Best Kids' Music of 2009: # 3 Thank You for Joining the Happy Club by Billy Kelly

Billy Kelly and The Blah Blah Blahs present a super set of indie rock songs for kids on their debut CD Thank You For Joining the Happy Club. Their musical mix will remind you of Jonathan Richman, They Might Be Giants, R.E.M., and Wilco, and those influences perfectly compliment the band's breezy, slyly humorous tunes. Billy Kelly is definitely a new force to be reckoned with in the kids' music field, delivering a 1-2-3 punch of catchy tunes, witty lyrics, and songs that are fun for the whole family, easily landing Thank You For Joining The Happy Club on the list of best kids' music of 2009.

Number 3: Thank You for Joining the Happy Club by Billy Kelly

Best Kids' Music of 2009: # 4 Get Fruity!! by Apple Brains

With the innocent enthusiasm of Jonathan Richman, the eclectic inventiveness of Mr. David, and the general kookiness of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Apple Brains bursts upon the kids' music scene with their debut album Get Fruity!! L.A.-based Allen Bleyle is the brainy apple behind Apple Brains, and his free-for-all, lo-fi, indie rock style is a refreshing addition to the children's music world. Some of the best kids' music of 2009, and definitely some of the most unique!

Number 4: Get Fruity!! by Apple Brains

Best Kids' Music of 2009: # 5 Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants' previous two albums for kids, Here Come the ABCs and Here Come the 123s, were fun romps through the concepts of letters and numbers, but few hard facts were presented. Not so on Here Comes Science, a CD chock full of some of the best kids' music of 2009. The band's trademark quirky, catchy musical style and witty word play meld perfectly with concrete concepts like states of matter, paleontology, the planets, and photosynthesis.

Number 5: Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants

Best Kids' Music of 2009: # 7 Field Trip by Recess Monkey

The fifth album by these three elementary school teachers from Seattle is full of ridiculously catchy songs, witty and silly lyrics, and a smidgen of fascinating scientific facts, all combining to make Field Trip some of the best kids' music of 2009.

Number 7: Field Trip by Recess Monkey

Best Kids' Music of 2009: # 10 Dizzy by Lunch Money

This week begins a rundown of my picks of the Top 10 Best Kids' Music Albums of 2009. Now, this list is, of course, subjective and totally biased, but these are the platters that stayed on my turntable the longest this past year. Plus, I really believe that these 10 CDs provide kids, and their families, with a great starting point for further musical exploration, no matter what genre.

Number 10: Dizzy by Lunch Money

***Caspar Babypants***

Wait, who is Caspar Babypants?

***Apple Brains***

With the innocent enthusiasm of Jonathan Richman, the eclectic inventiveness of Mr. David, and the general kookiness of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Apple Brains bursts upon the kids' music scene with their debut album Get Fruity!!

L.A.-based Allen Bleyle is the brainy apple behind Apple Brains, and his free-for-all, lo-fi, indie rock style is a refreshing addition to the children's music world. Get Fruity!! is a concept album of sorts, with every track highlighting fruits, vegetables, water, and healthy eating in general. But this isn't a preachy, stick-in-the-mud, instructional album by any means: Peanut Butter and Jelly show up as characters who tell the story of how they met; a little girl carries around a mango like a baby; a little boy weeps at the wonderfulness of tomatoes. Far Out!

Get Fruity!! kicks off with the sunny anthem "Apple x3," which begins as a cheerful ode and ends as a manic scream-along, followed by the awesomely weird story tune "Peanut Butter and Jelly How They Met Song." A wobbly melody line carries "Water the Loveliest Beverage," a tune that's half informational and half tribute, then comes the ridiculously catchy (and informative!) rave-up "Ba-na-nas."

The hyper-enthusiastic sing-along "Lots of Different Colors" describes the many hues of fruits and vegetables, while "The Stone Fruit Salute" celebrates peaches, plums, cherries, and apricots with a waltzing carnival-like sound of pump organs and slide whistles. The indie pop "Growing Like Crazy" features a kazoo/keyboard sound effects solo while describing the things that help us grow, and a laid-back island groove carries the mango-worshiping tune "A Mango is a Precious Egg to be Cherished."

The bilingual "Frutero" describes looking for something good to eat while walking around Los Angeles, while the brilliantly Ween-like "Tomatoes are So Wonderful That They Make Me Want to Cry" is pretty much what the title tells you, a tune that definitely needs to find its way onto The Dr. Demento Show. The entire album features guitar work by Kyle Thomas, highlighted by the goofy acid rock of "Wonder Worm," while the key-shifting "Each and Every," a song about seeds and plants, ends the album with a laugh-out-loud verse courtesy Lucia Turino.

Now, all these songs might seem a little silly, but Bleyle is serious about his enthusiasm for good eating. Check out his gushing blog post about Adam Leith Gollner's book The Fruit Hunters, and find out how it was the inspiration for one of the Apple Brains songs. And Bleyle gets indie cred with the roster of musicians used on Get Fruity!!: members of The Devil Makes Three, Feathers, Pretend You're Happy, and Witch (Dinosaur Jr.'s J. Mascis' side project) help sing and play on the album.

Bottom line: in a perfect world Get Fruity!! would be a massive hit on college radio stations, with its dadaist lyrics, overdriven vocal recording, stick-in-your-head melodies, lo-fi aesthetic, and generally earthy vibe. And I think our similarly musically open-minded little listeners will dig it, as well. One of the best kids' albums of 2009, and definitely one of the most unique!

***Tangerine Tambourine***

There aren't many high-profile kids' groups from Alabama, so it's extraspecially exciting when a Bama band bursts onto the children's music scene with such a solid debut CD. Tangerine Tambourine release their self-titled kids' album today on the Science Fair label, and indie rock lovers everywhere will love their mix of powerpop, country rock, and R&B influences.

Jump on over to About.com for a full review of Tangerine Tambourine.

If The Flaming Lips Made a Kids' Album...

Dig this new song by Todd McHatton, "Call Me They."

Get Fruity!

If Jonathan Richman or The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band made kids' music ... well, I guess they kinda did ... anyway, I think Apple Brains' "Apple x3" would feel right at home amongst such company. This tune is from Apple Brains' debut kids' album Get Fruity!

Apple Brains - "Apple x3"

You learn something new every day...

Hmmm, I had no idea that Los Lobos, They Might Be Giants, indie rockers Tally Hall, composer Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Wicked) and Andy Sturmer from Jellyfish all had a hand in making music for the Playhouse Disney Music Play Date CD ...

Springtime!

Here's the debut video from kids' music newcomer Billy Kelly and his band of Blah Blah Blas, from their album Thank You for Joining the Happy Club:

Billy Kelly and The Blah Blah Blahs - "Springtime: It's My Favorite"

***Billy Kelly***

Billy Kelly and The Blah Blah Blahs (Bruce W. Derr, guitar; Bob Albin, bass; Jake Kline, drums; and Billy Kelly, everything else) present a super set of indie rock songs for kids on their debut CD Thank You For Joining the Happy Club. Their musical mix will remind you of Jonathan Richman, They Might Be Giants, R.E.M., and Wilco, and those influences perfectly compliment the band's breezy, slyly humorous tunes.

The extremely literal "This Is the First Song" is the funniest deconstruction of song structure you'll ever hear, while the title tune is a superb pop song about universal inclusion. Dig the cosmic kid logic of yet another awesome pop composition, "I Can't Get Away From Myself," as well as an ode to the soothing, exhilarating powers of the "Mindless Pop Song." And a cover of Talking Heads' "Don't Worry About the Government" isn't something you'd expect to hear on a kids' record, but it fits in perfectly with the other tunes on Thank You.

Super duper children's music debut from Billy Kelly and gang. More, please!