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Flight of the Conchords
Rating: 8.3 | 1 User Review | Send to Friend
By Al Sotack
It has almost been a year since we Americans were introduced to Jeramine Clement and Bret McKenzie, along with an estimated 98 percent of their original catalogue, on their own eponymous HBO show. From the first episode’s “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room),” our hearts were won, and we spent the rest of the season wondering if the duo could keep it up. They did. We YouTubed our favorite moments (“A Kiss is Not a Contract”), bought the DVDs and rented Eagle vs. Shark, and it dawned on us: While they were mining our pop music landscape, Flight of the Conchords (the band) had been gouging themselves a niche. It is dressed up quirky and quaint and decorated with homemade cartoons, but it is a niche that houses radio and television forays, an empire of merchandise and two releases on Sub Pop. All of which is founded on the merits of about 30 songs. Whether it survives better as an album or in its already-delivered sitcom version is debatable, but Flight of the Conchords is really an umbrella of vehicles for McKenzie and Clements’ honest-to-God chosen medium, the sent-up pop ditty. Their impressions are pitch-perfect, equally comfortable taking on indiehop (“Hiphopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros”) and David Bowie (“Bowie”). Not only talent redeems the duo’s novelty act, but also the Joycean scale of their pastiche. Halfway through their new full-length, I found myself wondering if “The Prince of Parties” was referencing Caravan or Soft Machine, and submitted to the genius of their genuine follow-through. (Sub Pop)
1 User Review
Rating: 8.0
By: jonb
flight of the conchords is fantastic. for the most part this is a really solid album and all the songs are really enjoyable. only complaint is that there are some changes from the way they were performed on the show and to be perfectly honest, they sound a lot better live.
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