The first time I saw the Brooklyn duo The Pop Ups perform live, I fell for their sound as well as their bouncy-kid goofiness and ad-libbing fun, which had the entire audience grinning from ear to ear. With their latest release, they do a great job channeling the playfulness from their…
BY
Christina Refford
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The first time I saw the Brooklyn duo The Pop Ups perform live, I fell for their sound as well as their bouncy-kid goofiness and ad-libbing fun, which had the entire audience grinning from ear to ear. With their latest release, they do a great job channeling the playfulness from their live shows and putting it into music you’ll want to hear coming through your speakers.
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The Pop Ups second release, Radio Jungle, has ten dance-in-your-car-seat tunes which are full of fresh beats, awesome harmonies, and lots of electronic fun that sets their modern-pop sound apart. Just check out Connect the Stars which features the amazing voice of Shawana Kemp of Shine and the Moonbeams and is a great sample of what’s to come on the CD.
Their songs tend to feature more sophisticated arrangements than your traditional kids’ songs. Songs like Box of Crayons, are among my favorites for the imagery it conjures up and for the chorus which has the lushness and depth of that big box of 64 crayons. And as a child of the 80’s, I love the smooth electronic vibe Pop Up City with its dreamy chorus and spoken-word shout-outs.
Even when they count numbers in Math Rock, or sound out words on Elephant, the tempos are so much more complex than your typical repetitive “learning song”. And several of their songs have a summery Latin feel, perfect this time of year.
Less successful for me are the songs “sung” by their puppets which may be partially because I love the artists’ voices as is, and think that in general puppet songs work better when you can see them live. But then, my kids aren’t inclined to fast-forward through the tracks at all, which is really what matters. –Christina
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