars, a stand-up bass, and a pair of drumsticks.

The only question you should have at this point is whether or not the music on the album is cool enough to live up to everything I’ve just described, and the answer is a resounding “yes.” Move Your Boots is one of the most effortlessly charming kids’ records I’ve heard in a really long time, with beautifully crisp production and perfectly stripped-down arrangements to go with the band’s rootsy instrumentation and songs about stuff you might remember from your own childhood — like splashing in puddles, dancing like a goofball, arguing with your siblings, wondering why Mom’s so upset about your messy room, Dad’s pancakes, and squishing bugs. None of these are particularly groundbreaking topics for a children’s album, but it isn’t often that they’re addressed with such a refreshing lack of artifice; quite often, Boots has the feel of a back porch jam that just sort of happened to wander into kindie territory. What else can I tell you that really matters? It’s wonderful, just wonderful.

CD Review: Joanie Leeds, “I’m a Rock Star”

Do you remember listening to your favorite music as a kid, and imagining that you were the one singing those words in front of a screaming crowd? Joanie Leeds does — hence the title of her album I’m a Rock Star, which is not the presumptuous boast it may seem; in fact, it’s a wide-eyed look back at the musical excitement of youth, and it’s just the opening track of a solidly crafted, smartly arranged, wonderfully produced 13-track collection, all topped off with Leeds’ big, bright voice.

As you’d expect from an album credited to Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights, I’m a Rock Star will get the most mileage from younger listeners, but what sets Leeds apart from the pack is her way with a killer pop hook — songs like “Put a Smile on Your Face” are great for kids, but more importantly, they’re just plain catchy — as well as the sense of humor that makes silly cuts like “I Was an Elf” worth repeat listens. And then there’s “Give Me a Hug,” which is a bona fide pop jewel. Like a lot of kindie performers, Leeds tried her hand at adult pop before migrating youthward, but unlike many of her peers, she never comes across as condescending; you get the sense she’s just a songwriter who loves kids, and that — along with her relative restraint when it comes to sugar-frosting her uptempo numbers with unnecessary silliness — makes Rock Star worth a spin for the whole family.

CD Review: Birdie’s Playhouse, “The Wild World of Wildlife”

Cute, bouncy, and educational for animal-loving toddlers, The Wild World of Wildlife offers just under half an hour’s worth of world music for the knee-high set, from the congariffic “Iguana Wants to Baila” to the snaky “Shake Your Tail Feathers” and jazzy “Wombat Scat.” Birdie’s Playhouse, led by Birdie Mendoza, probably aims a little low for kids older than, say, five, but that much should be obvious from the cartoony CD artwork (if not the liner notes, where Birdie offers “mil gracias from the tip of my beak down to my knees” to friends and supporters) — and for children in Birdie’s target audience, Wildlife’s simple beats, instantly memorable singalong refrains, and infectious sense of fun should prove irresistible. For parents, things might be a little dicier, although I’m warning you now: the “Elephant in the Congo” melody will wedge itself into your brain immediately, like a “Tom’s Diner” for the sippy cup crowd. Pick it up to go along with your little one’s subscription to Your Big Backyard and play it in between repeat viewings of The Jungle Book.

CD Review: Bari Koral Family Rock Band, “Rock and Roll Garden”

With oversized flowers and a watercolor painting of puffy clouds, daisies, and a rubber duckie on the cover, you might expect Bari Koral’s full-length debut to be more than a little on the cutesy-poo side — and it is, ultimately, targeted mainly at the pre-K audience. But the record’s called Rock and Roll Garden for a reason: Koral and her Family Rock Band manage to tie together toddler-friendly themes (dinosaurs, colors, clapping) with arrangements that benefit from a surprising amount of genuine (albeit very gentle) rock ‘n’ roll bite.

The end result ain’t exactly Joan Jett, but if you’re a parent who’s spent any time at all trying to find music that’s aimed at your young children and isn’t barf-inducingly patronizing, you know it’s the little victories that count. And you can count Bari Koral and the Family Rock Band among the good guys: This is very kid-friendly, eminently danceable stuff, with the focus squarely on fun (listen to the mildly subversive “Backpack,” pretty much a laundry list of things parents don’t want going in there) instead of well-meaning attempts to teach listeners shapes or how to count. At 28 minutes, it’s good for family car rides and living room dance parties, and you can never have enough music for either of those, right?

CD Review: Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke, “Rise and Shine”

I’ve listened to more children’s albums than I can count, and I don’t think any of them have sounded less like a children’s album than Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke’s Rise and Shine. This isn’t a bad thing at all — in fact, each of these 10 songs is completely appropriate for children. It’s just that most kids’ music, no matter how skillfully or smartly it’s put together, sounds at least a little condescending — like adults trying to record songs kids will like — and Rise and Shine, in blessed contrast, comes across simply as a collection of music that ended up in the kids’ section through a series of happy accidents.

Again, this isn’t a matter of the subject material being over the little ones’ heads; Rise and Shine’s songs deal with topics including pets, trucks, space travel, counting, and something called peekapoo. But Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke don’t pander with their arrangements, which are stripped-down, folk-flavored, and often totally rockin’ in the bargain — not to mention catchy, too. Rise and Shine is the kind of record you could listen to two or three times without realizing it was made with kids in mind.

Which is not to say the album lacks kid appeal; quite the contrary, as Rise and Shine is not only packed with ready-made favorites for the younger set (“Rattling Can,” which uses a brilliant, progressively lengthening “Old McDonald’s”-style chorus to describe the order of the universe, is at the top of my daughter’s list), but it comes bundled with a board book that illustrates many of the songs’ stories. The end result, as I can personally attest, is that your little ones will spend half an hour flipping through the book, completely mesmerized, while Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke entertain the whole family. Don’t go looking for Laurie Berkner levels of cuteness, but if your kids like a little genuine rock & roll in their musical diet, Rise and Shine is one to look for.

CD Review: Earthworm Ensemble, “Earthworm Ensemble”

Kindie bands don’t come much more aptly named than the Earthworm Ensemble, a huge, eco-friendly gaggle of musicians including members of I See Hawks, members of the seemingly ever-expanding Chapin family, and assorted friends and relations. (Seriously, 22 people are listed in the liner notes.) For all the talent involved, Earthworm Ensemble often feels more diffuse than it should; it’s a pleasantly shambolic album, one with countless charming folk and country touches in a genre that never has enough of them, but the songs tend to meander.

Still, the Ensemble has its heart squarely in the right place, and what it might lack in old-fashioned songcraft, the album makes up for with the sort of raw, homespun feel that’s been all too absent from kids’ music since Garcia and Grisman were in the studio recording Not for Kids Only. And for families interested in teaching their children about things like composting and gardening, it’s hard to argue with tracks like “That’s What the Earthworm’s For” and “Corn.” Children’s records don’t get much timelier, or more well-meaning, than this.

CD Review: Charity and the JAMband, “Party Like a Twinkle Star”

Most kids’ music doesn’t exactly sit at the compositional vanguard of popular song, and although the genre certainly boasts more than its share of virtuosos — now more than ever, in fact — it isn’t the type of music you turn to for instrumental chops. Leave it to an outfit calling itself Charity and the JAMband to try and change all that: Over the course of several albums, this San Francisco-based collective has added a whiff of patchouli and the crunch of granola to the Cheerios-predominated kindie landscape, and their latest, titled Party Like a Twinkle Star, might be their most adventurous yet.

A double-disc affair clocking in at over an hour and 15 minutes, Party offers 20 tracks, divided evenly between 10 uptempo numbers (“for rocking out”) and 10 gentle ballads (“for tucking in”). Charity and the JAMband are every bit as proficient at rocking out as you might expect, but it’s the lullabies that truly shine — Charity’s voice boasts an extra tinge of sweetness on the second disc, and although I wouldn’t hesitate to play the first disc during rowdy moments with the kids, I’d actually be happy listening to the second one when the little ones aren’t around. Hear samples (and buy the whole thing) at CD Baby.