It’s become something of a cliche to say that it’s hard to find good children’s music, but it’s very true.

Laura Veirs – Little Lap Dog Lullaby.

I’m sure my eight-month-old daughter can’t really differentiate between kids’ music and, say, NWA, but we’ve been trying to keep it light on recent car trips. So far, that’s meant Peter, Paul & Mommy and Free To Be … You and Me, both of which definitely have their moments (don’t get me started on Mel Brooks’s “I’m a baby!” sketch from the latter … no really, it’s amazing).

But now Laura Veirs has put out Tumble Bee, a record of kids’ folks songs, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It not only has Veirs’s great voice and guitar playing but intricate arrangements and song choices that are both fun (“King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O”) and somewhat somber (“All The Pretty Little Horses”). Woody Guthrie even makes an appearance when Veirs covers his sweetly funny “Why Oh Why,” and Colin Meloy pops up on “Soldier’s Joy” (perhaps returning the favor for Veirs’s appearance on The Crane Wife).

Whether or not you’ve got kids, you should pick this one up.

That awesome album art up there, by the way, is by Carson Ellis.

In the Inessential But Awesome category, here is “The Dreidel Song” as covered by Aimee Mann and Paul F. Tompkins.

Aimee Mann & Paul F. Tompkins – The Dreidel Song.

In case I need to tell you about either of these people: Aimee Mann puts on a glorious Christmas show, and she’ll be doing so at the Wiltern in Los Angeles this coming Saturday. She’ll be joined by Tompkins, Michael Penn, Tim Heidecker, and, yes, “many more.”

As for Paul F. Tompkins, he’s a comedian with two great records – Impersonal and Freak Wharf (both available here) – and he’s got an amazing podcast called The Pod F. Tompkast.

L’chaim!

Bleeps and bloops.

Juviley – Young Mother.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted – well, posted anything at all – but especially since I’ve posted bleeps and bloops. This is a good one. It’s got that ’80s Bowie vibe, and the synths and beats are thick and heavy. I guess it’s more of a summer song, but we all need a lift like this in the fall and winter.

As for why Juviley (born Or Zubalsky) wants to be a young mother, I’ll let him explain.

You can find “Young Mother” on his record Our Choices Rhyme, available here. And you can play the video game version (!) here.

It’s hard to pull off something like this.

Clem Snide – Any Way You Want It.

Indie covers of mainstream hits are tough, because you don’t want to seem too condescending. But Clem Snide’s Eef Barzelay can do it, because he knows what’s great about this song, and he digs it out. Whereas the original was something of a celebration, Barzelay’s version is almost a lament, as if he’s thinking, “There has to be more than this.” And then he realizes there isn’t.

Barzelay covered Journey’s “Faithfully” on (again!) A.V. Undercover, and he decided to finish the job with a new EP of Journey songs, Clem Snide’s Journey, which is available digitally. (The vinyl is sold out.) Do it.

Way back in the halcyon days of May 2010 (were we ever so young?!), Wye Oak stopped by the A.V. Club round room to record a cover of the Kinks’ “Strangers,” a performance that I watched over and over again. It was by far my favorite in the A.V. Undercover series (though They Might Be Giants’ rendition of “Tubthumping” gives Wye Oak a run for their money). They were joined by Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater.

Wye Oak covers The Kinks

The fine people over at Merge are releasing the performance on a 7-inch record and as a digital download, with Wye Oak’s A.V. Undercover version of Danzig’s “Mother” on the B side (the 7-inch comes with a download, too). Though I’d heard the performances before, I just heard the record, and it sounds phenomenal.

You can pre-order “Strangers” b/w “Mother” from Merge; it’s officially out on November 22. Highly recommended.

R.E.M. recently called it quits after 31 years together, and Robots David and Mark needed it to talk about it.
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Girl In A Coma – Smart.

There’s something about bands that wear influences on their sleeves while sounding like themselves. Girl In A Coma not only cops the Smiths’ jangle but adapts one of Moz’s song titles for their band name. But this is no imitation; this is just a band that likes what it likes.

Girl In A Coma has even opened for Morrissey, as well as Tegan and Sara, Sia, and the Pogues. Not many bands could cover that range, but these women can. Their fourth record Exits & All The Rest, out November 1 on Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records, is pop and rock, pseudo-punk and new wave. It’s awash in reverb but sharp as a tack. I think you’ll like it.

Stoked that Jeremy Warmsley found a new project that’s even more awesome than his old stuff. This song is beyond.

You were the first band I ever really loved, and you’re still my favorite.

Geoffrey O’Connor – Whatever Leads Me To You 

I’m not as in touch with Australia as I used to be, having lost touch with its superior coffee and southern california-style beaches. It’s been more than three years Corey Delaney finally brought the continent kicking and screaming onto the national stage, a fact that Mr. O’Connor would probably rather have me leave out of this piece. But listen – I’ve been following his music for years now throughout his various bands and sounds. He’s constantly refining but seemingly striving for the same sound, just getting better at it each time. Now, when we hear the first keyboard chord of “Whatever Leads Me To You” we instantly feel the drama, are instantly teleported into the half-sordid image of the album cover. It’s a savvy start to an excellent song on a pretty great record, one that I find myself reaching for often.