Ranging from Cass McCombs (»Sing and Play New Folk Songs for Children«) to Olli Schulz (with »Unter meinem Bett«), several seasoned indie folk musicians have already discovered the genre of children’s songs for themselves. Will Lou Barlow and his recently revived band project The Folk Implosion be the next to follow suit? Not at all! The »Kids« in the title here refers to the scandalous 1995 film directed by Larry Clark and written by Harmony Korine, for which Barlow recorded the soundtrack with multi-instrumentalist John Davis. The soundtrack is now being reissued with all the original tracks remastered, including unreleased tracks, b-sides and remixes by UNKLE and the Dust Brothers. Considering the material is almost 30 years old, Music For Kids sounds surprisingly fresh and captures the upbeat mood of the mid-90s perfectly. Classic compositions such as »Insinuation« or the surprise hit of the time »Natural One« can clearly be placed in the indie rock/folktronic scene of the time. The more experimental, beat-driven tracks, for which Barlow and Davis scoured Boston’s Fort Apache Studios for the most obscure instruments possible, such as a vibraslap, oscillator, Juno synthesiser and Mellotron, continue to evoke the intended cinematic moods in an instant – and far from nursery rhymes.
Julia Holter
Something In The Room She Moves
Domino