One of our regular kid purchases is kids’ music. Despite what you might think, given my article on swearing the other day, we like Owen to have music that is appropriate, relatable, and fun. It helps if it also doesn’t make our ears bleed.
With that in mind, we regularly sign our family up for the Kindiependent Music Series here in Seattle. (Check parenting sites like Red Tricycle for your local music scene!) It’s a great way to introduce our kid to live music, helps us find new music for him and, best of all, we stay on the ball when our favorites come out with new material!
The hubs has written at length about one of our favorites, Caspar Babypants. I’d like to introduce you to our other favorite, Recess Monkey.
We have many of their albums, and have listened to them all on repeat. (One small reason to be glad we’re past the days of vinyl–we would have worn out several LPs by now.) The songs are hugely catchy. Owen likes to take the hit “Tambourine Submarine,” replace the word “Tambourine” with “Tangerine,” and go. (He does get a bit cranky when I try other -ine words–“Magazine,” “Lycopene”… threenagers.)
Even my notoriously grumpy Dad liked them when I dragged him to a show with Owen. And hubby and I are definitely guilty of letting the CD keep going even when we go out sans kiddo.
My favorite thing about Recess Monkey, though, is how genuinely engaged they are with their audience. The three musicians are elementary teachers by day, and you can tell they have a deep connection with kids. At the many shows I’ve attended, not once did I feel they were “phoning it in,” or condescending to the kids at all. They clearly love what they do, and that love is infectious!
Which brings me to their latest album, Hot Air. We bought it last week. And while I’m sure the CD is full of gems I’ll eventually get to listen to, right now all my son wants to do is listen to track 14–“Oh Lando.” This is a ridiculously catchy Star Wars themed song. It’s told from the perspective of Han Solo, and covers his friendship with Lando Calrissian from the beginning of the films (‘Hadn’t seen him for a little while, he took it kinda hard/ I won the Millennium Falcon from him in a game of cards’) to Han getting frozen in carbonite on Cloud City (“nowhere to turn when you’ve got freezer burn/ and when will I learn/ to never trust this guy”).
It’s amazing. Seriously. And so is Recess Monkey.
