Search - Recess Monkey :: The Final Funktier

To explore strange new songs, to seek out new beats and new planets, to bravely go where no monkey has gone before! Celebrated independent children s recording group Recess Monkey invites families to join them on an intergalactic voyage with the June 15 release of their sixth studio CD, The Final Funktier (Monkey Mama, $15.00, for ages 3 7, run time 34 minutes).

The Final Funktier presents Recess Monkey in outer space: fifteen songs of high-energy funk and new wave grooves, taking listeners on a stratospheric dance party that occasionally touches down on solid ground with moon boots, jet packs, sunglasses, satellites, and booster seats in hand. The album features special guests galore, including a kindie chorus comprised of such luminaries from Seattle s burgeoning kids music scene as Chris Ballew (Caspar Babypants), The Not-Its!, The Harmonica Pocket, Johnny Bregar, and Eric Ode, plus award-winning NYC-based Morgan Taylor and Rachel Loshak (Gustafer Yellowgold). Chris Wiser, of the Sugar Free Allstars, and famed kids music producer Tor Hyams show off their keyboard chops on The Final Funktier, and, in keeping with a Recess Monkey tradition, kids also participate, performing as chorus on five of the album s songs. Children s author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka (Lunch Lady, Punk Farm) interprets the journey visually with stunning interior album artwork.

The three members of Recess Monkey are teachers who met while working at the same Seattle school. The trio s genuine enthusiasm for a grad school project morphed into their 2005 debut release Welcome to Recess Monkey Town. This was followed by another popular (and zoologically correct) hit, Aminal House. The teachers Jack Forman, Daron Henry, and Drew Holloway made history with their next release, Wonderstuff, the first double CD children s album produced from material generated at a kids summer camp workshop. Likewise, 2008 s Tabby Road and 2009 s Field Trip each came from real life children s experiences.

Notes Jack Forman, We think of our classrooms as focus groups for what's on kids' minds. It's crazy how many ideas come up over the course of a day that could make great songs. Tons of ideas have come up about losing teeth, getting a new backpack, going on field trips and so many more... We like to wordsmith and are big-time pun fans. On The Final Funktier there's a song about how a booster seat is like a booster rocket, another song about what space elevator music might sound like, and even one about a ukulele-playing alien called Ukulalien. Laughter permeates our experiences with kids, in the classroom and out!