Flight of the Conchords
Self-Titled
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Review - Flight of the Conchords
Reviewer: Kim Langcake
Rating:
Grammy Award winning act Flight of the Conchords is New Zealand's self-proclaimed fourth most popular guitar-based, digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo. In their cult-status HBO television show, Conchords Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement take viewers on the journey of their struggle to become successful musicians in New York, and as they attempt to increase their fanbase beyond one stalker. They have the endearing habit of breaking into song. Now, thankfully, for those fans who have destroyed the reverse button on their DVD remotes and maxed out broadband quotas watching YouTube, these songs have been released on the Conchords' first full-length album.
From the rap pastiche of "Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros" ("my lyrics are so potent that in this segment/I made all the ladies in the area pregnant") to the lascivious Barry White drawl of Clement in "Business Time" ("Wednesday night is the night that we make love/Everything is just right/Conditions are perfect/There's nothing good on TV"), this is a laugh-out-loud funny album. Surprisingly however, for what is ostensibly an album of comedic performance, repeated listens prove that these songs hold up musically as well as for their comedic value.
"Ladies of the World", which finds the lads offering their devotion to all the women in the known universe ("Outta sight, amazing ladies/Late night, hard working ladies/Erudite, brainy ladies/Hermaphrodite, lady-man-ladies"), has a Prince slinkiness which needs multiple plays to get past the absurdly funny lyrics and to admire the structure and vocal skill on show.
Another area where the album succeeds is having songs taken from such a strong comedic visual context and having them work for the most part as a stand-alone project, separate to the need to have watched the television show. Of course, the full-blown overlapping vocals on "Leggy Blonde" can only be enhanced by seeing the Conchords' lovelorn manager Murray emoting wildly over an IT support woman in his office, but alone, it still works beautifully as a Beatle-esque ballad. The Conchords' homage to David Bowie — called "Bowie", I didn't say it was subtle — has a similar effect ("Do you have one really funky sequined space suit, Bowie? Or do you have several ch-ch-ch-ch-changes?"), although perhaps once one has seen Clement do his Bowie impersonation on the show, even listening to the real Thin White Duke will raise a smile.
Similarly, even without the homemade tin-foil outfits, the blistering binary riff of Kraftwerk/Radiohead inspired "Robots" ("00001, 000011", sung by Brett in his distant-future robot voice) is worth the album price alone.
For all its cleverness and catchiness, "Flight of the Conchords" has another undeniable merit. Its first week of release has significantly outsold Ashlee Simpson's album and pushed that out-of-the-packet excuse for music on its downward spiral. Even if you're not into the antipodean delights of the Conchords, as a music lover you should still offer Bret and Jemaine your eternal gratitude. Speak to Murray; they could always do with another stalker or two.
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