thus spake drake: fotc

Showing posts with label fotc. Show all posts

Friday, October 23, 2009

Now Downloading: New Releases 10.20.09

Like last week, those who'd already made their top albums list for the year (or decade, eh, P4k?) are out of luck, as another couple releases can slide right in. First one being Logos from Atlas Sound (Deerhunter's Bradford Cox) and another being the latest from the UK duo F*ck Buttons. Other new releases of note come from Flight of the Conchords (which I reviewed with videos), Russian Circle, Spiral Stairs, El Perro Del Mar, Alec Ounsworth (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), Maps and soundtracks from Sufjan Stevens (from a musical production), Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard, and the much anticipated New Moon soundtrack.

Playlist: New Releases 10.20.09

Atlas Sound - Logos
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

In his first release as Atlas Sound, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, Deerhunter's Bradford Cox sounded like we'd interrupted a private moment in his bedroom. With this second release, Cox has taken us out of the bedroom and into... the living room, I guess. Regardless, it's a great album of found sounds and pop wonders wrapped head-to-toe in guaze, like a pop rock mummy. The standout track is the collaboration with Animal Colelctive's Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox, "Walkabout," which samples the Dovers' "What Am I Going to Do". Elsewhere, when Cox buries his vocals, it feels like Deerhunter's more shoe-gaze-y moments, but somehow more artful in it's presentation. With an album like Logos, it's going to be hard for Cox us to convince us that Atlas Sound is a side project anymore.

Flight of the Conchords - I Told You I Was Freaky
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

See the track-by-track video review from Tuesday.

Download: Sugalumps" [mp3]

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Flight of the Conchords: I Told You I Was Freaky in Video

Flight of the Conchords' I Told You I Was Freaky is out today, an album with the added bonus of ready-made videos for each song already at your disposal. Here's a look at the album and the unique context from which the songs are born.

While the first season of Flight of the Conchords was a cultural breakout* as far as comedies go, it was the second season where those kiwis Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement figured out how to better marry the songs and the story lines on the screen. As such, this second album is more of a soundtrack than the first, leaning more on your remembering the visuals and story context than the first.

*I say cultural breakout in that while viewer numbers wasn't great for even pay cable standards, the few that saw it talked about it endlessly.

In that spirit, to celebrate the release of I Told You I Was Freaky (or, the practical title not chosen, Flight of the Conchords: Music from the Second Season of the Television Series) here's the visuals (re: videos) to go with each song from the release. If anything, it reminds of how hungry we are for them to get back in a room with co-creator James Bobin and crank out a third season.

1. "I Got Hurt Feelings" / Purchase mp3
From episode 2.03 ("The Tough Brets")
The obligatory return of Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenoceros has some fun with the tradition of rappers' dissing each other, turning it on it's ear with a "Sticks and Stones" sentimentality.

2. "Sugalumps"
From episode 2.02 ("A New Cup")
Probably the funniest episode of the season is a domino of tragedy - Bret buying a used cup for $2.79 leads to Jemaine turning to prostitution. Oh, and two great songs, this one and "You Don't Have to be a Prostitute" (#10). Obvious parody of the unfortunate "My Humps." (See original post on song and episode from January.)

3. "We're Both in Love With a Sexy Lady"
From episode 2.06 ("Love Is a Weapon of Choice")
Brett & Jemaine both fall for the same lazy-eyed dog owner (Kristen Wiig). Great parody of R. Kelly.

4. "I Told You I Was Freaky"
From episode 2.09 ("Wingmen")
Title track plays homage to the band Empire of the Sun, which features Aussie Luke Steele, formerly of The Sleepy Jackson (who get obscure homage in track #12). Also bits of MGMT, Electric Six and even Beck.

5. "Demon Woman"
From episode 2.07 ("Prime Minister")
Mary Lynn Rajskub plays the psychotic Karen, inspiration for the song. Cliff Richard was (and still is) a huge star in the UK and his song "Devil Woman" seems an obvious reference here, even if obscure to us Yanks.

6. "Rambling Through The Avenues Of Time"
From episode 2.09 ("Wingmen")
A silly song that sounds a lot like Billy Joel's "Piano Man," but may also be an homage to Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)," recently revived for Wes Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier (the prolugue to The Darjeeling Limited).

7. "Fashion is Danger"
From episode 2.08 ("New Zealand Town")
Gets its visual inspiration from the music video for Visage's "Fade to Grey", and audio from David Bowie's "Fashion." Dig the Babylon 5 get-up.

8. "Petrov, Yelyena and Me"
From episode 2.10 ("Evicted")
Of all the songs on the album, this one feels the most shoe-horned into the storyline, much like "Bowie Song" from season one. And like that song, it gets a fantastical video, making it worth the 'stretch.'

9. "Too Many Dicks (On the Dancefloor)"
From episode 2.05 ("Unnatural Love")
Michel Gondry directs the episode, and his music video background shines through.

10. "You Don't Have To Be A Prostitute"
From episode 2.02 ("A New Cup")
See #2, "Sugalumps."

11. "Friends"
From episode 2.04 ("Murray Takes It to the Next Level")
Jim Gaffigan guests in the episode and music segment as Murray's friend Jim.

12. "Carol Brown"
From episode 2.05 ("Unnatural Love") / Post from February
Easily the best FOTC penned song from either season, this one is reminiscent of the band The Sleepy Jackson, a band from Australia, which works nicely with the context of Jemaine accidentally sleeping with an Australian and dealing with the consequences.

13. "Angels"
From episode 2.01 ("A Good Opportunity")

14. "Pencils in the Wind" (bonus track)
from episode 1.04 ("Yoko)

Previously: FOTC: French (Aussie) Connection

Monday, January 26, 2009

FOTC: Crazy for their Sugar Lumps

While what we've seen so far of Flight of the Conchords' second season isn't quite up to the brilliance of the first, last night's musical entry, "Sugar Lumps," surely curled a few mouths. After Bret unwittingly bankrupts the band, Jemaine thinks they might make good prostitutes, given that "all the ladies go crazy for my sugar lumps." What follows is a lampoon, both musically and lyrically, of the regrettable "My Humps" from The Black Eyed Peas (a song long overdue for mocking), as is the case with these lyrics:

We see ya girls checkin' out our trunks. We see you girls checkin' out the front of our trunks. We see you girls lookin' at our junk, then checkin' out our rumps, then back to our sugar lumps.

Later, Dave (Arj Barker) gets into the action with an early Beastie Boys homage. As good as it (and the episode) was, it is one of only a few bright spots so far this season. Enjoy:

Previously: Flight of the Conchords Season Premiere Online

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Flight of the Conchords: Motherflippin' Premiere

The long awaited second season of the hilarious HBO comedy Flight of the Conchords is streaming for free online a month early (Dec. 17-21,) thanks to the new partnership between Funny or Die and the cable network. HBO is now a minor investor in the Will Farrell/Adam McKay comedy website, and have also teamed up with Ferrell on a new comedy series, Danny McBride's Eastbound and Down, which gets some promotion at the end of this online premiere.

After a nearly two-year hiatus (thank you motherflippin' writer's strike) it's easy to forget where we left off with Brett and Jemaine. They remain New Zealand's fourth-most popular comedy-folk duo, but they're manager Murray's second most popular act, after the success of The Crazy Dogggz, the splinter group that achieved massive success at the end of last season with the song "Doggy Bounce".

Murray is enjoying the spoils of Crazy Dogggz, with a fancy new office, hairdo and suit. Britt and Jemaine are a bit jealous... songs are sung, hilarity ensues. What? Why? Be more constructive with your feedback please.

The season premieres properly January 18, 2009, on HBO.

Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords (US Only) - watch more funny videos

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Chuck, Life: The Twist

For the next couple weeks, at least, Mondays nights on NBC are wall-to-wall. Chuck, Heroes and Life make an entertaining evening, and I'd argue that the most popular, Heroes, is by far the weakest link. Of course, after next week, Life moves permanently to the black hole of Friday night, which means I won't be writing about it anymore (just say no to Saturday posts). Of course, the Christian Slater starring My Own Worst Enemy starts, and that's probably the only mention of it you'll see from me (and unless Heroes picks up, it's not long for the docket as well).

I'm so glad Chuck is back (my favorite new series from last year without the initials M.M.,) and while this season premiere brought the funny, I still found it hard dealing with the exposition necessary to guarantee that new viewers won't be lost. Between all the little reintroductions and the stiffness of this week's baddie (Michael Clarke Duncan) the humor had to work overtime to make up for it. Thankfully it did that and more. Between Morgan's Thunderdome method of choosing an assistant manager ("one will be assistant manager... the other will be Jeff",) and the many subtle Casey moments the show has grown to rely on. Casey even gets in on the Phantom Planet backed ("Dropped") dressing montage, a callback to the pilot. ("Dropped" gets cut up and used several times afterwards, a scoring method applied several times last year, and was perfected with Bob Mould's "Circles" on Schwartz's The O.C. exactly three years ago).

Humor also took the form of Huey Lewis & the News songs ("Hip to be Square," "Power of Love,") giving us contrasting views of how the cheese of Huey Lewis can either lift spirits or annoy the hell out of you depending on your mood. Then Flight of the Conchord's french pop parody "Foux du Fafa" helped amusingly introduce Sarah's new cover at a yogurt shop (Weinerlicious will surely be missed). Meanwhile, the all important third act song this time out is courtesy of Frightened Rabbit, who's "The Twist" works both to show Casey's unwanted empathy ("the twist is you're just like me") and the convenient blowing up of the rebuilt intersect and agents surrounding it ("need human heat"). So long Tony "Candyman" Todd.

Life, on the other hand, doesn't have as much humor to make up for all the reintroductions that it put us through, and thus is suffered as a result. I assume (hope) that the next episode (Friday) will work much better. Musically, there's at least still some of the same commitment to quality that later episodes showed last season, this time highlighted by The Heavy's "Colleen."

Playlist: Chuck Episode 2.01
1. "Hip to be Square" - Huey Lewis & The News
2. "Returning to the Fold" - The Thermals
3. "Foux du Fafa" - Flight of the Conchords
4. "Dropped" - Phantom Planet
5. "The Power of Love" - Huey Lewis & The News
6. "The Twist" - Frightened Rabbit

Playlist: Life - Episode 2.01
1. "Devil's Playground" - Gram Rabbit
2. "Colleen" - The Heavy
3. "Dream" - Priscilla Ahn

Prevously: Sandwiches and fresh fruit: Chuck and Life a week early