5x7 Top Pick: The Hipwaders' "Educated Kid"

Educated Kid
The Hipwaders, 2007

The Hipwaders' [website] sophomore effort gets more out of jangly, hook-infused power pop than almost any other children's album we've heard in years, and it has the confidence of a songwriter (Tito Uquillas) who can to take in elements of other genres and make them his own in a band that hasn't lost its edge or power to surprise. From predictably-structured songs like "Art Car" and "Little Baby Brother" to intricately constructed and variably-paced songs like "The History of Declan Rae," the Hipwaders make making great music sound easy. Their knack for setting great pop hooks into a surprising tapestry of sound is apparent in the chanting funk chorus of "Dewey Decimal System" ("Dewey Dewey Dewey Dewey Dewey Decimal System Dewey"), the harmonized bopping on "Little Baby Brother," and almost everywhere else you turn.

But the music is just part of it; their perspective has a freshness that is rare in a genre that emphasizes beat and melody first, then sentiment and humor, and rarely offers anything like insight. This is an album many adults will quickly fall in love with for its sideways glances at a variety of topics, and Uquillas manages to pack information into songs without a whiff of "learning." "The History of Declan Rae" is a "history" of a young child which passes through all of the major ages of Earth's history, "and then came you"; and yes, "Dewey Decimal System" does teach you the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System. The album's title track is an anthem against restrictive definitions of talent, education, and achievement that just might change a ten-year-old's life.

Top Tracks: Little Baby Brother / Educated Kid / The History of Declan Rae / Dewey Decimal System / Song of the Paleo Pirates / You've Got To Move / Stuffed Animal Boy

Buy it at: Amazon.com | CDBaby | iTunes

Read our interview with Hipwaders frontman Tito Uquillas.