Music for the minors

So I probably should wait 'til further on to start in on kid stuff already, but I'm so taken by the new CDs I just bought that I must share now. 

It our duty as savvy hipster parents to raise our kids with some sensibility for music that does NOT involve the Jonas Brothers. And selfishly, I don't want to listen to crap while toting her ass around town.

While it's true most kids music is totally uninspired and obnoxious, there is a wealth of cool music for kids that is fairly untapped. 

The series "For the Kids" is a must. Any band that can pull off a song about poop going in the potty and have it be really, really a genuinely great song, well, they are just the shit. On "For the Kids 3" Over the Rhine is just one of many brilliant musical artists that pull off kid's music with such sophistication that you are not embarrassed at all by singing about lint, puppies and the letter "L".

All three CDs in the series are fantastic. In addition, there is a "Jazz for Kids" compilation that features Louis Prima crooning about the banana man, way before he was so un-PC-ly cast as the monkey king in Jungle book. It warms my heart to hear Hazel sing about the Muffin Man with Ella's velvet voice. 

A final note, there is a show on now called Gabba Gabba. I love it for it's trippy British club style. (I want that guy's fuzzy hat.) The music is reminiscent of Cibo Matto and electronica combined. It's got such a bizarre, almost Tokyo youth yet London lounge like aesthetic, that while you are watching it (with your kid of course!), you are slightly tempted to drop a tab of E. But then you realize that you have to go do laundry, take the kid to the park, and do some work online so you choose an Odwalla instead.