
Bret McKenzie, one half of cult TV comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, has landed an Oscar nomination for his songwriting in The Muppets' new film. The chap responsible in part for such masterfully crafted pop hits 'Business Time' , 'Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros' and 'Bowie's In Space' has penned 3 songs for Disney's latest Muppets movie. But supposedly, they're rubbish. "Jim Henson said if the music's too good, it's not right, so I took that to heart and kept the songs slightly shambolic. Also Miss [...]
As a child, I absolutely LOVED The Muppets movies. And as an adult, I may actually love them even more. It's hard to say, which movie is my favorite. I am a big fan of Muppet Treasure Island, although I am pretty sure that The Great Muppet Caper was probably the movie that got the most viewings from me as a kid. But the most recent addition to the series, The Muppets, starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams gives each of those films a run for their money. In many ways this movie was an homage to all of the [...]

El cómico, músico y compositor neozelandés Bret McKenzie , mitad de la banda-dúo cómico Flight Of The Conchords , fue nominado a un Oscar por mejor canción original. La lista de los candidatos a ser nominados a los Premios de la Academia por Mejor Canción Original llegó a tener hasta 39 miembros. Algunos de ellos fueron The National con Think You Can Wait , su canción en Win [...]

Proof that no one is better than Flight of the Conchords (and in this case Bret McKenzie) at parodying genre from the inside, the incredibly hum-able, endlessly catchy, utterly hilarious and gorgeous "Man or Muppet" has been nominated for an Oscar. If this doesn't win, I'll be slightly less pissed than when Elliott Smith lost. (By the way, this is the ONLY reason to watch the Oscars)

Remember last year at the Academy Awards when Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won the Oscar for Best Original Score for The Social Network ? That was fun to see, wasn't it? Sadly it won't be happening again this year. It looks like the Academy is over and done with dark, brooding, digital, industrial scores and is going back to honoring the classic sounding scores. Reznor and Ross didn't get nominated for their work on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo while legendary composers like John Williams ( War [...]
Are you green with envy? After all, there's nothing wrong with being green. Muppet Mania is back! Finally, The Muppets have reemerged in the limelight thanks largely due to Jason Segel and his memorable sad rendition of "The Muppets Show Theme Song" in Forgetting Sarah Marshall . Due to the success of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Segel's passion about The Muppets, Disney approached Segel to revamp, resuscitate and revive an awesome franchise. Along with collaborator Nicholas Stoller, Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords) and director James Bobin, The Muppets have been brought back in great [...]

A happy Monday to you! Well to be honest, I don't really know if it will be a great day. It could be snowing where you are. That would be kind of tough, getting to work and all that. But I made this short mix for you today, and I hope you enjoy it. Plushgun - Mixtapes (Original Mix) The Shins - Simple Song Real Estate - Out Of Tune Devon Williams - Sufferer [...]

This sure as hell doesn't need those funny as rhymers who go by the Flight of the Conchords, but it sure makes for good comic relief. Spoonhead's glitched-out remix of "Hiphoppotamus vs. Rhymenocerous" is one heeavvvvvvy lazer-crunk beat with supporting vocals from Jermaine & Bret. "They call me the Hiphopopotamus, my lyrics are bottomless...." Flight of the Conchords - GlitchHopapotomus (Spoonhead Remix) Spoonhead Styles: Progressive, Psybreaks, Glitch-Hop, Bass [...]
Names like The National, Jónsi, She & Him, and Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie are some of dozens hoping to receive an Academy Award nomination for "Best Original Song". The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences unveiled the list of 39 competing songs yesterday. These 39 songs will endure a Pitchfork-style rating from
Running from 1976 to 1981, the original five-season, 120-episode run of The Muppet Show, as well as the 1979 feature-length film The Muppet Movie, left an indelible mark on the majority of the HT Staff with its mix of love-able characters, kitschy smart humor (much of it which went over our heads at the time) and celebrity guests appearances. So we couldn't have been more elated to learn that the franchise, which seemed to mostly disappear from the world of pop culture in recent years, was going to get the reboot treatment thanks to Jason Segel. The actor, has been very vocal [...]
"Bret McKenzie may be best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords , but lately he's getting a lot of attention for his work as music supervisor on the new Muppets movie. He shares the songs that shaped him as a teenager and laid the groundwork for his hilariously quirky, and funky style - from James Brown and Harry Nilsson to Leonard Cohen." Read on Bret McKenzie - KCRW - 30.11.2011

It would be safe to say that maybe other than The Beatles, no other artist has been covered as much, and by as many different and diverse artists as Bob Dylan . On January 24, the songs of Mr. Zimmerman will once again be interpreted for a new 80 song compilation, that will help celebrate and support the 50th anniversary of human rights organization Amnesty International . The four-disc set, entitled Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, will feature 75 newly recorded tracks from arguably one of the [...]

I can usually gauge my enjoyment of a television show based on how much my wife hates it. Flight of The Conchords is the perfect example of this. While I roll on the floor laughing my wife has that "huh, that's so stupid" look on her face. So the news of a potential Flight of The Conchords movie being on the horizon gives me the shakes and a great idea for a date night. Bret McKenzie has been out on the publicity circuit for the work that he did for The Muppets [...]
It has only been two years since the second (and abruptly final) season of HBO's Flight of the Conchords, but it feels longer than that. The New Zealand-based duo have separately appeared in several films since then, along with touring last year to support their sophomore album I Told You I Was Freaky, which was mainly
It's been a while since we heard anything from Flight of the Conchords following the 2009 announcement that the duo's ... Read the full article at http://www.prefixmag.com/news/ flight-of-the-conchords-movie- may-be-in-the-works/59059/

Since departing from our screens after 20092s second season of Flight of the Conchords , fans have been wondering if we might see them again. Although they announced that there would not be a third season, a tour in 2010 supporting the release of their second album (essentially the songs from their second season) also yielded some new songs that left fans hoping that this was an indication that we might see the two New Zealanders on screen again. Earlier this year rumours of a movie surfaced, since that's what a lot of television shows seem to [...]
Kermit and Miss Piggy visits Fallon Wednesday while Animal sits in with The Roots on Friday. (Disney) In this day and age, anything of past cultural significance won't be gone for too long before it's swept back up into the current zietgeist and swallowed whole again. Sadly, most re-visits to our childhood end up falling short ( The A-Team ) or set new standards for 'epic fail' (David E. Kelly's infamous Wonder Woman ). I think that's why there's so much excitement about the release in theaters next week of [...]

The industry worst hit by the economy? Kitten kisses. Fujiya & Miyagi - Chichikov Arctic Monkeys - The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala Tom Waits - Back In The Crowd Kate Nash - Kiss That Grrrl Flight of the Conchords - A Kiss Is Not A Contract
Following on from last weeks 80's synth TV themes , here's another irreverent Sunday post for you. Don't get used to it though there isn't that many electronic music/other stuff crossovers in the world. Today we are looking at a niche that combines two of my three favourite things. Electronic music, and comedy. I'm going with ElectroCom. You can keep that! The traditions of Comedy and Music have been intertwined for as long as they have existed, but it's rare for someone to do something genuinely funny with synth music. And I don't [...]