Who the hell is Flight of the Conchords? They seemed to have, at least for me, come out of nowhere. You probably know their HBO show, which I must admit I have not seen, but Flight of the Conchords is comedic group, consisting of two New Zealanders, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, both playing guitar and singing. The Distant Future provides a small taste of Flight of the Conchords, I certainly will look more into them.
A couple of guys joking around on guitar is certain to bring reminders of Tenacious D. However, Flight of the Conchords makes a far greater use of the dual harmonies, in Simon and Garfunkel fashion, for its comedic effect. The chemistry between Jack and KG is of course great, but the group is mostly about Jack. Flight of the Conchords certainly utilizes both Bret’s and Jemaine’s voices. The contrast often makes the songs. For instance, in “Business Time,” there’s the deep, ladies man voice taking the lead, but there’s also the falsetto taking the song to the next level. In “Robots,” there’s the more robotic, emotionless voice and there’s the more emotive voice. The song is hence sung as a robot, but almost a lamenting one, as the plan for world robot domination has backfired.
Aside from “Business Time,” the recorded songs are less than amazing. “Not Crying” is boring, and “If You’re Into It” provides a chuckle, but it’s not nearly as good of a song as the others. Flight of the Conchords works well on songs that fall short of sweeping the lady off her feet. It works wonderfully on “Business Time,” with a man seducing his middle-aged wife in a hilariously mundane way.
Like any good stand up comedy act, Flight of the Conchords seems to have a great chemistry with the crowd. This shows most clearly in “Banter,” which is just professional talking. The live tracks are far better than the recorded ones. “The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room” provides some questionable compliments, both flattering, and sort of insulting: “You could be a waitress.” It provides a slew of one liners to never, ever use. While most songs have fun with the seduction process, there’s still “Robots,” dealing with the distant future…of the year 2000. It tells the story of robots taking over the world in the 90s, after killing the humans. Pay close attention to the greatest binary solo in the history of music. I invite someone who’s seen the show to review this CD, but I will be watching it after listening.
Recommended Tracks: Business Time, The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room, Robots
