“These kids’ songs are awesome! There are bands you can’t go wrong with, and this is one of them.” – USA Today
“RECESS MONKEY: If Seattle is the new bastion of kindie rockers, then the trio of teachers are the city’s breakout stars.” – Time magazine
“BEST KIDS’ CDs OF THE DECADE: This trio of Seattle teachers (who have even garnered Beatles comparisons) has become a force to be reckoned with in children’s music.”
– AOL ParentDish
Kindie music icon Recess Monkey takes to the sea with the band’s ninth studio CD, Deep Sea Diver (Recess Monkey, $14.99, for ages 2 – 8, run time 42 minutes. Released on June 18, 2013). My son and I received this album and really enjoyed the songs! Recess Monkey’s ‘Deep Sea Diver’ is just plain cool!
Deep Sea Diver is Recess Monkey’s “blue album,” an ocean-themed recording set in a submarine that plumbs the musical depths of the sea before becoming shipwrecked on the beach of a distant lost island. Conceived as “the Recess Monkey-est Recess Monkey album ever,” Deep Sea Diver is filled with a boatload of the band’s over-the-top, super zany, clever, high-energy songs that deliver lots of synth, funk, and everything in between, all written and produced with a high degree of seaworthy musical and creative artistry.
Joining Recess Monkey’s Jack Forman and Drew Holloway on Deep Sea Diver is new band member Korum Bischoff, a truly awesome drummer who offers a dynamic contribution, not only to Recess Monkey’s overall energy and to Deep Sea Diver’s explosion of rhythmic intensity, but also to the album’s concept. Says Korum, “I grew up living aboard a sailboat docked at Bainbridge Island, Washington, so Deep Sea Diver’s theme felt like coming home! While other kids played ball in the yard, I was fishing, rowing, poking at creatures on the pilings, and having epic pirate battles aboard my floating home. Now I get to share all this with a slew of kids who might never experience that lifestyle.”
Notes Jack Forman, “We’ve always worked hard to push ourselves musically, and the addition of Korum to the band has been an amazing way for Drew and me to keep growing. In the song ‘Fish Sticks,’ the drumming fish character knows how to play every kind of drum pattern imaginable; the secret was soon out that so does Korum! Another exciting thing about Deep Sea Diver is that it’s the first time all three members of Recess Monkey have contributed songs to an album. There’s so much variety, and it’s impossible to tell who wrote what!”
Adds Drew Holloway, “With all the variety, we worked hard to sequence the songs so that there’s a flow. It’s an art that many people don’t notice, and that’s the goal. We want it to feel like you’re seeing a show that keeps moving or listening to a soundtrack that has an arc. Certain tunes fit really well together because of their instrumentations or the ways in which they end or start. The foley of the submarine and ocean sounds helps glue it all together, really giving the record a sense of time and place.”
Deep Sea Diver ships out with an up-tempo, “powered by rhythm” dance tune, “Tambourine Submarine,” and then transports passengers to a deep-in-the-sea music venue known as the Coral Club, where a drum-playing fish (“Fish Sticks”) can play every kind of music on his underwater drum set. There’s a quick segue into the super tight vocals and Latin beat of “The Deep End,” followed by the Spoon-inspired, high-energy “Beach Ball.” Other highlights include a great sing-along, “Choral Reef” (not a typo; this coral reef reverberates with a mastery of the choral arts), a “seahorse spaghetti Western” titled “Seahorse,” and “Stranded,” a laid-back, oceanic track with a distinctively ‘60s sound, featuring stunning orchestrations by Jherek Bischoff and a hint of what’s to come on Recess Monkey’s October release, Desert Island Disc.
Guest artists on Deep Sea Diver include Johnny Bregar (keyboard and mandolin), trombonist Dean Jones (of Dog on Fleas), and trumpet player Tom Baisden (of The Not-Its!) The album was actually recorded on an island – Bainbridge Island, Washington – in Johnny Bregar’s Brickyard Studios.
Recess Monkey released their debut CD, Welcome to Recess Monkey Town, in 2005, followed by another popular (and zoologically correct) hit, Aminal House, in 2006. The band made history with their next release, Wonderstuff, the first double CD children’s album. As with Wonderstuff, which was produced from material generated at a kids’ summer camp workshop, 2008’s Tabby Road, 2009’s Field Trip, 2010’s The Final Funktier, 2011’s FLYING! and 2012’s In Tents each came from real life children’s experiences.
Seven Recess Monkey songs have reached #1 on the Sirius/XM’s Kids Place Live chart. Sirius/XM’s Kids Place Live Program Director Mindy Thomas declared, “These guys are able to tap into elementary school so well that it’s like they never left. In this never-ending nationwide talent show of kid and family music, they are most definitely at the top.” Time Magazine celebrated Recess Monkey’s “tight, smart, acclaimed original songs … and seriously grooving funk.” People gave the band 4/4 stars. Enthused The Washington Post, “These guys put the ‘fun’ in funky. (Just try to keep your feet from moving!)” Explained kids’ music authority Stefan Shepherd (Zooglobble.com), “Recess Monkey just keeps turning out album after album with pop nuggets, as if we’d just discovered that The Beatles had recorded a ton of kids’ music 40+ years ago.”
Recess Monkey’s 2012 circus-themed album, In Tents, was included on numerous “Top Kids’ CD of the Year” lists, including those of USA Today, Cool Mom Picks, and Red Tricycle, and was singled out for praise in such prominent publications as Parents Magazine, The Washington Post, Time Out NY Kids, and Scholastic Parent & Child. Wrote kids’ music expert Kathy O’Connell in her MetroKids “Best Family CDs of 2012” review of In Tents, “Kids’ music superstars take us to the circus in another brilliant concept album.”
FLYING!, released in 2011, was highlighted in People magazine and honored with inclusion in more than a dozen “Best of the Year” lists, including those of The Washington Post, Parents Magazine, Common Sense Media, Cool Mom Picks, and more. In its “Best of the Year” review, The Washington Post enthused, “We had to mention these superheroes. They’re back! … If you liked their rock-and-roll in the past, you’ll like it again.”
From a plethora of remarkable Seattle-based “kindie” musicians, Seattle Magazine chose to honor Recess Monkey in 2010 with its “Best Local Kids’ Music” accolade. The band’s 2010 release, The Final Funktier, was highlighted on CBS-TV’s The Early Show and in People magazine, was featured in more than a dozen “Best of 2010” lists and was a KIWI magazine 2010 “holiday pick.”
Recess Monkey’s 2009 Release, Field Trip, was named to the American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Recording List, and the album was included among USA Today’s “Favorite Releases of 2009” and AOL ParentDish’s “Top 25 Albums for Kids.” Time Out NY Kids declared Field Trip to be the #1 CD of the year, calling it “pure genius.” Field Trip was on more than a dozen “Best of 2009” lists.
Tabby Road, released in 2008, was a Parenting magazine “Our Fave This Month,” and a KIWI magazine “Best of 2008.” AOL ParentDish included Recess Monkey’s 2007 release, Wonderstuff, among its “Best Kids’ CDs of the Decade,” and NPR featured Wonderstuff’ in its list of “10 Best Kids’ Albums for 2007.” Kathy O’Connell, host of Kids Corner on Philadelphia’s WXPN-FM, chose Wonderstuff as one of her favorite albums of the year during a guest appearance on NPR’s Morning Edition, calling it “A brilliant, multilayered concept album of stories and songs heavily influenced by ’60s rock.”
Deep Sea Diver is available at recessmonkey.com, amazon.com, cdbaby.com, theAVCafe.com, bigkids.com, iTunes, bandcamp.com, Silver Platters, Sonic Boom Records, and Barnes & Noble.
DEEP SEA DIVER SONG LIST:
Tambourine Submarine, Fish Sticks, The Deep End, Beach Ball, Shrimp, Compass Rose, Choral Reef,
Tattoo Me, The Seven Cs, Seagull, Up Periscope, Walkie Talkies, Seahorse, Making Waves, Stranded.
Self Disclosure: I received a CD to facilitate this feature.
