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The SqueeGee's

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"Music Recommendations"

Normally I talk about grown-up music, as that's what we listen to at our house, now that my youngest is almost twelve. But a few weeks ago I was pointed to a kids CD (because of my work with GNMParents) and I thought it was awesome, so I want to recommend it to those who have little ones (and to folks who dig eco-friendly, cute, funny songs).

The music is by a duo called The SqueeGees, which is definitely the coolest band name for kids. The CD "The SqueeGees" is an EP, an extended single, essentially, so it's just a taste (7 songs), but what a great taste. Eco-conscious songs, liberating songs, sweet songs, mysterious songs, all arranged for vocals, acoustic guitar, and a shaker or two.

The melodies are incredibly catchy, and the deliberately spare arrangements make fertile ground for singing/humming/drumming along. Again, my youngest is almost a teenager, and my oldest is almost old enough to drive, yet this album is in heavy rotation in our home. Really, it's that infectious.

I compare "The SqueeGees" EP to some of the songs by They Might Be Giants. The SqueeGees have a similar respect for their audience, which is why I like that the songs cause kids to ask parents questions, like "What's a Chia Pet?" and "Why does the fire smoke?" and, my favorite, "How can I make noise with my nose?!?"

The album also works on an adult level. For example, the song "Apples, Oranges, and Peaches" is my dieting inspiring song. This CD makes me hungry for more than apples, oranges, and peaches, it makes me hungry for more songs from the SqueeGees!

And it's available on iTunes, which makes for instant SqueeGee gratification. Ok, it's probably karmicly cooler to buy from CD Baby, but I also think that the deep-dish discount from iTunes will make it an easier quick-pick for a lot of parents.

Hey, SqueeGees! Make more songs, or I'll be forced to release a tribute album with all your songs covered by solo nose! - GNM Parents, Stu Mark


"The SqueeGees Making a Splash"

If you have not yet heard of the SqueeGees, well where have you been? Like the name implies the SqueeGees are all about fun. Fun in the form of wonderfun music for kids of all ages.

The SqueeGees most recent splash was on an episode of the Gilmore Girls, “I’m a Kayak Hear Me Roar�. In the episode, TJ shouts, "I love this song", referring to the SqueeGees song “Making Noises� playing in the background. A sentiment kids from 2-60 feel upon hearing the fun, upbeat, kids-at-heart music the SqueeGees lay down.

Since the show, “we love this music� SqueeGee reviews have been popping up all over the place.

SqueeGee FansThe SqueeGees are Samantha Tobey and Roman Bleum, both accomplished musicians, who decided to work together. Samantha was teaching music and sign language to infants and pre-K children when the project began. At the time Samantha, often felt disappointed in the quality of the children’s music she heard and used for class. For one, “it was not educational enough.�

“As musicians, we took it as a challenge to write a children's album that would be educational, catchy and easy on the ears for parents. We did it for fun and it has caught on better then we had anticipated.� says Roman,

An important aspect of their music is the message

"It's important for our music to stress positive messages. Our songs include themes about eating a healthy diet, animal rescue, and even the internet!"

SqueeGee Fan Poster “We feel it is our responsibility to teach kids about the environment, organic foods, being nice, etc. Some of the subjects we have tackled in our songs include rescuing animals (Nala the Chihuhua), eating healthy (Apples, Oranges & Peaches), knowing science (The Elements), and learning about the internet (The ol' WWW) .�

Samantha noticed during her classes that babies love shaking their heads and making noises to their favorite songs. From that experience she says, “The song that the Gilmore Girls used during the baby scene, "Making Noises" was created for babies and small children to interact with. We also noticed that babies love it when songs go really fast, and then slow down so that is part of the song too.�

Not surprisingly, the music is catchy for adults who get to be kids again with a a little out-of-the-ordinary fun behavior. “Our CD says ‘For Ages 0-Adult’. I would say the primary age is 0-7, but we put 0-adult because we thought it was cute and we wanted adults to know that they might like it too.�

SqueeGees PerformingYou can find the Squeegees on their website at www.meetthesqueegees.com, where you can explore their music. Both Samantha and Roman record their own music.

You can also contact them through the website, if you would like to hear them in person or book them, “We play anywhere there are kids to play to: Schools, birthday parties, enrichment studio's, early education.�

But, if you are thinking about a booking, better get them now before the splash becomes a wave.
21 Mar 2007 by Natural Medicine - http://www.naturalmedicine.com/nhnews.php?subaction=showfull&id=1174524976&archive=&start_from=&ucat


"The SqueeGees Squeaky clean workflow with Digidesign"

The SqueeGees, a musical duo whose track from their first album has been included on an episode of the Warner Brother's Gilmore Girls television series, shared a little bit about how easy it was to record their first album. Using some professional hardware and desktop software, they were able to record in their personal studio, and mix on a small board with high end results. Playing mostly for an audience under the age of 6, the SqueeGees are having a lot of fun making music.

Even if you're a fan of Gilmore Girls, you may have missed the musical addition to the background ambience of show #7-15 "I'm a Kayak, Hear Me Roar". During the episode one character (Luke) has interloper houseguests (Liz, TJ and a baby) who have apparently supplied music to listen to. While Liz creates jewelry in the kitchen and Luke finishes dishes, TJ shouts, "I love this song", referring to the SqueeGee track that accompanies the scene. The band behind the music behind that scene is The SqueeGees.

Getting onto the Gilmore Girls' audio track was much more difficult than getting onto a CD. To record the tracks for the EP was really quite easy.

The SqueeGees, aka Samantha Tobey and Roman Bleum, began when the two started talking about making children's music. Already accomplished musicians, they decided to work on some material to record. One of their personal challenges was to come up with something catchy, easy for parents to listen to, and educational. Samantha Tobey was teaching music and sign language to infants and pre-K children when the project began. Roman Bleum notes, "It's important for our music to stress positive messages. Our songs include themes about eating a healthy diet, animal rescue, and even the internet!"

Samantha Tobey adds, "The song used in the Gilmore Girls episode is called 'Making Noises'. It was created specifically for infants and toddlers, but has a beat that older kids and parents can listen to as well. During classes, the children love to participate with songs they can sing (or make noise) along with. Even infants recognize and enjoy the tempo changes in the song."

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Equipped with instruments and a couple of microphones, Samantha and Roman recorded the raw tracks for the album. "We used ProTools and an Mbox. With the Mbox, it was very easy to get audio directly into Pro Tools. It didn't matter what we needed to put in, analog, digital - it all goes in USB. There was no conversion or secondary import when it came time to sweeten the tracks."

The SqueeGees needed only a pair of microphones in their gear - a couple of Shure microphones. The SM57 and the SM58. Their acoustic guitars comes through the SM57 much more warmly than it does through pickups wired through (or held to the body) of their guitars."We took the raw tracks to Assaf Lotan to mix. Using his command|8 control surface, he had tactile control over the session. Mbox comes with Pro Tools LE 7 - and all of those projects just open up right into the studio's bigger system." Roman grins adding, "He mixed it and mastered it in a couple of days... Voilá, The SqueeGees was born. I wish there was something more mysteriously technical, but it was really pretty straightforward. It wasn't technically difficult to create the CD. There were a couple of plugins used in Pro Tools 7, but nothing beyond the basics."

"Of course we still have our 'grown-up' music," Samantha notes smiling. "My non-SqueeGees music is more 'indy-slash-acoustic and folk'. Roman is... well... also serious and brooding in his alternate music. When we get together to write songs for children, we just seem to be... 'happy and fun'."You can find out more about The SqueeGees at http://www.meetthesqueegees.com.

Samantha Tobey has her own music for grow-ups. You can listen to at her myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/samanthatobey, which includes a link to an upcoming show in Altadena, California.

Gilmore Girls airs Tuesday nights on The CW network at 8PM. There are blogs about the Gilmore Girls show as well as show notes and all kinds of community news. You can find more about your local showtimes and other shows offered by The CW (like "Everybody Hates Chris") at their website: http://cwtv.com/shows/gilmore-girls. Although Warner Brothers hosts some of their television shows for free online, The Gilmore Girls is not currently available.

Digidesign (http://www.digidesign.com)is the maker of Mbox 2, which retails for around $495, and ships with Pro Tools LE 7 and runs on both the Mac and Windows XP OS. Command | 8 is considerably more, at $1295, the 8 fader surface allows you to control ProTools via a USB connection, but makes for a very easy and efficient mix session.

- http://macaudiopro.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=112473


"Review: The SqueeGees - The SqueeGees"

The advantage to the reviewer of an 18-minute CD, such as the 2006 self-titled debut from Southern California-based duo The SqueeGees, is that you can listen to the album a lot before putting fingers to keyboard to write a review.

The result of those repeated plays, however, is that some of the odd edges of this CD get rubbed away. Which is too bad, because it's those odd edges that help the CD stand out. Take "Ivan the Terrible," for example, which leads off with the lyrics "His beard is long, his eyes are wild / He terrorizes the town." It encourages the listener to growl. But after hearing it eight, ten times, it no longer seems so outlandish (even for a song in which we find out Ivan is not quite so terrible). Too bad, really. In fact, it's the conventional lyrics here that are sort of dry -- it's when co-singer/songwriters Samantha Tobey and Roman Bluem don't worry about the "point" of the song that the songs are at their most vibrant (the listing of fruits in "Apples, Oranges, & Peaches," all the different sounds in "The Elements").
Musically, the duo pack a lot into what is pretty basic folk-rock. A lot of this has to do with the vocals -- Tobey has a clear and distinct voice that is very inviting, while Bluem has a dry vocal sensibility. (That sensibility fits perfectly with "The Ol' WWW" -- "Saw a picture of a jet on the internet / The ol' WWW / Bid on a Chia pet on the internet / The ol' WWW" -- which will probably go way over the head of the target audience but will amuse their parents.) But they also craft some nice melodies --- "Nala the Chihuahua" is particularly ear-wormy.

Despite the claim on the CD cover that the CD is for "ages 0 - adult," I think kids ages 2 through 6 are most likely to enjoy it. You can download a couple tracks and listen to samples of others here, and there's always their Myspace page or CD Baby album page.

The SqueeGees is an album which takes a slightly skewed approach to fairly typical children's music material. The album is sadly too brief, but it does make me curious as to what they will come up with next. I hope it's even odder than this CD. - ZooGlobble


Discography

The SqueeGee's EP

Photos

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Bio

Meet The SqueeGees, a fun-filled, bubbly acoustic duo that provide an irresistibly playful musical adventure for the entire family. While you would think that this delicious experience would be candy coated, The SqueeGee's package comes in a recyclable wrapper. Their songs emphasize earth friendly themes, positive messages, and good clean fun!

Samantha Tobey and Roman Bluem are the kids-at-heart behind this grass-roots musical journey. As a former mommy and me, music/movement and baby sign language teacher, Samantha brings a natural flair for interacting and working with children. Roman, originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, provides a unique musical style, and silly sense of humor that children love. Both professional singer/songwriter's, the couple have created a truly magical experience that not only have baby singing along, but mommy, daddy and grandpa too!

Album favorites include "Apples, Oranges and Peaches", "Nala the Chihuhua", "The Elements (of the earth)", "Making Noises," "Rules of the Road" and many more. All music is appropriate for infants, toddlers and the parents who love them.