Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you come across the word "New Zealand"? Most people's response would be Lord of the Rings, the All Blacks, wool, Lord of the Rings, did I mention Lord of the Rings?

Well that's going to change forever, I know that's very presumptuous of me but bear with me on this because the latest object-slash-thing to come out of the wool capital of the world that is New Zealand is Flight of the Conchords! Ta-da ... FOTC consists of two hairy yet witty kiwis, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. They sum themselves up as "formerly New Zealand's fourth best folk parody duo", such is the sort of humor that is to be expected from the comic duo; unconventional deadpan humor.

The duo started out small as flatmates in Victoria University, Wellington performing at comedy festivals before getting their own, mostly improvised, BBC2 Radio series in 2005. The band's popularity snowballed when the duo teamed up with HBO to produce the band's musical show, appropriately named Flight of the Conchords. The show features other world-renowned comics such as Rhys Darby and Arj Barker. However the pièce de résistance of the show is that the storyline is worked around the band's music and not the other way around. Seems a bit unorthodox? But remember this is FOTC we're talking about here, besides it works for them, it doesn't come off as contrived at all, not as if they shoehorn-ed the story in.

Now as for the music, which is the raisons d'être of this review. If I were to sum it up in three words: It's supercalifragilisticispeealidotious-ly good. Now I do have a sweet spot for the outré stuff, but again here me out. The music is hilarious but not in the way that it's intrusive, you don't have to be on a sugar high to listen to this stuff. You could be cruising along the god forsaken Monash freeway while being serenaded by the Hiphopopotamus (aka Jemaine) and the Rhymenocerous (aka Bret). I would go as far as classifying it as "easy listening". As an added bonus, the duo doesn't just limit their music to one particular genre, let alone language. In their album, songs like "Foux du Fafa" and "Au Revoir” are done in faux French, highlighting their inability to speak the language. In terms of genre, they pretty much covered every single genre from the past, present and future. A slice of Bowie here, a splash of 80's synthesizer there and pinch of music specifically marketed at the robot demographic of the future.

As a fan of the Conchords, I could only see one problem with the band. I can't believe I'm about to say this but I think Flight of the Conchords is un-effing-fortunately going to be a one hit wonder. Here's my reason, the Conchords started in 1998 debuting with songs we're hearing now in 2008. Now I know, the lyrics and music have over the years improved and polished to perfection but that's the thing. It took them more than a decade to come up with this album, how long do I have to wait for the next one? In an interview, Jemaine admits that they would not have a clue as to when the next season will airing as they have to wait on the music, which they say is going to take long time.

Nevertheless, I will definitely encourage people not to walk away from this album; it’s basically orgasm masquerading as a CD. Oh p.s. they’re Grammy Award winners, take that “Mutha’uckers”.