DOG ON FLEAS INVISIBLE FRIENDS Dog on Fleas is the quintessential American, 21st century all-ages kid’s band. They are hilarious — goofy but not cartoonish. They are raucous — musically punchy but always endearing, and oft genuinely tender. They incorporate a cornucopia of tasteful instrumentation, including a subtle electronic undercurrent, […]
MISTA COOKIE JAR ULTRAMAGNETIC UNIVERSAL LOVE REVOLUTION My oldest daughter is at that age. You know the one, when a young girl is usually overcome by the pop music pool’s shallow end. In fact, her 2nd grade class science song this year is set to the beat of “I’ve Got […]
**You heard the review on NPR’s All Things Considered, now read my take on The Okee Dokee Brothers’ Can You Canoe?** THE OKEE DOKEE BROTHERS CAN YOU CANOE? One’s relationship with their music collection is about as personal as it gets. I’m able to mark transformative moments in my life […]
LUCKY DIAZ AND THE FAMILY JAM BAND “A POTLUCK” Like a well stocked jukebox being funneled (somehow) through a Lite Brite, Lucky Diaz’ music is colorful and childlike. But not at all square. Although maybe slightly cubist. The nine songs and spoken word bookends of “A Potluck” pair a mid-western […]
RENEE & JEREMY “A LITTLE LOVE” A covers album. Yeah, I know. I feel pretty much the same way. Seems like tiptoeing through the tulips for wrinkled dudes like Manilow, Stewart, and Sir Paul – a way to keep one hand inside the wallets of their, um, more mature audiences […]
THE POP UPS “RADIO JUNGLE” It is awfully tempting to, when hearing a new album from a band you already have an affinity for, and hearing it as both fan and critic, to judge it solely or at least most prominently and immediately on a single, very rudimentary criteria: is […]
THE BISCUIT BROTHERS “GET UP & GO” The album starts out, it would have seemed, as the funniest stuff my girls have ever heard in all their lives. The Bear & Mouse were both bonkers as my jumbled up “Get Up & Go” iTunes playlist began, confusingly, with a rousing […]
LORI HENRIQUES “OUTSIDE MY DOOR” Way way back in time, in 2004, when we had our first child, the Mrs. and I didn’t know of Dan Zanes, of They Might Be Giants (children’s division), or of any acts in the since-coined micro-genre of kindie music. I also didn’t know, at […]
