Okay, YES I realize that we are past the mid-mark of May. Like many of you, the end of my kids’ school year looms near, and with it, a surge of parties and school events, life-sucking meetings and things to organize.

Thankfully, some sweet new family music has been released to get me through the final push.

For starters, the Sugar Free Allstars released a single “My Daddy’s Record Collection” on a stunning vinyl 45 in honor of national Record Store Day (which was April 19^th. Yes, call me a procrastinator. I can take it).

Pulling the 45 out of the album jacket brought up all kinds of nostalgia about my childhood music experience. The sad thing was my kids were like “what the heck is that?”  as they stared at the record. And I didn’t even have anything to play it on. I need to fix this. STAT.

But, I digress.

“My Daddys Record Collection” is a perfect mix of funk and pop, with it’s delicious baseline and groovy organ. Listening to this song makes me start wiggling like Cliff Huxtable and do this weird thing with my eyebrows that I’m sure looks smarmy, but makes me feel soulful. SFA’s classic “Banana Pudding” appears on the flip side.

You can buy this track on their site, iTunes, and Amazon, and check out the song on this video here:

 

And if that didn’t make you all warm and fuzzy, Malaysian-American, multi-talented artist Zee Avi’s latest album, and first for families, Zee Avi’s Nightlight certainly will.

Her tune “Bitter Heart” won me over a few years ago, with her rich mesmerizing sound, and it’s a voice beautifully suited for children’s music as well.

This lady knows how to take an existing song and make it her very own. Zee Avi’s covers of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy”, “Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s Pocahontas, Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game”, The Velvet Underground’s “Who Loves the Sun”, and Michael Jackson’s “Ben” will change the way you hear these songs forever. Her voice was made for songs like “Dream a Little Dream.”

But perhaps my favorite cover on the album is “Rainbow Connection”. Move over, Sarah McLaughlin’s version of this Muppet classic, there’s a new favorite rendition in my town. “Nightlight Medley” weaves in lullabies from many cultures in to one poignant goodnight song.

You can buy Zee Avi’s latest at her store, on iTunes, or on Amazon.

And rounding out the crop is Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band, back with a new Spanish language album, Aqui, Alla that varies in timbre and mood, keeping you both on your toes, and tapping them.

It’s smoothly produced, with songs that remind me of something out of a Quentin Tarantino flick, (“Órale!”) or of strolling near La Vajita in my once-hometown of San Antonio, to songs that sound so distincly “Lucky Diaz” to me like “La Pequeña Araña” (Itsy Bitsy Spider) and “Cantaba La Rana” with their infections melodies and tempos.

“El Cucuy”, with its boogeyman intro, has an underlying darkness unlike Diaz’s others, but don’t worry, it’s not so scary when presented with Lucky’s warm vocals. The bouncy doo-wop of “Vamos a Contar” teaches counting in Spanish, “Tú Eres Mi Amor”, speaks of love, and the final Track “De Colores” builds to a big celebratory crescendo.

The album’s title track “Aqui, Alla” begins with a hauting guitar solo similar to something the late Jeff Buckley might have crafted.  The song ponders the thoughts “Where do we come from and where are we going? We are from here and we’re from there as well.”  Thoughts that perhaps many second generation Mexican Americans, or for any second generation immigrant for that matter, may ask themselves.

Find Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band’s latest album on their site, iTunes, and Amazon.

Here’s hoping these tunes get you through the rest of May.  On to summer!