The Hooksexup Mixtape With Bret McKenzie
The Flight of the Conchords star and Muppets composer shares his go-to seduction playlist with us.
by Alex Heigl
Bret McKenzie is probably best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, though he's also the motherflippin' Rhymenoceros and the Academy Award-winning composer of "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets (out on DVD and Blu-ray today). He's also a master of seduction: you haven't truly been wooed until a curly-haired kiwi sings R. Kelly to you over the phone. You can listen to his mixtape on Spotify.
1. R. Kelly, “Bump N’ Grind”
I picked this one mainly because of the opening a cappella refrain, which goes [starts singing] "My mind telling me no, but my body, my body's telling me yes."
2. Sebastian Tellier, “Fantino”
Those Frenchies, they’re pretty good with the sexy.
3. Wings, “With a Little Luck”
I find Paul McCartney the most romantic Beatle — I was going to go with "Blackbird," but I’m going to stick to "With a Little Luck," mainly because of the sexy synth solo.
4. Vangelis, “Love Theme” from Blade Runner
This one works perfectly for the heavy kissing.
5. Electric Six, “Danger! High Voltage!”
I like this one better than "Gay Bar," which is their other big hit. "High voltage, when we touch!" That’s powerful.
6. Hall and Oates, “Your Kiss on My List”
Because no seduction playlist is complete without Hall and Oates.
7. Beck, “Hollywood Freaks”
This is from Midnite Vultures, which I just think is a highly sexually-charged album. I don't know if you remember the cover, but there’s, like, sex vibes shooting off his crotch.
8. Lana Del Rey, “Video Games”
Controversial pick here. I like her Marilyn Monroe vocal delivery. She's got a Brigitte Bardot kind of sound. But, you might lose the girl at that point, if she hears some sex-kitten purring in the background. She might walk out. It's a risk.
9. Wings, “Live and Let Die”
If you can slip "Live and Let Die" in — if that works — it's gonna be a crazy session.
10. Bon Iver, “Re: Stacks”
A nice comedown following "Live and Let Die." Just a beautiful song.
11. My Morning Jacket, “Wordless Chorus”
Their manager sent me an early demo of this song before it was released. Hm. That’s not a really sexy story, is it? Well, great song, anyway.
12. Herb Alpert, “Rise”
This is some of his ‘80s material, and ideally, for it to have maximum impact, it should be listened to accompanied by the video of him dancing around down in Malibu.
13. Harry Nilsson, “Without You”
Probably my all-time favorite artist, and the vocal performance on this track… whew. That’s a strong finisher, no doubt.
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