Last year around this time, I put together a list of great summertime listening — not records about summer, but records that sound good in summer. Now as then, there’s still snow on the ground as I write this, but warmer weather seems to be within reach. So, below, I’ve listed some new family music that will sound equally great blasting out of a boom box on your porch or out of your car stereo speakers on a summer road trip. Some of these won’t be out until summer, so start your preordering now!
Astrograss — Let Me Stay Up All Night: Astrograss is a leader in the “new-grass” scene, updating bluegrass for new audiences. This is the band’s second family release (they also have some non-kids’ releases); their first, with tracks based on Shel Silverstein’s poems, is no longer available. Lucky for you, Let Me Stay Up All Night is even better and more consistent. There’s no toning down their sound here — this record is real bluegrass that just happens to be about things like spelling (“There Their They’re”) and planetary status disputes (“Who Says Pluto’s Not a Planet?”). Their blistering take on the traditional “Drunken Sailor” (featuring members of AudraRox) is incredible. AstrograssForKids.com
Recess Monkey — Tabby Road: Seattle-based Recess Monkey has been rather prolific, with a double album late last year and two CDs in the two prior years. And now, barely a half-year after the terrific and ambitious Wonderstuff, here they are with Tabby Road. As with Aminal House’s cover (a direct homage to Sgt. Pepper’s), they’re boldly inviting Beatles comparisons with this record’s title. And as with Aminal House, they can back up their boldness. The 40-minute CD is probably their most consistent to date, with a steady stream of perfect pop melodies (and, occasionally, harmonies) over sweet poppy rock. The themes are not exactly groundbreaking — riding bikes, sleepovers — but when you’re looking for an incredibly catchy CD to listen to with the windows down, this one will hit the spot. RecessMonkeyTown.com
Terrible Twos — Jerzy the Giant: The Terrible Twos is the kids’ music incarnation of Matt Pryor of The New Amsterdams, which is itself the acoustic incarnation of the (disbanded) punk/pop/emo band Get Up Kids. The Twos released one long-delayed kids’ album, the wonderful If You Ever See an Owl, and this record just adds to that one’s delights. If you needed a lesson on how to write straightforward pop songs, you could do a lot worse than this CD, with 17 songs, all in the neighborhood of two minutes long. It perhaps rocks a little harder than Owl did, with a bit more variety in styles (perhaps reflecting Pryor’s family getting older). Returning from Owl is Pryor’s wry humor, particularly reflected in “Consonants” (bemoaning the non-vowels’ lack of attention) and, less subtly, “Great Big Poop.” Like Recess Monkey’s, it’s a great summer album. Myspace.com/theterribletwosband
Ralph’s World — The Rhyming Circus: Ralph Covert has two vibrant musical careers, one in grown-up band The Bad Examples, and one leading Ralph’s World, a kids’ band with an almost Grateful Dead-esque fan base (“Ralph Heads”). And The Rhyming Circus is another CD that is more or less straight-ahead rock and pop, with a heavy debt to modern rock and classic rock (hello, organ!). If Covert has an advantage, it’s in the sense of sheer fun and silliness that comes across in his songs. I can’t think of anyone else who would rhyme “fish” with “Lillian Gish,” but he does just that in the title track. RalphsWorld.com
Bill Childs is a law professor in western Massachusetts. He and his kids 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.
