Despite their tongue-in-cheek self-description, New Zealand's Flight of the Conchords truly is their country's most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo. They've been churning out loving parodies of various musical styles for years, a talent they got to share with their widest audience yet during their self-titled, two-season HBO series. For those who have never seen Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement do what they do best, here's a quick primer.

Entry Level: Proper Parody

The best place to start with Flight of the Conchords is with their most obvious genre parody material. Using little more than two guitars, the boys have been able to mimic some of the most distinct sounds in pop with a mix of satire and true appreciation. One of their early songs, "Bowie" (first found on their debut album Folk the World Tour), runs through a straight-up parody of several classic David Bowie songs, most noticeably "Space Oddity". When the band put together a music video for "Bowie" during the first season of the HBO series, they went even farther by donning a number of Bowie's flamboyant costumes and doing a fairly apt re-imagining of Bowie's own videos. "Inner City Pressure" on Flight of Conchords' self-titled LP plugs into the cool, rhythmic styles of early Pet Shop Boys records, especially the hit single "West End Girls". Also on the album is the band's second rap parody, "Mutha'uckas", which makes fun of the excessive censorship applied to profanity-laden gangsta rap. Perhaps the most impressive (and catchy) parody is the made-for-TV track "Sugalumps", a bald-faced lampoon of the Black Eyed Peas song "My Humps".

Intermediate: Story Songs

Clement and McKenzie are both very gifted comedy writers, combining dry wit with subtly goofy absurdity to make story songs that are both light and potent. A lot of their best comic narratives came out of their popular BBC radio program. A clear fan favorite is "Bus Driver's Song", a jaunty folk tune framed as the bizarre rambling of a lovelorn tour bus driver in New Zealand. "Albi" is a hilarious faux-children's song about a racist dragon and the badly burnt little boy who helps him see the error of his ways. An song from early in Season 2 of the HBO show, "You Don't Have To Be A Prostitute", requires watching the episode to fully appreciate the humor of the lyrics but it still stands up well on its own as a nod to "Roxanne" by The Police.

Advanced: Tunes Above Laughs

Though none of Flight of the Conchords' songs are exactly serious, some of them are more about the music than the jokes in the lyrics. "Angels" may be a song about celestial beings getting ribald but it's still gorgeous and has a stunning conclusion. "Business Time" is a gut-busting track of romantic ineptitude, though its real draw is its infectious chorus and funky guitar riffs. "Fashion is Danger" is the band's only recorded New Wave song and I doubt anyone at a dance club 80's night would be able to pick it out from the non-parody tracks of the period. FotC's most perfect pop song has to be "Carol Brown (stick around)", a lush ditty chronicling Jemaine's many, many break-ups with the aid of chamber pop instrumentation and lovely backing vocals from a number of excellent female singers including Alison Sudal of A Fine Frenzy, indie journeywoman Inara George and Australian singer-songwriter Sia Furler. Combined with its Michel Gondry directed video, "Carol Brown" is the best Flight of the Conchords have ever done.