Various Artists

PLAY

(DeSoto)

Record Review by Alexis Roberts

I always love the idea of baby music compilations put together by indie rockers for the sake of the indie rocker parents. God bless those poor souls that listen to Kidz Bop volumes one through infinity which are made up of screaming children recreating songs from the radio, like Blink 182’s “All the Small Things.” This is the perfect solution to that problem and if you want your kid to grow up to be hip and listen to the good stuff then PLAY is what needs to be on their mp3 players (because now even the youngsters have them in their back pockets) and rocking in your car when you are dropping them off for kindergarten before you go off to your job at the record store.

PLAY features some unlikely contributors—I mean really unlikely contributors. The Cassettes have a nice little tune and who would have ever expected the new Buddyhead poster children to be writing a song for children? Among other surprise contributors are the good ol’ boys of Mudhoney, who sing a song about wanting to make noise and break things. That song captures the true essence of Mudhoney, and could probably be passed off as a rare B-side. Also, Mock Orange shows up to the party out of nowhere singing a song that makes me hungry called “Holiday Dinner Song”.

Other themes on the album include picnics, trucks and monsters under the bed. You know, the normal issues that any 3-7 year old is dealing with. If we are really honest with ourselves most of us are kids at heart and can sit through this album a few times, rock out and feel refreshed. The nice thing is it just brings you back to a time when things were more innocent and next thing you know you’re reminiscing with you pals about light up sneakers and Fraggle Rock.

How cool are your kids going to be when they hit their own hipster yearsand they can tell everyone that they were listening to bands like Mudhoney since they were babies? Coming from someone who can brag that they’ve been listening to Nirvana since grade one, it’s a nice feeling.