Depending on when you’re reading this, you may be choosing gifts for the various end-of-year holidays. Or else it’s too late for a gift guide for those holidays, in which case, you can use this for the multitude of birthdays you have to deal with in the coming year. In either case, below, I present some CDs that the recipients will enjoy. Heck, so will you, so buy two!
Gustafer Yellowgold: Have You Never Been Yellow Gustafer is a small yellow creature from the sun who came to Earth. This DVD/CD release is the follow-up to the debut Wide Wide World, and it’s a little poppier and a little lighter in exploring Gustafer’s world. Put briefly, it’s stunning. The DVD features the “moving storybook” — this is not the frenetic animation of Saturday mornings — and (along with the CD) the effortless pop songs of Morgan Taylor (who sings, plays, and does the drawings for the animation). Gustafer’s world is hypnotic, but it is not the slack-jawed gaze and drool-inducing hypnosis of so much animation. It’s the complete involvement and engagement of great art. GustaferYellowgold.com
Various Artists: For the Kids Three. FTK3 continues the series of releases benefiting the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, which supports instrumental music programs in schools nationwide, and it follows the same basic formula: Cool (mostly) indie bands playing kid-appropriate songs, some original, some classics. Highlights on this one include the lead-off track from Of Montreal (“I Want to Have Fun”), Barenaked Ladies’ “The Other Day I Met a Bear,” Mates of State’s “Jellyman Kelly,” and Jolie Holland’s “Pure Imagination.” It doesn’t flow as well as some CDs, to be certain, given the variety of styles, but it’s still well worth a listen.
Uncle Rock: Uncle Rock U! Uncle Rock — a/k/a Robert Burke Warren, who toured as a part of the Fleshtones and played Buddy Holly on London’s West End — brings an indie rock attitude to kids’ rock, never talking down to his audience. This CD (his third for kids) has some themes that might seem common — playing outside, thinking about your food, getting overwhelmed by excessive presents, and the like — but never feels preachy. Add to the witty lyrics music with a bit of an edge, and it’s one of the best releases of the year. UncleRock.com
Recess Monkey: Wonderstuff I wrote about Recess Monkey just a few months ago, so I won’t take a lot of time except to note that their new album, which is, sakes alive, a double album, is even better and even more hook-filled than Aminal House. I remain wary of skits, but again, even those work here, and you’ll have “Backpack” and other tracks in your head for days at a time. RecessMonkeyTown.com
The Pop Stars: The Pop Stars First off, The Pop Stars are not really a band for your kids. Some of their songs (“Pooped On,” for instance) will amuse them and are at least not inappropriate, but you — yes, you — are the target audience. They’re the answer to the timeless question, “What if you crossed Leonard Cohen with Tom Waits, had them write songs about parenting, and gave them to Paul Westerberg to punch up the lyrics?” “Pooped On” sings of the challenges of being, well, pooped on, peed on, and otherwise exposed to your children’s most disgusting activities, but charms with its “Children…you’ve gotta love ‘em” tag line. “I Miss Sleep” catalogs the things one misses as a parent, including not just sleep but also cursing and the presence of a libido. And “We’re Working On It” describes the near-universal joys of discussing one’s efforts to provide the much-demanded grandchildren. It’s almost viciously funny, yes, but it’s also sweet, charming, musically engaging, and ultimately very positive about parenting…though wrapped in a shell of cynicism. ThePopStars.net
Other ideas: By the time you read this, we’ll have completed our annual best-of poll of People Who Know About Kids’ Music known as the Fids & Kamily Awards. I’ll be writing about them in a future column, but you can check them out at FidsAndKamily.com.
Bill Childs is a law professor in western Massachusetts who still answers proudly, “Minnesota!” when asked where he’s from. He and his 8-year-old daughter produce a kids’ music radio show, “Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child,” weekly; check it out at SpareTheRock.com. Contact him at show@sparetherock.com.
