Chunes My Baby Adores

My three month old son likes to kick back every weekend morning on his Daddy's knees after a stretch of faux standing up. He drools and smiles and I try to coax a few sounds out of his gibbering mouth. He expertly nailed "O" just before the door closed on his first month. Later he progressed to "Buh" and "Brr", the latter being a spitty mess. As of late he will surprise me with

Animal Collective and Vashti Bunyan - "Prospect Hummer"
*Buy it from Fat Cat Records*

an occasional "La", but he's reworking his technique on that one. The wee bairn is pretty indifferent to most music I put on, but he can be counted on to perk up to this collaboration by Animal Collective and elfin folkstress Vashti Bunyan. I think most of its appeal to him is my joining in for the flubby chorus of "Wah wah wah wah wah". It's only fitting that he likes it, as his existence is partially due to Sung Tongs being on repeat one balmy weekend in Miami.

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Another Saturday morning mixtape of ours concludes with a few choice reggae cuts from The Ethiopians and the wonderful candyland children's book fantasy of John Holt's "Ali Baba". The closing track has our little man smiling the most though. Althea & Donna had a minor hit with this track in the 70's, and like all good overlooked music, it has enjoyed revivals and rediscoveries from generations of record geeks to 'zine writers to college

Althea & Donna - "Uptown Top Ranking"
*Buy it from CD Universe*

radio DJs to first-generation music bloggers. The wee one digs it for its pokey skank, perfect for a measured bomp on Dad's knee. Either that or he's secretly laughing at my pasty face mouthing out "Nah pop no style, a strictly roots". Guess I'd better stick to singalongs with the Animal Collective.