Monday, February 25, 2008
More R.E.M. News
Great News! NPR's excellent live concert series, All Songs Considered, will be broadcasting and possibly podcasting R.E.M.'s SXSW performance on March 12th. Check out the news here http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=681.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
New R.E.M. is coming
Springtime is around the corner! My daffodils are peeking out of the ground, its not painfully cold, and a new R.E.M. is coming April 1st. Rebirth indeed.
After completely enjoying the preview from the Dublin shows circulated last summer and the live REM cd/dvd my appetite is sufficiently whetted for new material. The new CD Accelerate produced by Jacknife Lee who re-energized U2 with their last colassal release, sounds like has done the same with the boys from Athens, GA.
For your first real taste of it, check out the video here http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m1BCDCAO844O72:m6DURP8KF8DU3
or just go to itunes and download it already. Its fun, it sounds like the son of "Pageant" and "Fables," its got great Mike Mills harmony, and best of all, it has a summer camp reference.
After completely enjoying the preview from the Dublin shows circulated last summer and the live REM cd/dvd my appetite is sufficiently whetted for new material. The new CD Accelerate produced by Jacknife Lee who re-energized U2 with their last colassal release, sounds like has done the same with the boys from Athens, GA.
For your first real taste of it, check out the video here http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m1BCDCAO844O72:m6DURP8KF8DU3
or just go to itunes and download it already. Its fun, it sounds like the son of "Pageant" and "Fables," its got great Mike Mills harmony, and best of all, it has a summer camp reference.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Here Come The 123’s - They Might Be Giants
I’m sure most of us have always thought TMBG had a great youthful and mirthful sensibility to their large canon of music. Since their mid 80s debut of Don’t Let’s Start, I’ve always enjoyed and smiled along to their music and their stories. Silliness had always abounded with songs like Particle Man and Istanbul, Not Constantinople. It was no surprise that right around the time when we had the twins, TMBG finally released its first kids’ opus No! containing such child-thought-provoking concepts like Where Do They Make Balloons and In The Middle. All in all, I thought the debut CD was fair – some excellent tracks and some music that was a bit too much for my little kids. It wanted to be all things to all kids.
Not so now with Tuesday, February 5th's release of Here Come The 123’s (on CD and DVD). John and John have come into their own as musicians for kids and have created a set of songs, videos and podcasts which position them as a modern day Schoolhouse Rock. The stories, lessons, and variety of musical styles on 123’s harkens back to when we all kept watching ABC on Saturday mornings to hear the funk groove of Verb: That’s What’s Happening and the familiar folk singing of Conjunction Junction.
The songs are smart, the music is great, and the videos are crisp, simple and easily watchable. My kids love it. "S" loves the superheroes and hand motions in High Five - I think the danceable Jamiroquai-like sound is great. Other songs come across like classic TMBG and classic Schoolhouse Rock – simple, sweet and smart – such as Zeroes, Apartment Four, and the very fun Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go To Work).
Perhaps, however, the greatest part of this new release is the brilliant and much appreciated marketing campaign of having weekly Friday Night Family Podcasts hosted by sock puppet versions of John and John (which makes "A" laugh that they are both called John). Each week we’ve been able to preview the new CD as well as start to sing along and love this new music. Many of the above songs have become my girls’ favorites and sitting around the laptop to watch a podcast or two has been much fun. The podcasts are available thru itunes http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=105708952 or at http://disneymusic.disney.go.com/artists/theymightbegiants.html and even on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca_5BnBB170.
It is required viewing and listening – it’s what kids’ music can be all about. These are songs for everyone with music that adults can enjoy and kids can appreciate, and now, even learn from. Plus, it gives us all a chance to pull out the classic TMBG CDs from our past and share with a new generation who appreciates John and John in either their human or puppet form.
Not so now with Tuesday, February 5th's release of Here Come The 123’s (on CD and DVD). John and John have come into their own as musicians for kids and have created a set of songs, videos and podcasts which position them as a modern day Schoolhouse Rock. The stories, lessons, and variety of musical styles on 123’s harkens back to when we all kept watching ABC on Saturday mornings to hear the funk groove of Verb: That’s What’s Happening and the familiar folk singing of Conjunction Junction.
The songs are smart, the music is great, and the videos are crisp, simple and easily watchable. My kids love it. "S" loves the superheroes and hand motions in High Five - I think the danceable Jamiroquai-like sound is great. Other songs come across like classic TMBG and classic Schoolhouse Rock – simple, sweet and smart – such as Zeroes, Apartment Four, and the very fun Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go To Work).
Perhaps, however, the greatest part of this new release is the brilliant and much appreciated marketing campaign of having weekly Friday Night Family Podcasts hosted by sock puppet versions of John and John (which makes "A" laugh that they are both called John). Each week we’ve been able to preview the new CD as well as start to sing along and love this new music. Many of the above songs have become my girls’ favorites and sitting around the laptop to watch a podcast or two has been much fun. The podcasts are available thru itunes http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=105708952 or at http://disneymusic.disney.go.com/artists/theymightbegiants.html and even on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca_5BnBB170.
It is required viewing and listening – it’s what kids’ music can be all about. These are songs for everyone with music that adults can enjoy and kids can appreciate, and now, even learn from. Plus, it gives us all a chance to pull out the classic TMBG CDs from our past and share with a new generation who appreciates John and John in either their human or puppet form.
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