C6 and Mummio’s Music ROUNDUP!

As you may have gathered, C6 and I love to listen to music. I try not to be overly controlling in what C6 gets to hear. I believe that kids should hear good music though. I think that kids like all kinds of music - simple and complicated, fast and slow…the whole shebang. Some "kids music" is great, some is not. But I think kids should be allowed to hear "kids music"! We are not too cool for "kids music" in C6ville. I think some parents go too far in their music choices for their little ones by only letting them hear ONLY what THEY like. The only real rule we have in our house is, "Please. No Barney". ( However, The Barnies are more than welcome!)

Dan Zanes
Congrats Dan Zanes on winning a Grammy for best Children's Album for "Catch That Train". I probably wouldn't have started listening to Dan Zanes if I didn't have C6 – I'm not hugely in love with this style of music, but I have grown to like it. Some songs we like better than others. A lot of his songs are traditional songs from all over the globe. I really respect what he does, and am happy that he is so successful. We are going to see his show next month at the Somerville Theatre with our friends Jen and Arlo (Jen and Arlo: wife and son of Well/Orbit bandmate Jeff Robbins). Arlo is one of C6's best buddies. Hey, he deserves his own mention! Here…

Arlo
Arlo has a few videos created by his Uncle Liam that are just the best! Here is Arlo rockin' out to Queen's "We Will Rock You". Here is Arlo's Theme Song. And here is another fun little ditty. Now this is good kids music for good kids!

They Might Be Giants –Here Come The ABCs
They Might Be Giants' CD/DVD "Here Come the ABCs" is C6's oldest and favoritest music and the best kids music in my opinion. Catchy, clever & cute. LOVE IT! We also like their CD" No!" The songs are really just the best blend of kid-friendly and adult-friendly. The humor is great too. The song "Violin" is kind of freaky and C6 used to by HYPNOTIZED by it whenever I played it for him.

Ralph's World
We got the CD Ralph's World because we heard one of the songs somewhere and C6 really dug it. The CD came with a DVD , which was a nice surprise. Apparently this Ralph dude is doing really well, along the lines of Dan Zanes' success - he's got the Disney Channel conncection too. When I first watched the DVD I thought "hm, that guy reminds me of a dark-haired version of Garth from "Wayne's World". Hmmmm..."Ralph's World" – COINCIDENCE? Though I'm not entirely thrilled with this music, I can't let my opinions get in the way if C6 really enjoys it - and he really does. Actually, "Dance Around" and "Puppydog" are both pretty infectious. Ralph seems like a likeable enough guy, and his cute daughter appears in the videos alongside her dad onstage.

Terrible Twos - If You Ever See An Owl
The Terrible Twos "If You Ever See an Owl" is kid music brought to you by the guy from The Get Up Kids/New Amsterdams. For the most part – it is gentle, sweet indie rock. It sounds great. "Smickey" is the current fave track for both of us. It is a song about burping I think. C6 likes the little kid's voice saying "Smickey!!!!" (the li'l kid's word for "excuse me", apparently.)

Pancake Mountain
I wrote about stumbling across Pancake Mountain, an amazing kidsrocknrolldanceparty based in D.C. little while ago. I received the DVD shortly after ordering it and I immediately popped it in the player. We sat down to watch, but C6 wanted to do something else and we haven't revisited it together yet. The litle bit that I saw is HILARIOUS! And Anti Flag rocks the theme song! The DVD I got has performances by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and Shonen Knife, among other greats. If C6 doesn't like it, no big whoop, cuz I sure do.

Audra Rox
We saw a video for Audra Rox called "I hope My Mama Says Yes" on Noggin and it was really cute and fun. C6 was taken with Audra's long hair with pink streaks. The song is kinda rockabilly, with upright bass, and a backyard hodown feel. Just a whole lotta fun goin' on.

Wiggles
At first, C6 wasn't really into The Wiggles. And that was fine with me! I'm not sure what happened, but he's a hardcore Wiggles fan now! We both enjoy the song "Fruit Salad". It reminds me of something that I would write. (for the uninitiated, the chorus of the Fruit Salad song goes "Fruit salad. Yummy, yummy." Straight to the point.) Each show has a segment of "Dance Lessons with Dorothy the Dinosaur", where 2 of the Wiggles dancers teach you a new step. I like to do the airplane dance! And the HULA!

Spare the Rock Spoil the Child (podcast)
I just started listening to the Northhampton, MA based Spare The Rock, Spoil The Child podcast, and I like their approach - kids rock alongside big kids rock. An interesting mix. The blog is a good read, too!

KEXP John in the morning (radio/podcast)
KEXP Seattle's John In The Morning is always good for fabulous tunes, old and new. C6 was really groovin' to Blur's "Advert" yesterday. And so was I!

Well, that's about it for now. There are a couple more CDs for us to mention - part 2 of C6 and Mummio's Musical Roundup coming soon!