Just when you think that commercial pop music couldn't get any more pretentious, preening or pathetically pompous, along comes Flight of the Conchords, that lovably goofy New Zealand duo that has basically de-pantsed, hilariously we might add, the stagnant and mindless beast known fondly as "the pop music industry." When their tale of a fledgling and hopelessly inept musical duo first aired on HBO, the Conchords' peculiar brand of folk/rock shenanigans had a brainy comic appeal that the poor saps at SNL could only dream of. But the Grammy winning Bret McKenzie (guitar and vocals) and Jemaine Clement (yet more guitar, more vocals) had, to quote Karen Carpenter, only just begun. With the new, mind-numbingly hysterical I Told You I Was Freaky, dropping like manna October 20 (Sub Pop) we are witnessing pure genius in the making. Who else can not only wear sexy "pantaloons" and "dungarees" but make them objects of unbridled desire? Who, we ask redundantly, who?

Where the Conchords first epic collection was a buskery, lo-fi folk excursion of jangling guitars, Freaky is a knob-twiddling, sleek, purring send-up engine of ridiculous dance/funk pop horsepower. Beats -- and we mean those computerized Timberlake/Timbaland creations - rule (or rool) here and after hearing the wildly contagious ode to manly hormonal attraction in the title track or the now-classic "Sugalumps", Justin T just might want to take his sexy back for good. Highly recommended.

Feel free to bypass the audio clip and go straight for the videos after the jump...

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Flight of the Conchords - "I Told You I Was Freaky" (from I Told You I Was Freaky)

Track listing for I Told You I Was Freaky

1. Hurt Feelings
2. Sugalumps
3. We’re Both in Love with a Sexy Lady
4. I Told You I Was Freaky
5. Demon Woman
6. Rambling Through the Avenues of Time
7. Fashion Is Danger
8. Petrov, Yelyena and Me
9. Too Many Dicks (On the Dance Floor)
10. You Don’t Have to Be a Prostitute
11. Friends
12. Carol Brown
13. Angels

Just a coincidence?

From Sub Pop: There is so much that could be said regarding Flight of the Conchords. How they hail from New Zealand, the island nation with multiple postal services. Or that, after winning a Best Comedy Album Grammy for The Distant Future in 2007, they were nominated for a second Best Comedy Album Grammy in 2008, but were actually relieved not to win again—-because meaningless trophies really do seem important when you only have one, and have to fight over who gets to keep it. And that during the recently-completed second season of their popular HBO television series, fans could download new songs immediately after they debuted on-air. Or that this same popular HBO television series (conveniently also called Flight of the Conchords) was recently nominated for what-sure-seems-like-a-record-breaking 6 Emmys.

But all that is mere background, fact-based information that, while, granted, is largely true, impressive, and odd, doesn’t really allow us to serve up the steaming plate of rich, delicious and hopefully irresistibly persuasive description for which we (or our hired writers) are somewhat known in certain circles. And so: While Flight of the Conchords hammered out their reputation from behind the relative safety of acoustic guitars, blithely billed as a “folk comedy” act, nowadays their musical style runs rampant, unchecked. Judging from the range displayed here on I Told You I Was Freaky, Flight of the Conchords have yet to unearth a genre which can withstand their artistry. Unflinching in their lyrical stance, sophisticated with their arrangements, crafting melodies which always lodge firmly in the frontal lobe: Flight of the Conchords have created 13 best-selling ringtones, humbly masquerading as songs. Their rhymes are fearless, their thesauruses dog-eared. Only cool, confident specimens of manhood such as these could drop three-dollar vocabulary busters like “dungarees” and “pantaloons” while still mesmerizing the ladies with their undulating “Sugalumps.” Vivid imagery? Check: The ardent “Angels” should spur listeners to think twice the next time they consider catching a snowflake on their tongues. Better still, the amorous odyssey of the album’s zenith, “We’re Both in Love with a Sexy Lady,” unfolds before the listener’s very ears in real time; Flight of the Conchords are making history, and You! Are! There!

I Told You I Was Freaky is, among a great many other things, a genre-tripping tour de force and includes three songs from the second series of the show which are otherwise as yet unreleased (“Rambling Through the Avenues of Time,” “Too Many Dicks (On the Dance Floor)” and “You Don’t Have to Be a Prostitute”).