It’s time to play the music! It’s time to light the lights!

As we anxiously await the first Muppet Movie in over ten years to be released on November 22, we
can get our Animal on with the inspirational, celebrational, muppetational Green Album, featuring covers of popular Muppet music by contemporary artists.  Sing along to old favourites like "The Muppet Show Theme Song", performed with a rock edge by OK Go, a quirkily wistful rendering of "Rainbow Connection" by Weezer (featuring Hayley Williams), and a stunning "Halfway Down the Stairs" by soprano Amy Lee of Evanescence.

Even Statler and Waldorf couldn’t give a negative review. —Jennifer Nachshen

Available on iTunes.

The ukulele is a great kids’ instrument: it is small, easy to play and it never gets too loud (reason why recorders aren’t allowed in this home!).

That’s why we loved this make your own ukulele kit (US $40) from Uncommon Goods. It comes equipped with a wood body, neck, and strings which are easily assembled, and then you can customize it with different paints, stains or decorations.

And, when you've heard Old MacDonald Has A Farm for the one thousandth time, you know how they put it together, so you can take it apart.
—Alexandra Suhner Isenberg

Available from Uncommon Goods. Make sure to check out the Canadian shipping instructions here.

Vancouver-based band Chains of Love is Toronto-bound, and just in time for summer.

Nathalia Pizzaro and Rebecca Marie Law Gray are the gorgeous garage-soul duo who front the ensemble. The sound cops The Cramps and Smith Westerns, with bits of Best Coast and Brilliant Colours tied in to give it a healthy dose of strogen.

Standout songs include Breaking My Heart, a psychedelic philippic about sour grapes, and You Got It, a summer-campy song that takes us back to days spent doubling on our besties' handle bars, blue Freezies dangling from our sun-chapped lips, racing down a dirt road on an afternoon that never ends. —Carli Stephens-Rothman



Catch Chains Of Love, with Crocodiles and Dirty Beaches, at The Silver Dollar on June 16, 2011, http://chainsoflove.bandcamp.com


Everybody's working for The Weeknd, that mysterious R&B outfit with the free-for-download, totally radical new mixtape.

Drake's tweeting lyrics, Pitchfork's giving it an 8.5, and even Refinery29 is declaring it “their jam.” Step off, Refinery! The Weeknd is, in fact, our jam.

Yes, the guys behind this magic are making it right here in Toronto. All the more reason to check it out, no? Start with the hot, hazy vibrations of “Loft Music,” which makes a Beach House sample sound more like Sex in the Beach House, and then just try to stop. —SNP

Download now at The-Weeknd.com.

When a kids group plays Coachella and is the inspiration behind Brad Pitt's Halloween costume, you know it's captured the zeitgeist.

DJ Lance Rock and the Gabba Gang are taking their hip show on the road to select Canadian cities. High-energy and interactive, the magical boom box will be pumping, and the Dancey Dance section will include a top secret guest at every show (past participants include Sarah Silverman and Snoop Dog).  

Just try not to push the kids out of the way when you rush the stage.

Tour dates and tickets at www.yogabbagabbalive.com/tickets

Your favourite band, one last night in the city and your crush—could one amazing gig convince you to stay?

Opening tomorrow, This Movie is Broken shows off all the things we love about Toronto in the summer. (Spot The Drake Hotel, Trinity-Bellwoods, the Harbourfront and more in the rock show romance.) Greg Calderone stars as Bruno, the smitten boy, and Georgina Reilly is Caroline, the longtime object of his affection. With music by Broken Social Scene and set against the backdrop of one of their most memorable outdoor concerts, the flick is our summer fix.

This Movie is Broken opens tomorrow in select Toronto cinemas, www.thismovieisbroken.com

Remember when you could convince them that Coldplay was "kids music?"

Now that you're stuck with Bingo and Itsy Bitsy Spider, might as well jazz it up.

Toronto-based Songs Just for Me inserts your children's names into traditional kids songs to surprising effect.

You may need earplugs after the tenth playing, but we can guarantee your 4-year-old will be an instant groupie.

Order your custom CD ($19.99) at www.justforme.com

Talking on a cell phone while driving may be illegal, but who said anything about belting along to our new favourite tunes?

Get Over It, the debut EP from Toronto acoustic pop rock darlings Hayley Stark, is our springtime cruising soundtrack. The girls of HS dazzled during a Canada Music Week showcase and now we’ve been infected by the hooks of their driving pop tunes.

Roll down the window, sing along and tap your foot—preferably not the one on the gas pedal.

www.myspace.com/ilovehayleystark

When little Saxon unearths his Dad’s old turntables (and Metallica collection) and Vivienne becomes a backstage baby, make sure they don’t become the next It’s All Gone Pete Tong by protecting their hearing with these cool muffs.

Called Peltor Hearing Protectors (let’s keep that between us), the adjustable hot pink and bright blue earphones shield little ears from harmful noises while letting in ambient sound at hockey games, concerts, and parades.

Rock on, mom.

Age 1 and up. $39.95 at www.dandelionkids.ca

You’re pacing it along the lake with Sebastian Coe as your fantasy running mate and just as you enter the “zone” some melancholy ballad comes on to meltdown your momentum.

With Yamaha’s Bodibeat strapped to your arm, runners need not fret about tempos messing with their target. This nifty device measures your heart rate and picks a tune with a tempo to match.

Bodibeat arrives preloaded with thousands of tracks but you can also add your own music.

We’ll take ''Chariots of Fire'' at the 10-mile point.

$300, www.bodibeat.com