Aaron Raitiere’s recent offering, Songs for Cool Kids, features upbeat acoustic guitar and an exaggerated Southern twang from Mr. Raitiere as he sings of “monkeys in my pizza,” his love for “orange oranges” and the difference between zebras and bumblebees (“my stripes are yellow, not white you see”).
The album is fun and simple enough so a year-and-a-half-old can enjoy it and recognize words like monkeys and bath, but Raitiere truly speaks with the wisdom of a 5-year-old as he sings “Don’t eat glue, don’t eat your shoe,” on track nine, “Only Eat Edible Things.”
Going out in the big back yard indeed sounds like fun, as the songwriter encourages his listeners to “roll in the grass, play in the sun”; but don’t worry parents, just two tracks later he promotes proper hygiene with “Take a Bath.” The knocks on the guitar body and various sounds coming from the singer’s lips on that one have a bubble-ish quality to them and actually make it sound like bathtime.
“How Slow?” can serve as a youngster’s first introduction to the important musical concepts of fast, slow, loud, soft, high and low.
The album is not totally filled with fun and lighthearted happiness; material also includes “There’s bugs in my bed,” and a terrifying encounter with a quarter-ton bigfoot attacking a school of fish with his razor-sharp teeth resulting in a lake full of fish blood.
But for the most part, everything is light and cheerful, and young or old, these songs will stick in your head. While ridiculously silly and nonsensical at times, Songs for Cool Kids should be a reminder to any artist to have fun, be creative and not take yourself too seriously. Don’t be afraid just because you don’t have a youngster around. Check this music out and celebrate the fact that silly can be very enjoyable.
