Of Montreal, Over the Rhine, more kid rock

Putting together a kids' compilation that both parents and children will appreciate is much harder than it sounds. First, there are the best-selling, but kinda-creepy Kidz Bop albums with all your dance-club favorites sung by pre-teens. And, really, who doesn't want to hear kids singing about an unfaithful lover on Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around?" Then there are the indie noise-rock compilations that every tatoo'ed ten-year-old living in Williamsburg thinks they're supposed to love. I tested one of these on my own little focus group of three (ages eight, seven and three) and they begged me to turn it off. My offspring tend to be very picky when it comes to the music I love—the most requested songs are by Son Volt, Nada Surf and the whole They Might Be Giants catalog. They all seemed to like I’m From Barcelona when they joined me briefly at Lollapalooza last week, but they mostly pester me to play “kids music.”

So I’m very thankful that in a world full of irritating music aimed at the wee ones, Nettwerk has managed to compile two CDs that my kids and I all love—For the Kids and For the Kids Too. They love Bleu’s “Snow Day” and Five For Fighting’s “The Hoppity Song,” and I love that I can tell them Tom Waits and Robyn Hitchcock tunes are “kids music.” The third installment, For the Kids Three!, is due on October 2 and the list of artists reads like a Paste sampler with acts like Of Montreal, Mates of State, Hem and Anathallo. We’re particularly looking forward to hearing Over the Rhine’s “The Poopsmith Song.” Just don’t assume this means you should take your kid to an Of Montreal concert. I’m sure he or she has enough problems without watching Kevin Barnes prance around in his short shorts.

The complete tracklist:
1. Of Montreal "I Want to Have Fun"
2. Great Lake Swimmers "See You On the Moon"
3. Over the Rhine "The Poopsmith Song"
4. Rogue Wave "My Little Bird"
5. OAR "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
6. Barenaked Ladies "The Other Day I Met a Bear"
7. Dar Williams "The Babysitter Song"
8. The Sippy Cups "I'm a Believer"
9. Anathallo "If You're Happy and You Know it"
10. The Format "Does Your Cat Have a Mustache?”
11. Moby "Very Long"
12. Submarines "My Darling Clementine"
13. Kyle Andrews "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round"
14. Blitzen Trapper "New Shoes"
15: Piano "Sunny"
16. Mates of State "Jellyman Kelly"
17. Hem "No Hiding"
18. McLars "The Lint Song"
19. Jolie Holland "Pure Imagination"
20. Rosie Thomas/Damien Jurado "As Small As Me"