Lullabies have moved far beyond Brahms thanks to Silver Lake, California-based CMH Records. Appealing to the sensibilities of Gen-X parents, the company began repurposing the songs of the demo’s favoured bands for its offspring. The tunes of Radiohead, Metallica, Tool and Coldplay were the first to be interpreted for infant ears in the company’s Rockabye Baby! series, launched this past August. The brainchild of Lisa Roth, VP of the label, the concept was to bring an edgier sound to a form that is often overrun with syrupy sentiment.

‘It’s got a little sense of humor, and a sense of irony,’ says Roth. She describes the sound as evoking gnomes in a tree playing popular favorites, and is pleased with how producer Michael Armstrong adapted the material. The public’s response seems to bear her out, and the company has plans to release 17 more titles for the series by March 2007 with another dozen to follow. VP of sales Ed Maxin predicts the company will move 50,000 units of the initial 10 titles with a majority of the sales being conducted through the website (babyrockrecords.com), which averages 15,000 hits each day.

Who’s up next to lull the wee ones to sleep? Indie rock gods The Ramones and The Pixies, with Nine Inch Nails and Green Day to follow. Huh.