For the third year in a row, the folks behind the annual Fids & Kamily Music Awards (a play on The Village Voice’s long-running “Pazz & Jop”) have either graciously or foolishly invited me to take a seat on the panel of judges to determine the Top 10 best albums of the year in the kids and kamily music realm. I, alongside other journalists, writers, bloggers, producers, radio personalities and folks associated with the family music scene, must listen to dozens of albums, and then figure out what’s the best of the best. Each judge has to nominate and score 10 albums of their own, and a formula is then applied to choose the ranking. This year was exceptionally difficult, as there’s been some really great albums (alongside some stinkers), and choosing just 10 is tricky enough without having more than 10 favorites. Today, we announce the winners of the 2014 Fids & Kamily Music Awards (the 9th Annual), as revealed this morning on the Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child radio show…
The Fids & Kamily Top 10 Albums of 2014 (in order):
- THE OKEE DOKEE BROTHERS – THROUGH THE WOODS: AN APPALACHIAN ADVENTURE ALBUM (Amazon | iTunes)
- THE POP UPS – APPETITE FOR CONSTRUCTION (Amazon | iTunes)
- RECESS MONKEY – WIRED (Amazon | iTunes)
- THE NOT-ITS! – RAISE YOUR HAND (Amazon | iTunes)
- WALTER MARTIN – WE’RE ALL YOUNG TOGETHER (Amazon | iTunes)
- DANNY WEINKAUF – NO SCHOOL TODAY (Amazon | iTunes)
- SECRET AGENT 23 SKIDOO – THE PERFECT QUIRK (Amazon | iTunes)
- BRADY RYMER & THE LITTLE BAND THAT COULD – JUST SAY HI! (Amazon | iTunes)
- DOG ON FLEAS – BUY ONE GET ONE FLEA (Amazon | iTunes)
- ZEE AVI – NIGHTLIGHT (Amazon | iTunes)
Of the ten official winners, five appeared on my ballot, which means there’s five other albums out there that would’ve appeared on a ROCK FATHER Top 10. Perhaps I’ll post something along those lines later in the year, but for now, here’s some other artists that need to be recognized… and interestingly, four of my missing five do pop up in here…
Honorable Mentions (unranked, listed alphabetically):
- Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band – Aqui Alla
- Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band – Lishy Lou and Lucky Too
- The Good Ms. Padgett – If We Must, We Must
- Gustafer Yellowgold – Gustafer Yellowgold’s Wisdom Tooth of Wisdom
- Randy Kaplan – Jam on Rye
- Jazzy Ash – Home (Read THE ROCK FATHER Review)
- Rainbow Beast and Rock Land Band Rockers – Tales from the Monstrosity Scrolls (Check out their Halloween song)
- Recess Monkey – Desert Island Disc (Checkout the #RockFathersDay Feature w/Recess Monkey)
- Red Yarn – The Deep Woods
- Steve Weeks – Once I Lived Upon the Sea
Additionally, a number of artists who had not previously released family music made the ballots this year…
Top 8 Debut Albums (unranked):
- Zee Avi – Nightlight (Reviewed in my Kindie Scene 6 Column)
- Edie Carey & Sarah Sample – ‘Til the Morning: Lullabies and Songs of Comfort
- Robert Charde – For Little Ears of Tender Years (Read THE ROCK FATHER Review)
- Walter Martin – We’re All Young Together
- Rainbow Beast and Rock Land Band Rockers – Tales from the Monstrosity Scrolls
- Red Yarn – The Deep Woods
- Danny Weinkauf – No School Today (Read the #RockFathersDay Feature)
- The Whirlygigs – Greetings from Cloud 9 (Check out a fantastic track)
Listen to music from the entire Top 10, along with a special appearance by SteveSongs in the player below…
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