Actor, musician and singer Troy KINGI isn’t a person with a resume that makes him a well known person outside of his native New Zealand, at least so far, and while he has been making a name for himself in TV and movies it is as a musician he appears to have been most successful so far. He has three albums to his name so far, and the 2017 album “Shake That Skinny Ass All The Way To Zygertron” (Triple A Records) is the second of those.

I understand that this is an album that sold rather well in New Zealand in 2017 and 2018, and was something of a surprise hit album among kiwi’s. For my sake I can sort of understand that surprise, as this is an album filled to the brim with love and affection for music that had it’s heyday some 40 to 50 years ago. Which usually isn’t the ideal approach to muster success in music. Unless you are talking covers albums that is, which to my knowledge isn’t the case here.

Soul and funk is the common denominators for this album, as just about all the songs features both of these styles as a core foundation for everything else that is going on. The funk elements mainly present by way of the guitar, but with some strong and distinct groove elements provided by the bass guitar as well. The soul is perhaps most present in the lead vocals and instrument arrangements, at least to my ears, although I should add that music of this type really isn’t a specialty of mine.

The early 70’s is very much a presence on this album due to the soul and funk elements, but liberal use of psychedelic and cosmic effects to emphasize that this is also some kind of sci-fi oriented concept album adds in elements from the later parts of that decade as well. Some reggae details and disco elements here and there further enrich the flavoring of these musical landscapes and emphasize the late 70’s feel some of these songs contain as well.

There are parts of this album that, possibly, could have been made in the late 60’s and other parts that could not have been made until the late 70’s. As such, I’d describe this album as a production that praise the spirit of the 1970’s as a decade, and then the funk and the soul music of that decade in particular.

As far as I can tell, this is a production well made on all levels too. Kingi is a stellar vocalist that has the ability to use his voice pretty much spot and on perfect throughout, with high notes as perhaps something of a specialty. He isn’t a slouch as a musician either, and it would appear that the rest of the musicians that have worked on this production shares Kingi’s love and affection for the material and the time typical sounds that are created.

All of this being said, there are some arguable hip hop moments and indie rock details that makes this an album of our own time as well. They are mainly present as less dominating aspects of the totality though, as this is an album that celebrates yesteryear more than anything. But it is a nice touch to see a few details firmly grounded in our own time making it on to this album as well.

Just how good of an album this is will of course be a question about who is listening. For my sake I find this to be a solid production through and through, with glimpses of magic here and there. But I’m not representative of the target audience for this album either. Those who probably will be most fired up by this production are those who know and love their funk and their soul though, and those with a strong affection for the more laid back, soul-oriented parts of the funk first and foremost.

My rating: 80/100

Links:
https://www.troykingi.com/
https://www.aaarecords.com/