Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords (Sub Pop)
ESSENTIAL "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros"
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, also known as Flight of the Conchords, are comedians equally adept with funny riffs of the verbal and musical varieties. As funny as the lyrics of "Inner City Pressure" may be, it is the Pet Shop Boys-esque keyboard trills decorating the track that are the true side-splitters. "I need my 1987 Casio DG-20 electric guitar, set to mandolin," Bret McKenzie croons, and an appropriately tinny mandolin figure introduces the dancehall bleeps of "Boom." Fans of the Conchords will be familiar with many of these songs from the duo's brilliantly skewed HBO series, but "Flight of the Conchords," their full-length follow-up to last year's EP "The Distant Future," pimps out the bare-bones versions of songs like "Think About It" and "Boom" with the latest musical bells and whistles. The result is an album that is every bit as engaging as ear-candy as humor. Gifted musical mimics, McKenzie and Clement tackle Donovan-esque hippie psychedelia, circa-1991 New York battle rap, and frothy French pop with equal aplomb. This album is proof that the Conchords have the chops to back up their music-geek inside jokes. [Saul Austerlitz]
