Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Guest Post: The Two Mirrors, Pt. 1

** I fixed the Bright Eyes link **

Greetings folks.
Zak over at The Two Mirrors has graciously accepted my offer to guest post for the next two days. Yay for me! Don't forget to check out his blog. (And marvel at the beauty of his children, at right.) And now, in his own words—

Hello to all you (sm)all ages readers. We over at the The Two Mirrors are huge fans of this site. My kids musical lives have greatly improved since I stumbled upon this site. I offered to guest blog over here to share my kiddies favorite tunes. I have a two part post to share with you. The first part is a summary of 3 songs written for adults that my kids love. The second part will be 3 songs written for kids that my kids love. Hope you enjoy!

Part One

So my kids have great taste in music. Aiden just turned three in July and Anna is just a wee 15 months. The both grew up with music always on in the house. For some reason both of them loved the Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse early on. However these three songs are ones that they are into right now.

Bright Eyes—Gold Mine Gutted
This song comes from Conor’s electronic album released last January. I may be the only one in the world who thinks this, but personally I liked Digital Ash better than I’m Wide Awake, but I digress. Sunday night at our house is record night. We listen to music as a family and the music reflects what my wife, the kiddies, and myself have been listening to through the week. It has been a great way for my family to spend time together away from work, school, tv, and friends. Anyway, every week record night begins when we play this song. My kids absolutely love it. Some of the content is not exactly kid friendly, but still we love it. Conor sets the tone for record night with this line “speakers on the tv stand, just a turntable to watch.”

Starlight Mints—Popsickle
This is becoming one of their new favorites. However, as you may expect, they both want a popsickle when the song is over. This track comes from the Starlight Mints debut album released in 2000. It’s just a fun little song with great melodies and an easy sing along chorus (the making of a kid friendly song).

Mates of State—Think Long
We love the Mates of State. They are so kid friendly and they actually had a kid rather recently. This record’s lyrical content reflects this new addition to their family, but their music has always been a very fun and poppy listen. And they do it with just keyboards and drums. The best part about this song is that at the end when they are singing “Think Long” over and over again, Aiden swears to me that they are saying Big Bird. Taken a listen and see what you think. Side note—they put on a fun live show too! Anyway if you are a parent you should own their new record Bring it Back.

Bonus track for the parents:

You want to shed a little tear? Listen to this track from The Mates new album. It was written after they had a car wreck with their baby in the car.

Mates of State—Nature and the Wreck

7 comments:

Jeff - OWTK said...

That is a decent Bright Eyes song, but the track of his that is best suited for kids - in my humble opinion - is "True Blue" off of the "Motion Sickness" live CD. My 2 year old daughter loves it and signs along (especially the verse about "the blue dog, with the blue tongue") This live track is only available on that record (not iTunes) but a studio version in on the "Lua" EP. The live one is much more interesting though.

Jeff
http://www.outwiththekids.com

Anonymous said...

He actually wrote True Blue as a kid's song. In my opinion the Worst bright eyes song ever. But I don't have kids (that I know of).

Nice Post though

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the cool guest post. I wish I could hear the Bright Eyes song. I haven't heard any of his music - fuddy duddy that I am. I can't get the link to work. But the littles dig that super fun popsickle song. So fun!

Looking forward to part 2.

Zak Champagne said...

Hey thanks for the comments. If that Bright Eyes link isn't working, let me know and I'll see if Cleo can repost the link. I may have made a mistake somewhere.

On a seperate note, Aiden actually loves True Blue too. But for a different reason. Ever since he was born we have called him Blue (yes from Old School). That's just been his nickname. Anyway in his 3 year old egocentric way he thinks the song is about him. His favorite line is about on his birthday baking a blue cake. Fun stuff.

Zak

Are We There Yet? said...

I have fixed the Bright Eyes link!!!!

Jeff - OWTK said...

Geez, worse Bright Eyes song ever? That is rough. I did not know he wrote that as a kids song.

I have a ton of songs that kids would be into, but I will exercise some restraint and only offer up one (for now!):
Josh Ritter's "Snow is Gone" from "Hello Starling". This is my little girl's favorite right now. She belts out the refrain "hello blackbird, hello starling - winters over - be my darling, long time comin' but now, the snow is gone"

We are seeing him live twice over the next 5 weeks, both outdoors (Philly and NYC, which is free!). I am hoping she belts out "her part" in person.

Jeff

Anonymous said...

Fine point, but "Popsickle" is not actually on _The Dream that Stuff Was Made on_, but on a separate single. Which makes me extra-grateful to have it available without the video! (Though the video is pretty sweet.)

-- Alice