Why I Love CDs (Sometimes)

submitted by Deena

I admit it--I'm an mp3 whore. My CD collection numbers remain stagnant for months while the number of gigs of music on my external hard drive grows almost weekly. I just can't seem to justify a CD purchase unless it's under ten bucks any more...guess I'm getting cheap in my old age.

But last week I picked up the new full-length release from Flight of the Conchords on a whim (to get an online order to qualify for free shipping), and boy am I glad I did...not because the music was remarkable (I'd heard it all from watching the show, though the album versions are all remastered), but because the packaging was simply top-notch.

Die-cut illustrations of Jemaine and Brett pop up at you when you open the CD. Look on the other side of the popup and the illustration shows them from the back, too.

The artwork, done by Tyler Stout, is quite clever. For instance, on first glance when you open the case, it appears that the cover image is printed in reverse on the inside; but when you look closely, it's actually a completely different illustration--the name of the band is the only thing that's backwards:

Plus, nestled in the folds of a packaging is a double-sided poster done by Stout as well.

They've already won for best comedy album for their 2007 EP "The Distant Future"--maybe this year holds a Best Packaging Grammy for FOTC. All I know is that if more CDs were packaged this thoughtfully, I might be more inclined to buy them.

Flight of the Conchords' Grammy-Winning...EP?

submitted by Deena

One Grammy category Scott probably doesn't do predictions for is the Best Comedy Album. This is likely because there's often not much to give a crap about in this category.

I've now finally caught up with all the Grammy hubbub and discovered that someone I did give a crap about won Best Comedy Album--Flight of the Conchords.

Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie round out the group who touts themselves as "Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo." FOTC produces hilariously funny pop/folk/parody music that takes me back to my days of Weird Al uber fandom (can I just say that sometimes I think Scott and I are on the same wavelength with our posts?)--only Weird Al never got his own HBO series (though UHF did kick ass).

As much as I love the music of FOTC, I was disappointed to learn that the "album" that won the Grammy wasn't even an album at all--it was a 5-song EP. I kind of thought that wasn't right, for two reasons:

1. An EP is not an album, or at least not in my estimation.
2. FOTC absolutely has enough material to make a fantastic full-length album. Each episode of their TV series has two or three songs featured in it, and most of them are stand-alone funny.

And now I will post the videos (taken from the HBO series) for two of the many songs that Flight of the Conchords should put on a full-length album...

YouTube: Flight of the Conchords - Bowie's in Space


YouTube: Flight of the Conchords - Inner City Pressure