Pop! #13: Gwen Gladeyes - Lullabye

When I first contacted Auckland, New Zealand duo The Gladeyes about The Pop! For Kids Project a year ago, I quickly learned the band was soon going to go on hiatus, because Jade would move far far away to Sweden. Thankfully, Gwen then decided to try to record something on her own, and today you can be witness of how well she succeeded! Lullabye is a lovely, dreamy song about the magic of dreaming, and about how everything is possible in your dreams. And if you dream hard enough, in real life too, of course.

The Gladeyes' discography is filled with gems like this. You can buy their two albums from their bandcamp (from where you can also download a lot of free songs) or at Lil' Chief Records. The future of The Gladeyes seems somewhat uncertain, but if Gwen can make such pretty music all by herself, I don't think we need to really worry.

[MP3]

Pop! #5: A Smile And A Ribbon - Honey bee

This next contribution by A Smile And A Ribbon from Sweden is really something very special. The foundation of the recording of this traditional nursery rhyme was built in 1986: it's vocals and piano by a then four year old Rebecca Mehlman plus the voice of her father making the announcements. Then in the present day Rebecca and Martin Lindqvist took that old recording and added the rest of the intruments. The result is this really intimate and innocent, previously unreleased song.

For those of you still unfamiliar with A Smile And A Ribbon, make sure to at least download the three free MP3s from their last.fm website to hear what a grown up Rebecca sounds like. You might just find yourself a new favourite band richer.

You can buy A Smile And A Ribbon's wonderful records here, here and here, or see what the band's up to on myspace and facebook.

[MP3]

Pop! #4: Zipper - Tamagotchi

Zipper from Spain make heartwarming pop songs with a punky edge, sung in both Spanish and English. This catchy tune is about 'the most faithful pet that I have ever seen', the toy Tamagotchi (remember those?). It was one of the first songs David wrote for Zipper, but it has never found its way to an official release. This live recording with English vocals from Maria is from 2002, and premieres on the internet today especially for this project.

An interview I did with Zipper a while ago is still online on my other blog, for those of you who want to know a bit more about this band.

You can buy Zipper's music here, here and here. Oh, and here!

[MP3]