2006_03_01_archive

***They Might Be Giants***

Another duo from Brooklyn you might have heard of...that's right, our

beloved alternateen heroes They Might Be Giants

have made the foray into children's music! And a wonderful job they've

done, I must say.

Over the course of listening to No!, we find out that "The Edison

Museum" is useful as both an historical site and a creepy place to be

sent if you're naughty, and that "John Lee Supertaster"'s diet has to

be extra bland to accommodate his sensitive tastebuds. The Appalachian

acapella story-song is updated with "I Am Not Your Broom", and "Clap

Your Hands" is probably the greatest Toddler Time singalong song that

Wilson Pickett never made.

The most awesome thing about this album is that the songs can pretty

much be interchanged with songs from their best TMBG "adult" albums. A

world controlled by kid-created robots, the mystery of balloon

manufacturing, making sure to cross the street at the corner: yes,

TMBG explore the imagination of a child without insulting the kid or

annoying the parent. What other children's album ends with a

fist-pumping anthem to the pros of beddybyetime?

Posted by Warren Truitt at 2:23 PM 1 comments

***The Quiet Ones***

Brooklyn's The Quiet Ones released their brilliant debut CD, Make Some

Noise, in 2005 on their own Not Big Records. Andy Ure and Chris

Anderson have created an album that is fantastic and fantastical,

sweet and imaginative, full of instantly memorable tunes. Think very

early Pink Floyd if they had the musical sensibilities of Sloan, and

without quite so much lysergic acid diethylamide.

Side one of Make Some Noise (OK, OK...the first six songs, how's

that?) could be any other band's greatest hits album. The CD, a quiet

affair despite the title, kicks off with a couple of acoustic songs,

but then the boys turn it up. Need a rockin' superhero anthem? Try

"Ultrafoot". Want a Dadaist tune about fruit? There's "Magic Banana"

(pronounced with a British accent, it's even better). Hey, "I Remember

Purple" is destined to be the "Yesterday" for children...I'm not

kidding.

The album ends with a nod to the Who's "A Quick One, While He's Away",

by telling the epic story of a kid who, dissatisfied with the drink

choices in his fridge, invents a dairy soda called "Fizzy Milk", only