Thighs Wide Shut

Flight of the Conchords
Town Hall
May 6th

What’s a joke that never gets old? One that’s told in the form of a song and rocked out by Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement (who does sorta look like a more talented Andy Samberg), the duo better know as the greatestist four letter abbreviation to hail from New Zealand since LOTR: FOTC. The real joke is on you if you still haven’t gotsen yer feet wet with either their hit HBO show or their fraztastic new self-titled album. There really isn’t anything mo superflyfresh than these two currently rocking the planet (well, besides Bree Olson NSFWed in a maid costume). The two have just begun their brief and beyond sold-out tour of the US, and we caught their first of two shows at Town Hall last night. Todd Barry warmed up the crowd with his self-loathing/loving brand of comedy, and much to everyone’s displeasure, no bongo solo for ‘Doggy Bounce’

Even if B&J mumbled for 90 minutes, the crowd would still eat it up, especially the ladies. Cause the ladies love funny guys and musicians, and FOTC are both. They probably have an easier time getting laid than an Amsterdam prostitute. Luckily, they decided to play their songs and instead of mumbling, adding their dry Kiwi witty banter in betwixt. Even though we knew every line of every song, it still was beerlarious to hear them live. The giant smiling grin on our faces never ceased from song one to the last one. Even when the audience began shouting out song requests (which has got to be the most annoying thing about concertgoers of our generation), the two played it as cool as a coolcumber. A call for ‘Freebird’ was obliged by Jermaine as he peformed a bit of it two different times. Later, someone asked for ‘Hungry Like A Wolf’ and J-Dawg went right into ‘Freebird’ again. It got a laugh each time, and why would it not?

Here’s a complete list of the songs from the concert (sadly no ‘Bowie’ or our flav, ‘Prince of Parties’), in alphabetical order, since our memory is fuzzy as a Georgia peach:

‘A Kiss Is Not A Contract’
‘Albi the Racist Dragon’
‘Angels’ (listen)
‘Bret You Got It Goin On’
‘Bus Driver’s Song’ (listen)
‘Business Time’
‘Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous’
‘If You’re Into It’
‘I’m Not Crying’
‘Inner City Pressure’
‘Jenny’
‘Ladies of the World’
‘Mutha’uckas’
‘Robots’
‘The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)’
‘Think About It’

+ 2 new songs

an instant classic one about old girlfriends (watch)
& one called ‘Freakiocity’ that needs a little work (watch)

if they’re coming to your town
pony up and buy some scalped tickets
or scalp the head of someone with tickets if need be
if not, we’re sure the thighnamic duo will tour again
so don’t fret or take off your Brett Farve jersey

pluss

° the first four Conchords TV appearances ever [YouTube]

° ghetto footage of FOTC filming the video for ‘Ladies of the World’ [YouTube]

° Wired interview

[assistance by What The Folk dot net]

Don’t know if you ever got the scott lachance to czech out AMC’s (jon) hammazing series Mad Men, but we juss finished up our first tour of duty and can confirm that the hype is certainly believable (and JOable). Season two starts up sometime in July, so you still have time to ketchup. AMC re-aired the pilot last week, and will air ep 2 this Monday, but based on their calendar, we can’t tell if they’re going to repeat the other 11 eps over the coming months. Nonethemoreorless, you can grabs them all off of or wait until July 1st when the DVD/BooRays will drop

bi the gay, why the F and G did they ax Kristen Schaal/Mel‘s sassy switchboard operator Nannette after juss the pilot? their comic relief loss is the Conchords and our gain!

while you sit there and willie ponder everything u juss read
kick back to the Mad Men theme song by RJD2
it’s called ‘A Beautiful Mine’ [d] and features Aceyalone

when it comes to new music, Thighland is a bit behind on the lamest and greatest (plus all our time is eaten up by movies and JOing to Ed Westwick), but thanks to a poo recent releases by sum of our more flavorite artists, our silence hath been broken!!

Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
[buy @ Amazon]

It may be a bit early to proclaim the Conchords full length debut the album of the year, with new LPs from t.A.T.u., Ace of Base and Dexys Midnight Runners yet to drop, but we’re willing to stick to that claim as we’re sure to be rocking this disc well into the NFL season, and cause it’s so udderly FRANZtastic, for the rest of our lives. If you haven’t seen the show, stop what you’re doing and watch all of them NOW. It’s the only thing worth getting HBO for, besides using John Adams as a sleeping aid. Even if you haven’t seen the show, it shouldn’t prevent you from taking a flight with these brilliant Kiwis, who’ve found the perfect middle ground between Weird Al and Tenacious D. So strap on your business socks (cause it’s business time) and rawk out ‘Inner City Pressure’ [vid] + the 14 other jammy gems. The only thing missing (besides ‘If You’re Into It’ and ‘I’m Not Crying’, which were on their EP The Distant Future) is no bonus track love for The Crazy Dogggz’ ‘Doggy Bounce’. Guess we’ll have to wait for their full length, which will probably be the album of whatever year it gets released

Gnarls Barkley
The Odd Couple
[buy @ Amazon]

Throwing a soiree and have only lame white music to throw on? Gnarls Barkley’s second venture is the answer to all your problems, cause it’s an instant party itself. While it may not have any sure fire ‘Crazy’ hits, it’s more of a cohesive effort than St. Elsewhere, an album we’re sure most have long abandoned due to over overplaying it. We dare you to overplay this one: ‘Going On’

The Raconteurs
Consolers Of The Lonely
[buy @ Amazon]

Jack White is a lot like White Castle hamburgers, you either love em or you don’t, cause there’s no middle ground. For those of us on the right side of the fence, we welcome anything churned out by the former upholstery man, as anything he constructs is sturdy and built to last (although we miss thinking about Meg’s boobs when he’s not Stripe-ing). Like with Gnarls’ sophomore effort, Consolers is a more complete album than its predecessor, Broken Boy Soldiers. It also furthers our belief that JW’s voice works best when accompanied by piano or brass instruments. Listen up to a song that has both: ‘The Switch & The Spur’

R.E.M.
Accelerate
[buy @ Amazon]

A: Up, Reveal and Around The Sun.

Q: What are the last three R.E.M. albums that everyone’s been recently dogging in print when reviewing their ‘return to form‘ 14th album Accelerate, yet are each munch butter than it?

Alas, R.E.M. is incapable of releasing bad music, and clocking in at 34:39, Accelerate breezes by so quickly, you won’t have time to waste trying to figure out where this one ranks amongst their other albums. We juss hope there’s a #15. Bi the gay, the album’s artwork was created using some of Michael Stipe’s photography

Moby
Last Night
[buy @ Amazon]

Moby’s best album was called Play. We wouldn’t say that Last Night is his worst album (Animal Rights anyone?), but it coulda easily been named Stop. It gets off to a rousing beginning, with ‘Ooh Yeah’, but then drags on and on with soul-try diva after diva, handing in more snoozefests than an bedridden John Adams (we’l
l never stop with the J-Ads shiz). ‘Ooh Yeah’ reminds us of his collaboration with Debbie Harry on ‘New York, New York’. He shoulda done more of that than ‘Snooze York, Snooze York’. Mobes, peas, juss stick with the stadium anthems

Joe Strummer + Various
The Future Is Unwritten Soundtrack
[buy @ Amazon]

We know you didn’t see the yumcredible doc about Joe Strummer’s life [TWS review], and thus we know you haven’t sought out the accompanying soundtrack. Obviously there’s something wrong with you, so start with the film and then grab this disc, which includes rare Clash and other Strummer-related songs + tunes he rocked out to on his BBC World Service radio show, London Calling. We don’t know where Racid Taha’s desert take on ‘Rock The Casbah’ falls into the mix, but it rox

Carole King
Tapestry (Legacy Edition – 2 CD)
[buy @ Amazon]

We’re totally gay for Carole King. She’s written more hits for other people then you could ever imagine, and she’s been our hero ever since she lent her pipes to Maurice Sendak’s stories with Really Rosie. On Tapestry, she allowed herself to sing her purty songs, and what songs they are! Ever hear of ‘I Feel The Earth Move’, ‘You’ve Got A Friend’, ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ and ‘It’s Too Late’? Well, they’re all included here on this beyond must own classic, which has juss been re-released with a bonus disc of live piano-voice renditions of all the songs in the original album’s order. Here’s a vid clip of her kicking the jam that is ‘Natural Woman’

Various
Juno Soundtrack
[buy @ Amazon]

The movie is whatevs dot whorg, the soundtrack isn’t. Somewhere Wes Anderson’s pissed, cause someone made a fantabulous Wes Anderson soundtrack for a non-Wes Anderson movie. Now if only he’d worry about more important things like making his own non-Wes Anderson movie… hint, start by not including Owen Wilson. Wes, just remember that I love you

join the princes of parties on tour this may

update: season two to air in January of the ‘009