May 12 2008 11:49 am,
Flight Of The Conchords
‘Flight Of The Conchords’
(Sub Pop/Warners)
As scores of melodically challenged singers who turn instead to stand-up will tell you, comedyland is full of frustrated musicians. Seldom, however, does combining the two disciplines bear pleasant fruit: for every Bill Bailey and Tim Minchin there are countless Rob Deerings, and most audiences groan when a comic whips out an instrument. Kiwi duo Flight Of The Conchords buck this trend. Bret and Jermaine are pasticheurs of the first water, archly riffing off Pet Shop Boys on ‘Inner City Pressure’ and zipping through almost Dame David’s entire career in, er, ‘Bowie’. The pair take time to plunder Outkast, Marvin Gaye, dancehall ragga and Prince – lots of Prince – as well, and the results are almost universally both musically nimble and shrewdly funny. I think we’ve found the lost ‘chord.
Charlie Ivens
