Michael Rachap - Songeez: Original Music from Readeez

Atlanta-based songwriter/musician Michael Rachap started his career as a copywriter for a New York City-based advertising firm, and now teaches piano and early-childhood music at the Eclectic Music school in Atlanta. His love of music influenced his move from Madison Avenue to his home recording studio, where he set up shop producing "Readeez," short music videos that combine reading and music with the youngest learners in mind.

Rachap has produced two amazingly superb DVDs full of these singalong Readeez, in which each syllable is clearly enunciated and shown on the screen simultaneously for every song. Plus, the videos are pretty doggone entertaining! Readeez, Volume 1 and Readeez, Volume 2: Make It Up the Mountain are two of the very few DVDs that translate successfully to CD, so that you and your kids (grownups are gonna dig it) will enjoy listening in the car or at home.

After listening to just a few songs from Songeez it's obvious that Rachap is a devotee of such powerpop stalwarts as The Beatles, The Raspberries, and Elton John. The 28-song CD is full of irresistably catchy tunes like "Circle and Square," "The Land of I Don't Know," "Digging the Weeds," and "How 'Bout That Cow," and comes with a 32-page full-color booklet illustrated by Gerry O'Neill. Songeez also includes simple ditties like "Watermelon," "Little Song," and "Everybody Clap Your Hands," philosophical tunes like "Love's Enough," and "Make It Up the Mountain," and silly ditties like "The Duck Song," "Boomba Boom," and "When I Dance."

Now, Songeez could have turned into one of those projects where the songs from the DVD translate clumsily to CD, that is, the songs don't make much sense without the visuals. But Rachap's masterful composition skills allow the songs to stand alone, making them equally as entertaining with or without video accompaniment.

It's not often that you find "educational" music that is as equally entertaining. Michael Rachap took it a step further and transformed videos and songs that were intended to enhance basic reading skills into a joyful and inspiring viewing and listening experience. Rachap has really hit on something here with Songeez. Not only has he produced two DVDs of Sesame Street-worthy short videos, but the resulting CD of witty, catchy, and amusing tunes from those DVDs contains some of the best kids' music of 2010.

Released November 10, 2009; The Readeez Company

1. "Love's Enough"
2. "Little Song"
3. "Make It Up The Mountain"
4. "Boomba Boom"
5. "How 'Bout That Cow"
6. "April Fool"
7. "Counting For Pleasure"
8. "Watermelon"
9. "Modes of Transportation"
10. "Digging The Weeds"
11. "Sandy Beach"
12. "Circle and Square"
13. "A Special Name For Twelve"
14. "Something You Haven't Seen"
15. "Everybody Clap Your Hands"
16. "Isabel Waters"
17. "Chandelier"
18. "Love Your Lunch"
19. "The Land of I Don't Know"
20. "Speculate"
21. "When I Dance"
22. "The Duck Song"
23. "Flip Flops"
24. "Big In Mind"
25. "We're Julian and Isabel"
26. "You Have a Heart"
27. "Tonight and Every Night"
28. "Readeez Theme"