Grandma Sparrow & His Piddletractor Orchestra

Joe Westerlund, drummer for Megafaun and percussionist extraordinaire, had an idea and goddammit he followed through. Grandma Sparrow’s first (and hopefully not last) album is a loving tribute to the Sid and Marty Kroft era of children’s entertainment, as if scored by Lumpy Gravy-era Zappa and the unknown era creatures under your bed. The music dashes quickly between lush orchestral arrangements by the Spacebomb House Orchestra, tape manipulations by Westerlund and Matthew E. White, and ramshackle TV show house band tunes with sticky hooks and phrases that dare you to forget them. It’s a dizzying bit of audio television that never loses its step and never wears out its brief welcome.