Sugar Free Allstars, at the kindie intersection of parody and funk

A couple of months ago we previewed the new single from Sugar Free Allstars, Monster Truck. It’s a kindie ode to role play, monster trucks and over the top announcers set to tight music that channels Deep Purple and yacht rock. In our review of the song then we said that it puts the fun in funky. We’ve been listening to the entire disc for the past two months now and still stand by that. However, we’ll l add that the entire disc is more to the kid side of kindie, but still manages to reel in adults thanks to humor, pop culture references and more.

By the kid side of kindie I don’t mean that Sugar Free Allstars are in dinosaur suits playing music-to be clear, that is not kindie.  That is children’s music. This self titled release from Sugar Free Allstars gleefully segues between silly songs for the kids to obscure musical influences and jokes that parents will laugh at-all the while enjoying a variety of music.

For a while our kids were requesting Monster Truck. The one that they request the most now is Bunny Bot. It’s the very silly story about a boy who likes robots and his sister that likes bunnies. However, the kids want to play together so they combine to two to make Bunny Bot who then proceeds to save the world from an alien.

As an adult this is my least favorite song on the release because it has lots of children talking and is just too, well, silly for me to enjoy as much as my kids want to listen to it. The kids love it. If they’re cranky then I just put this on and the 4 year old calms down which invariably helps his 6 year old brother. It may be that I don’t not like Bunny Bot, but I just can’t listen to it 4 times in a row like the kids can.

For parents every song but that one is a gem. One Verse Song is exactly that, a short song, eight lines long, but whose wicked sense of parody will have you smiling. When parents hear Can You Picture That? they’ll be taken back to a classic Muppets or Sesame Street song. It’s a fabulous song that reminds you of that classic show but manages to be utterly original and fun.

Parents who like their kindie with street cred can relax. Nearly every song on this release has guest players including Genevieve Goings (from Choo-Choo Soul), Fred Tackett (of Little Feat) and more. Even our least favorite song has Roger Manning Jr. (Keyboardist for Beck), if that gives you an indication of how adeptly Sugar Free Allstars manages to explore every corner of the kindie universe.

If you have Sirius XM you’ve heard Monster Truck. It was the #1 song on Sirius XM Kids Place Live for a couple of weeks and is still in the top 10 two months later. This is a fun release that can easily serve as a gateway to kindie for parents t hat need to know.