Category / Music

by jo

Big Fish Little Fish Events Brixton Giveaway, September.

Big Fish Little Fish events have arrived in Brixton – have you heard of them? We went to a special preview and reviewed it earlier this month and I hesitate to share this as the quality is so poor, but you get the idea (and it’s only 15 seconds), but H came out of her shell and showed off dance moves we never knew she had. I think I spent more time open-mouthed as she twirled around.

This could be YOUR child. Remember those songs from the 1990s to these days you used to dance to? (Voodoo Ray, The Sun Rising, Hanging On A String, Hey Ya and so many more songs that will come flooding back when you hear them).  Your child could let themselves go and twirl around the dancefloor too (the glowstick is compulsory) – Big Fish Little Fish events are a new monthly social and you could go too if you fancy entering this giveaway! (n.b. I say danced as if you’re anything like us you don’t have the time, money, energy or will to actually stand up and shuffle your feet beyond making food or getting to work – it’s not just me, right?).

Big Fish Little Fish Events

I have a Family ticket to give away for Big Fish Little Fish’s September event. It’s on the 21st and is at the Effra Social in Brixton – walkable from Brixton tube and Herne Hill station and runs from 2-4.30 and has a theme of ‘Sailing the Seven Seas’ – it’s also their launch party.

Please note – travel is NOT included – so I’d recommend you’re based in London and can get there easily. Tickets will be provided direct by Big Fish Little Fish.

Tickets are on sale now at We Got Tickets and there are loads of reviews coming in – including a great feature in Time Out this week. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

by jo

Monsters University Soundtrack

Out now is the Monsters University soundtrack – here’s our review.

The Monsters University Soundtrack  is out now. We saw the film a couple of weeks ago, and loved it. I reviewed it for the very lovely Sharon over at I Heart Motherhood where we had a fabulous time.

Monsters University soundtrack

So, the soundtrack – think of it as more of a score than a soundtrack. While certain things didn’t bring back memories, one of the key bits of the film, the disco in the frat party, stood out and the music from Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso of Swedish House Mafia is definitely our highlight of the songs here. It also has H jump up and dance every time (while pulling her best monster face).

The score is composed by Randy Newman and doesn’t disappoint, as ever. The last song is the only one with any vocals, everything else is instrumental – and Newman added a unique flair to his score, calling on renowned international drum corps The Blue Devils to contribute a definitively collegiate sound. The composer also used elements of concert band music to create the feeling of being in school. In fact, said Newman, “There’s a little bit of Brahms’ ‘Academic Festival Overture’ when Mike is riding the pig. I like to think Brahms would be extremely flattered by his inclusion in the score.”

Not all songs featured in the movie are on the soundtrack. Mastodon’s song ‘Island’ is one which jumps out, though you can buy it separately rather than as part of the soundtrack anyway. If you enjoyed Monsters University, then you’ll probably enjoy the Monsters University Soundtrack.

Check out the trailer which features a lot of the Swedish House Mafia song!

The Monsters University Soundtrack is available now as a download

We were sent a digital copy of the album for review. Please note the download link is an affiliate link.

by jo

Review – Monski Mouse’s Baby Disco – London Wonderland

Monski MouseMonski Mouse is doing a monthly DJ session at London Wonderland at the moment (Monski Mouse’s Baby Disco), so we popped along today to check it out!

We were already in Central London so headed over to the South Bank Centre, finding London Wonderland eventually (it isn’t on any of the signs around the South Bank – if you’re reading this, head towards the London Eye and look for the upside down inflatable cow – it’s the area to the left of that) arriving inside just in time for some brilliant tunes.

The Lovecats by The Cure

Beware – the set is only 45 minutes long, so get there early so you don’t miss out – and you’ll find yourself in a tent-like area with seating around the sides, with cushions and beanbags to sit and a circular dancefloor which is just perfect to dance on – with tons of enthusiasm from Monica and her dancers. Songs like ’99 Luftballons’ by Nena or ‘The Lovecats’ by The Cure (Shaun and me have this as our unofficial wedding song, as my sister insisted we danced to it on the big day, so made H dance to it today), with ‘Sleeping Bunnies’ thrown in for good measure, or how about a slow then fast version of ‘Rock a Bye Your Bear’ (not The Wiggles though!) make an appearance, big smiles all round. I noticed while H was a bit shy at first and didn’t get into the dancing quickly, once she was warmed up there was no stopping her, there was no self-consciousness about her at all.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/25560961″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

There’s some country music, the charleston, oh you name it, it was there. (apart from death metal)

There’s so much enthusiasm, and the most refreshing thing of all is how the kids all want to dance – we’ve been to two parties now with music for our kids, which has involved One Direction – there’s none of that here, no no – this is PROPER music. (to be fair, H has shrunk away from this modern pop music thing, she’s going to be a retro child like her parents I think…)

H and I doing the charleston

H and I doing the charleston

The set finished with Monica Monski Mouse joining the kids to dance to ‘Nellie The Elephant’ by The Toy Dolls (which makes me very happy as I’ve been playing it to H for a while now), and loads of happy kids.

Dancing to Monski Mouse

£8 is quite a lot for 45 minutes, but when you bear in mind the amount of free activities there are to do around the South Bank it doesn’t feel quite so bad and you could easily spend a day up there and not spend much.

H meets Monski Mouse

We received free tickets to attend, all opinions are our own – based on H’s enthusiasm when she warmed up we definitely want to come again! 

by jo

Monski Mouse – Coming to a Dancefloor Near You – and Soon!

DJ Monski Mouse & daughter Monalisa

Monski Mouse is the alter-ego of Monica Corduff Gonzalez who does discos for under 5’s around the world. She comes from Australia, and currently lives in the UK. She’s bringing her dance event to the London Wonderground this summer with Monski Mouse’s Baby Disco Dance Hall. We’re interviewing Monica, so we can find out loads more about the events – as well as reviewing it (and quite frankly I may be the most excited of all of us about this).

Two sold out Adelaide Fringe seasons (2012 & 2013), an Edinburgh Fringe and bookings at festivals such as Norfolk and Norwich Festival (Sold Out) and the Freedom Festival, Monski Mouse’s Baby Disco Dance Hall has been getting heads, shoulders, knees and toes bopping along since its launch in February 2012.

Monski Mouse has made a career from DJ-ing quirky retro tracks, while dressed as a glamour-girl-mouse, for the last ten years, at arts festivals and clubs including Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. Since becoming a Mum in 2010, Monski Mouse expanded her focus to the morning audience, of bubs, toddlers and parents/carers, in a career move that fits in with her current role as a working Mum.

“I count myself really lucky to able to adapt my performance career to make work my daughter can enjoy, and I am totally blown away by how much she absolutely loves the Baby Disco Dance Hall.” says Monski Mouse,”Plus its so much fun to have dance before tea time, what an absolutely wonderful way to spend your day!”

The event features Monski Mouse hosting and DJing, two experienced early childhood performers as ‘dancers’, who work with the audience, and a ‘baby area’ where the non walkers can roll around to the music.

“I feel extremely privileged to be performing this disco, the delight I get to see in young children’s eyes and their parents faces is incredibly special, I am a very, very lucky mouse.” says Monski Mouse.

Monski Mouse

Designed for children under 5 and their parents and carers, to dance and have fun together, Monski Mouse’s Baby Disco Dance Hall runs every second Sunday from 26 May through to 15 September, tickets are available through londonwonderground.co.uk

“Children were dancing, parents were singing and EVERYONE was smiling” Radelaide Rover

“Monski Mouse is the best DJ in the world” James Campbell – Comedy for Kids
“Creates a unique atmosphere and allows friends, parents, carers, grandparents (you name it) to join together by dancing ” ★★★★ Three Weeks
“This quirky event was clearly a hit.” ★★★ Broadway Baby

Web: monskimouse.com Twitter: @MonskiMouse Facebook: @MonskiMouse

LISTING INFORMATION
Venue: London Wonderground Spiegeltent
Time: 15:00 Running Time: 45 minutes
Dates: 26 May, 9 &23 June, 7 & 21 July, 4 & 18 August, 1 & 15 September 2013
Tickets: £8 – bubs under six months free!
Bookings: londonwonderground.co.uk or call 0844 545 8282

Do you fancy an idea of what Monski Mouse plays? Here you go…

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91526697″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

by jo

Cat Doorman – Songbook

Cat Doorman is Julianna Bright, a Portland Oregon based musician who makes music for her daughter – and released her debut album earlier this year. ‘Little Red Wagon’ is a traditional song, and very catchy too – I found that ‘Songbook’ sits really well alongside the Megson album we’ve just reviewed – folky and calm.Cat Doorman SongbookWe reviewed the Night & Day ‘Little Red Wagon’ app a while back (which features on here), and loved it so much I bought the album for H. (it was especially cute when she’d sing ‘everywhere my darling’ rather than ‘fare the well my darling’ at the end)

The track ‘Inspiration’ recently had a video made for it – which you can watch over here

Inspiration from Cat Doorman on Vimeo.

What attracted me to this album the most is the other musicians appearing on it – members of The Decemberists, the Corin Tucker Band and many more – bands I’d heard of, so I knew there was a good background there, and it left me curious. Actually, I’m loving that people in indie bands are making music for their kids and it stays true to the music they make.

There’s more audio samples to be heard on Cat Doorman’s site – I’ve embedded them here too. If you like this, consider buying a copy – it’s a lovely album and one we love playing when we’re sitting around playing games at home.

by jo

Megson – When I Was A Lad

Shaun and I met thanks to music and a music community, so it was inevitable H would be brought up with it in her life – and while we’ve embraced it (especially kids tunes and classics), there comes a point where music we like has to make an appearance and take over for the sake of our sanity!

Megson - When I Was a Lad

We were sent a copy of ‘When I Was a Lad’ by Megson which is a collection of Children’s Folk Songs. Megson are a new band to us; they’ve been going a few years now (and have self-released four albums and one EP) who took a break when their daughter was born – and ended up making this album to combine their music and their roles as parents. These kinds of albums are my favourites too – it’s the kind of music you can play in the car and enjoy.

There’s some old traditional classics in there – ‘Oats & Beans & Barley Grow’, ‘Three Little Ducks’ and ‘A Frog He Would A Woo-ing Go’ as well as some songs they’ve written themselves. ‘All The Shops Have Fallen Down’ started as a song about shops on the high street and what you can buy… except there aren’t so many shops on the high street these days…

Megson - When I Was a Lad

It’s a good mixture, when I asked H what she likes the most she told me “I like all the songs!” as her best thing, and that is a good thing; actually, right now H is playing Musical Statues with the album (which is allowing for some good creative dancing too!). The music reminds me of Sundays growing up in the seventies when we’d have days around the house listening to my mum and dad’s music – and that’s a good thing, by the way.

I’ve been reorganising our digital life, and putting more music onto the iPod (after all, that’s what it’s meant for), so we’ve been playing much more music in the car – and mixing our songs in there too, that always goes down well… – Megson is a welcome addition.

Megson Family Folk Show
Megson can be found over here – where there are tour dates and more (look out for the family folk shows – please come and play Beanie’s in Croydon!) – they’re playing at the Larmer Tree festival (which is very family-friendly) this year as well. You can buy ‘When I Was a Lad’ on their website for £10 using this link.

We were sent the CD to review – all opinions are our own