MIX FOUR: Wellington, New Zealand

This foto is kind of misleading, weather-wise.

As my time in New Zealand comes to an end (literally I’m on a plane in less than six hours) I wanted to share with you all a mix of songs that best exemplified my time in the capitol city of Wellington.

Wellington is often described as a miniature version of San Francisco and even though I hate making those kinds of comparisons it is a relevant starting point. Extremely hilly, compact, windier than anything I could have imagined Wellington has its charms as being a hyper-cultured town that relishes in coffee and cigarettes by day and bars and cinema by night.

Some of you know that I haven’t had the best time here and coming from the suburbs to the big city was probably the hardest adjustment for me personally, harder than I could have anticipated. Sadly I don’t have the best memories of living in Wellington, but if you are touring New Zealand is worth a few days stay.

Flight Of The Conchords-“Inner City Pressure”

New Zealand’s own 4th greatest Folk parody Duo, Bret and Jemaine get their Pet Shop Boys on in this hilarious take on hard times in the city.

Bob Dylan-“Hard Times In New York Town”

Even though ‘ol Bobby D was singing about a different city, the things he’s singing about held true for how I felt coming into Wellington. Smart, sassy, a little funky and very observant, it’s a shame this wasn’t on his first album.

Bright Eyes-“The City Has Sex”

I admit I've been a little angsty and this early Bright Eyes kind of describes the later stages of my time here.

The Carpenters-“Rainy Days And Mondays”

I love Karen Carpenter and if this song isn’t the blues I don’t know what is anymore. Wellington doesn’t have the best weather so this tended to be pretty accurate.

Howard Shore-“The Passing of the Elves”

What is a Wellington mix without at least one Lord Of The Rings mention? This one fit the more serene qualities I felt while at the top of Mt. Victoria and in the forest surrounding it.

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone-“Toby take a bow”

After some initial disappointments this song became kind of a mantra. I feel stupid about it now, but this song really encapsulates the worst aspects of my experience.

The Diggs -“Careen”

I listened to this song a lot when I was roaming the city. I don’t really know what it means particularly, but it just matched my surroundings.

Scarlett Johansson-“Anywhere I Lay My Head”

Wellington has been my only home for the past five months and since I don’t have a room at either my mom or dad’s places I shuffle everything with me from apartment to apartment. I love Scarlett’s version because the atmosphere fits Wellington better than the New Orleans-esque original by Tom Waits.

Prince Edward Island -“I've Been To A City”

Lush, dizzying and somewhat harmonious this song by Prince Edward Island kind of captures my first impressions and immersion when I first stepped off the train in Wellington, sublime, beautiful and somewhat terrifying.

The Jesus And Mary Chain -“Just Like Honey”

Lost In Translation is sort of an existential shortcut for how my experience has been and this Jesus And Mary Chain song was in my head as soon as I even thought about coming here.


The view from my flat

Wellington is certainly a beautiful and slightly puzzling city that really caught me off guard. Even if I won’t look on this place as fondly as I wanted to I know I can’t forget it.

Links:
Wellington City site
Flight Of The Conchords on Myspace!
Bob Dylan site
Bright Eyes on Myspace!
The Carpenters on Wikipedia
HowardShore.com
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone on Myspace!
The Diggs on Myspace!
Scarlett Johansson on Myspace!
Prince Edward Island on Myspace!
The Jesus And Mary Chain on Myspace!

Flight Of The Conchords: Flight Of The Conchords (2008)

Being In New Zealand right now you’d swear that the release of Flight Of The Conchords debut studio album on Sub Pop Records Flight Of The Conchords was the second coming. Every record store within the vicinity of me in Wellington is covered in posters and half the stores are devoted to copies of this record. But let’s get on it with it.

As a devoted Flight Of The Conchords fan I cannot help but feel a bit tired. I understand why they wanted to redo the songs from the show, but we’ve heard every song on Flight Of The Conchords (“Au Revior” is pretty much a coda to “Foux Du Fafa”). The songs on this album are essentially just higher quality versions of the ones on the show, but that isn’t to say everything is said and done.

“Inner City Pressure” probably receives the best upgrade as well as “Ladies Of The World.” Both these songs sound fresh and Bret and Jemaine still sound excited about performing them. The differences between these versions and their show counterparts are insignificant but those insignificant bits make all the difference (note: listen to to Jemaine’s falsetto near the end of “Ladies Of The World” plus the kick ass coda).

Elsewhere classics like “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rymenoceros” and “Robots” receive new upgrades. “Robots” is without a doubt done. I enjoy it still, but it’s lifeless. However on “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rymenoceros,” Bret and Jemaine manage to create an interesting meld between the live versions and the version on show. I applaud it for this hip-hop/acoustic hybrid, but it isn’t the best version out there.

I must not have noticed “Mutha'uckas” before because in another universe it’d be more popular than their “other” rap song. Using pretty much only a fat synth bassline and muted guitar, Bret raps “I’m gonna juice the mutha’ucka” and other various fruit related expletives while Jemaine lays down some woes about what else but money:

“Mutha’ucka charge a two buck transaction fee
Makes my payment short
My rent comes back to me
Minus a twenty-five dollar penalty
So you’ll see me ‘cause of your mutha’uckin’ fee
Read the words
On my ATM slip, it said
We’re all mutha’uckas
And we’re ‘uckin’ with your shi-“

Honestly how did we ignore this song for so long?

This album will probably be one of my favorites of 2008 and I know that they wanted these to be the versions for everyone to remember and yes they are as hilarious as ever, but really I just want Bret and Jemaine to be able to move on. I know they’ve still got plenty of funny left to say.

Mp3:
Flight Of The Conchords-“Mutha’uckas”

Links:
Flight Of The Conchords on Myspace!
Order the album from Sub Pop Records!
Plenty of FOTC for all Kiwis

Flight Of The Conchords Issue Free Song On Myspace

Self-described "New Zealand’s 4th Most Popular Comedy Duo," Flight Of The Conchords first full-length studio album arrives courtesy of Sub Pop on April 22nd (Trying saying that ten times in a row). And today on an ever-so-epic myspace bulletin I learned that they have issued one of the songs from the album on their myspace for free. The song? “Ladies Of The World.”

Now I know some take issue with the fact that a lot of the songs on the forthcoming self-titled album are mostly (well, all) are taken from the show. However I know that they weren’t completely satisfied with the hurried versions that were released.

“Ladies Of The World” doesn’t get a heavy makeover, but the lounge angle is stressed more than any previous version of the song. At first I missed the Sean Paul-esque part that Bret sang, but I dig the lounge style just as equally. The best part about the album version is the beautiful wordless coda that comes after a few seconds of silence.

Here is the tracklist for Flight Of The Conchords:
1. "Foux Da Fa Fa"
2. "Inner City Pressure"
3. "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros"
4. "Think About It"
5. "Ladies of the World"
6. "Mutha'uckas"
7. "The Prince of Parties"
8. "Leggy Blonde"
9. "Robots"
10. "Boom"
11. "A Kiss Is Not a Contract"
12. "The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)"
13. "Business Time"
14. "Bowie"
15. "Au Revoir"

Mp3:
Flight Of The Conchords-"Ladies Of The World"

Links:
Flight Of The Conchords on Myspace
Sub Pop Records
What The Folk, a great fan site