***The Jellydots***

This is it, folks. You're looking at, and will soon be listening to, the future of Kids' Music. Like trying to find the horizon from the shore through a misty fog, genre lines have become so blurred that soon we can simply say, this is music. Period. The fact that this music can't be shoved into a specific category speaks volumes of the increasing confidence in kids' taste and intelligence, that you don't have to skimp on talent or effort just because it's an album for children. In fact, more and more artists are putting extra effort into children's music because of the fact that it's a kids' CD.

So, welcome to our world, Jellydots! a band so good it's a shame they're not pop stars, but, luckily for kids' music fans, are guaranteed to be h-u-g-e within the next year. If you need a musical peg upon which to hang this unique hat, think Jason Falkner playing Schoolhouse Rock songs with Elliot Smith's writing help ... and we'll come back to that later.

On "Hey You Kids!", yer gonna hear songs about the important minutia of childhood memories: a square of sunlight on the bedroom wall, the blue-green eyes of a new kitten, using both hands to eat a cookie, the longing plea for one more glass of water in order to stave off sleep. But hidden within these deceptively simple superpop kids' songs are messages of self-importance, of the assurance of being comforted, of retribution and its consequences, of the humanizing effect of connecting with others on a personal level, ... and all of this in a voice not heard since the Schoolhouse Rock series. Those writers, as well as Doug, have the innate ability to speak the thoughts of children in a child's own articulate voice, free-flowing and imaginative, full of wonder and with an eye for detail, details that are especially meaningful to children.

So, try to find a better pop song than "Bicycle", c'mon, I dare you; then discover the consequences of washing a cookie in the sink in "Mr. Cookie". Dig the instrumental bridge near the end of the title tune and try not to dance with glee; then groove to the Tuff Gong vibe of "Lake Rules", and relive the unabashed joy of a day on the water (with a wink at The Bee Gees).

Oh, the lyrical and musical brilliance of "I'm Not Ugly (You're Not Either)", a tune that verbally wraps around itself, and is most like a Schoolhouse Rock song than any other on the album. And I can totally see a crowd of Second-Graders going absolutely apeshit when they hear "Race Cars Go" rev up! The partying continues with "Three is a Magic Number" and its eyeball-blistering guitar solo.

The last four songs on the CD will soothe your little one into blissful slumber, including the impossibly beautiful "Captain Sleep", and the achingly sweet album-closer "My Blanket", whose lyrics include the lines: "Stellar bits and particles that make up you and me / We could float around and settle down inside a symphony / Some day, and that's where we would stay / You'll be E and I'll be A". Yes.

The Jellydots are actually the project of Doug Snyder, a musician and songwriter based in Austin, Texas, an appropriately creative home for a group like this. "Hey You Kids!" is more or less a compilation of Snyder's best tracks from the past few years, stemming from guitar instruction classes he conducts with children. And since the basic tracks (drums, bass, rhythm guitar) were recorded together, all the songs keep their "right there in the same room" feel (the drums are especially tasty). The three new tunes on "Hey You Kids!" - "Bicycle", "Captain Sleep" and a cover of the classic "Three is a Magic Number" - are beyond wonderful, and if that's the new stuff, who knows what this guy's capable of?!?

If you're anywhere near Texas, check out the Jellydots, it may be the last chance you have to see them play live before they become megapopular. They could equally rock the crowd at both the SXSW Music Festival and the World Cafe Kids' Stage. Explore the Jellydots MySpace site and check out their television performance, featuring David the Dancing Donkey. And while you're at it, buy five copies of "Hey You Kids!", give one to your local library, give three to your closest friends, and keep one for yourself and/or your little ones and play repeatedly. It'll make the world a more beautiful place.

Captain Bogg & Salty live at Donnell!

With hook hands aloft and landlubbers a-sway, Captain Bogg and Salty heartily entertained the crowd at the Donnell Central Children's Room yesterday. These guys are incredibly witty and engaging, so if you have a chance, go check out their live show. They are touring extensively this Fall, playing places as varied as children's libraries and well-known clubs, like Maxwell's in Hoboken.

Thanks again for a great show, guys!

***Farmer Jason***

Leave it to this guy to make the forest seem like the coolest place in the world! For his second kids' album, Farmer Jason leaves the ranch for a while and takes us on a trip through the woods. Rockin' in the Forest with Farmer Jason not only rocks harder in some places than his first CD for kids, A Day at the Farm - both of which are now available on the Kid Rhino label - but the songs are also more varied on Forest, making this follow-up an even stronger collection than Farm, if that's possible.

The album kicks off with chugging guitars, melodic trumpets, and a pennywhistle guiding us through "The Forest Oh!" Jason shows his rockin' roots with "Punk Rock Skunk", an all-out rocker that fades with a gang of kids chanting "Hey Ho, Let's Go!", as well as with the "File Under: Anarchy in the Pre-K" suggestion on the CD cover. Sly music biz dig: "There's a lot of singers smell / and they end up with a hit".

"Ode to a Toad" uses Dylan's "Hurricane" groove to tell the story of a ... well ... toad! Jason then channels Woodie Guthrie on the brief a capella tune, "Mrs. Mouse". You can play a guessing game with Farmer Jason on the Bo-Diddley-beat "Forest Rhymes", a song that, I must admit, is soothing to these Deep Southern ears, as Farmer Jason pronounces the word "cheer" with three syllables (chu-ae-uhr).

Todd Snyder then joins the fun on the boistrous "He's a Moose on the Loose", a jaunty "Sugar Shack"-meets-the-Tijuana Brass rocker; while "Arrowhead", besides being a beautifuly-written tune, may be the only kids' song penned specifically about the Shawnee Tribe.

"Catfish Song" rumbles along like that whiskered critter on a riverbed bottom, then Webb Wilder contributes some blazin' guitar work on the rocker "Opossum in a Pocket". The jazzy, spoken-word "A Butterfly Speaks" lets us listen in as a butterfly ponders the reason he's called a butterfly; and the album ends with "The Old Oak Tree", a majestic country song about that mighty timber.

Jason's strengths as a songwriter are evident on Rockin' in the Forest, as he knows just when to use double-tracked lead vocals, when to drop in a second or third harmony, and how to hook the listener with incredibly singalongable choruses. It's no surprise, then, that Ringenberg just signed a songwriting deal with Lionsgate Music & Publishing, a move that will introduce his songs to a wider audience. More recognition = more opportunities to make music = more Farmer Jason CDs! See you in the forest!

***Ellen and Matt***

OK, let's put this CD in, give it a listen ... hmmm, "Eat My Dinner", pretty good kids' stuff ... whoa, nice harmonies ... wow, great middle eight ... holy crap! did that guy just rock a guitar solo on a kids album?!? Yes!!!

And on and on ... The surprises never end on this CD, and that's one of the things I love about it. First, it's a lot of fun to hear a kids' album and wonder if it really is a kids' album. The music is so great that, if you didn't listen to the lyrics, you would swear this was some new indie rock CD. Second, every time you think you know what's coming next, you get thrown a curve melodically or composition-wise. Los Angeles-based Ellen and Matt Kennedy recently released their debut children's CD, Best Friends, on their own 3 Suns Records, and they seem to be one of the few kids' groups who aren't retired rockers or vying for a spot on Nick Jr.

The title tune begins as a tender waltz-time piano solo, then surprise! crunchy guitars and splashy drums are pushed to the forefront. And check out the unbelieveable middle eight, right before the ... surprise! whistling solo! Then, imagine taking your kids to Preschool story time and surprise! the Pixies show up and play a song for them ... you'd probably hear "Bounce". "Go To Bed" starts out as an appropriately dreamy-sounding tune, then surprise! it morphs into THE LOUDEST bedtime song you will ever hear, a song Billy Corgan forgot to include on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Other great songs include the dryly-produced "Juice Box Rock", whose clipped vocals and chugging guitars perfectly mimic classic Ramones; "Fly Away", straight out of The Sundays' greatest hits bag-o-tunes (and wait 'till the chorus hits!); the manic "Under Construction", which, if you go by the urgent tempo and unrelenting buzz of the guitars, lets you know someone is really ready for the Los Angeles Zoo to reopen; and "Side by Side", which includes my favorite line: "It's good to know that I might fall/ But it's worth it if I try", a good philosophy for both learning to ride a bike and for life in general.

The Kennedys' empathietic lyrics about kid concerns like friendship, courage, bicycles, bedtime, dreams, zoos, and, of course, juice boxes, show a great talent for writing from and relating to a child's perspective. Musically, the songs on Best Friends are shaded with light brushstrokes of George Harrison, Sloan, the Sundays, the Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins, Blondie, the Ramones, and, yes, (even their website admits it) the Carpenters.

In my opinion, here's what makes Best Friends a successful album: the songwriters wrote great songs, they didn't try to write what they thought everyone thinks a kids' song should be; they produced the album with their own ears, and didn't try to create a glossy soundtrack to a kids' tv show. These guys could fill both the Lower East Side's Bowery Ballroom with hipster post-college musicheads, and Brooklyn's Willy Bee's Family Lounge with toddlers and their grownups. Great tunes, great production (especially the drums), great debut CD.

***Elizabeth Mitchell***

You know you're doin' somethin' right when Smithsonian Folkways comes a-knockin'. And I'm pretty sure this label is well aware they have the next Ella Jenkins on their hands.

Anyone who is familiar with Elizabeth Mitchell's work wouldn't expect anything less than brilliance on her newest CD, You Are My Little Bird, and she certainly delivers. Your hipster buddies will perk up their ears when they hear covers of the Velvet Underground, Bob Marley, and Neil Young, and find out that John Sebastian helped out a little bit musically. My only complaint is that the CD comes with such thorough liner notes, it took some of the fun out of researching the song sources! So instead of having to read my boring descriptions, just play the CD and dig her minimalist version of "Three Little Birds", the a cappella "Little Liza Jane" and "Grassy Grass Grass", the acoustic rock and roll of "What Goes On", and her beautifully ethereal "If You Listen", a song originally recorded by Francoise Hardy and written by a pre-Foreigner Mick Jones (!).

Having become as adept as the aforementioned Ms. Jenkins at song collecting and interpretation, Elizabeth Mitchell is certainly in a position to become one of America's great music voices. This album is the aural equivalent of gauzy curtains billowing in the summer breeze, so, put it on, enjoy the vibe, and be happy about the fact that together you and your kids can listen to wonderfully performed music penned by writers as disparate as Woody Guthrie, Lou Reed, and Vashti Bunyan. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

***Mister Laurence***

There's a musical legend living in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, R. Stevie Moore, who pretty much invented the D.I.Y. ethic in the late 60s, early 70s. Since that time, he has recorded literally hundreds of cassette tapes, vinyl LPs, and CDs, all chock full of his off-kilter yet brilliantly perfect pop compositions, writing, playing, recording, and producing everything himself.

Tucked away in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is Laurence Bond Miller, aka Mister Laurence, the children's music version of R. Stevie Moore. Since 1999 Miller has released five CDs, Flaghorn, Tugboat Tow, Bubbleland, Pure Gibberish!, and Recess Forever!, with another, Marmaline, to be released soon. I can't recommend one CD over another, so browse Mr. L's witty, silly website and check out the awesomeness of individual tracks like "Bubbleland", "Recess Forever", "Is There an Echo in the Room?", "Little Flower", "Jack 'N' Jill's Hill", and the Zen sentiments of "The Sky is in the Sky!" and "We Won't Be Afraid" (Even if we are afraid / We won't be afraid).

The only group who comes close to his combination of inventiveness and quirkiness is They Might Be Giants, who would be well advised to team up with Mister Laurence and create the greatest kids' album ever. Hey, it could happen!

***Josh Levine***

Let's see, what are the odds of coming across a kids' performer who just happens to work regularly with a legendary Cuban musician? Pretty good, actually, if you're in Manhattan! Professional bassist Josh Levine has combined the varied influences from his rich musical background to create what might be the kids' album most likely to induce spontaneous salsa dancing.

For his debut children's CD, Josh Levine for Kids, Levine put together a collection of traditional tunes, originals, and incredibly interesting cover songs. Double-tracked vocals, thick harmonies, generous use of a Venezuelan cuatro, and, of course, a booming acoustic bass, all recorded in Levine's apartment (let's hear it for indie rock!), make for a hugely entertaining album.

You get a great idea of what to expect for the rest of the album when Florentino Ruiz Carmona's "Tiburon" bursts from the speakers. Levine also covers Bill Staines' classic kids' song "A Place in the Choir", and Gil Raldiris' perfect preschool singalong activity tune "Mi Cuerpo Hace Musica". Again, an album full of traditional songs could go horribly boring, but wow, Levine really puts a spicy twist on oldies like "Jump Jim Joe", "I Am a Pumpkin", "The Hokey Pokey", "This Land is Your Land", "If You're Happy and You Know It", and even "Cumpleanos Feliz".

Levine contributes an impressive handful of originals, including the world-as-global-community message of "A Real Bouquet", cowritten with Edith Segal; and the joyous "I've Got Music in My Soul". Of course as a professional bass player, Levine made sure the low end was pushed to the forefront, and rightfully so. Every song sounds stronger for it, and seems to make the album even more of a hip shaking, hand clapping experience.

In the grownup music world, Levine performs with Son Amigos, a trio that includes legendary guitarist Jose Luis Martinez, who was an early member of the groundbreaking Cuban band Los Van Van, and can also be heard throughout the New York City area performing with the quartet Los Acustilocos, with songwriter/musician Angus Martin, and with vocalist Francine Morin ... busy, busy guy!

Full of short, intimate performances (four songs come in under the one-minute mark!) Josh Levine for Kids is a great, great resource for toddler and preschool programming, as well as a flat-out fun album to listen to loudly at home. Warn your downstairs neighbors, though: uncontrolled dancing is guaranteed!