Bright, catchy, and adorable, Frances England’s Mind of My Own is a slow pitch down the middle for grown-up fans of marshmallow-soft pop acts like Rabbit!, Lisa Loeb, Kaiser Cartel, and Mates of State (who pop in for a cameo on the sixth track, “Place in Your Heart”). Having listened to more than my share of albums by female singers who wear vintage frocks, play quirky instruments, and wish they were Zooey Deschanel or Jenny Lewis, I hear warning sirens when I open a CD and see a woman holding a tiny keyboard and wearing thick glasses and a thrift-store outfit. And honestly, if you have a low tolerance for cute, Mind of My Own may test your limits — but then, you’ve probably had those limits trampled by plenty of kids’ acts, and this
Read More »The Final Funktier sounds like it should be the title of a Star Trek sequel starring Bootsy Collins, but it’s really the name of the latest opus from Recess Monkey, the Seattle-based kindie kingpins who have been breaking new ground for family music since releasing their 2005 debut. Each of the Monkey’s previous five releases were stuffed with thematic and stylistic adventures, from Aminal House to Tabby Road to last year’s Field Trip, but the band has outdone itself with The Final Funktier, which collects an impressive cast of special guests (including Tor Hyams, Chris Wiser of the Sugar Free Allstars, and members of the Gustafer Yellowgold family) for a space dance party. With lots of slap bass. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? It is
Read More »Milkshake – Great Day (2009, Milkshake Music) purchase from Amazon Milkshake isn’t just a band, it’s a budding media empire. Since rising from the ashes of Baltimore’s LOVE RiOT in 2002, they’ve become fast favorites of the indie kidpop world, releasing three well-received CDs (Happy Songs, Bottle of Sunshine, and PLAY!), a DVD (Screen Play, issued earlier this year), appearing all over the Noggin, Discovery Kids, and PBS Kids networks, and even spinning off a Milkshake comic book (featuring the band as superheroes, natch); with their brand new fourth album, Great Day, they stand poised to rock the diapers off musically adventurous children of all ages. I don’t mean “rock” ironically, either — Milkshake’s stuff has sharper teeth than most children’s music, and it’s more musically adventurous to boot: Great Day‘s dozen tracks lead the
Read More »
LEGO Batman 2 won’t be out until next month, but thanks to the good folks at Kotaku, you can...
You’re still wondering whether or not you should pay the extra bucks for a 3D movie ticket...
It’s hard to pass up good music for a good cause. ParentMap is an online and print magazine...
Today’s youth are in desperate need of a family-friendly funk infusion, and just in time,...
Sensibly provocative opening statement in a discussion of “attachment parenting,” cheap...
In today’s installment of News That’s Funny Because It Didn’t Happen to You, an...
That's a lot of blocks...
Holy crap. You see that smiling teenager up there? She just cured the freaking hiccups. No,...
I can’t decide how I feel about this. Billed as “a fun and easy way for kids to plan...
If you don’t feel like paying out the nose for LEGO sets — or maybe you’re...
We’ll have to wait until June 22 for Pixar’s Brave to arrive in theaters, but the...
