An enthusiastic crowd were rewarded by the full-band treatment of Troy Kingi’s album release show for Shake That Skinny Ass All The Way to Zygertron.
Mark Vanilau, Troy Kingi, Mara TK Photo: Stan Alley
With their various musical guises Troy Kingi, Mara TK and Mark Vanilau took the audience on uncharted ride through time and space at Wellington’s Meow.
Different configurations of the band saw the show open with a stripped-back performance of songs penned by Mark Vanilau, accompanied by his two Love and Hope bandmates. In the second act, TK’s Electric Wire Hustle were ostensibly Kingi’s backing band The Galactic Chiropractors. This was the strongest, tightest chapter of the show, with Cory Champion (AKA Borrowed Cassettes) inserting his signature percussive flourishes from behind the drumkit and Ed Zuccullo’s synths also providing the sonic boosters to the psych-soul-funk soundscape.
One of the album’s most beguiling aspects are the shimmering harmonies between Troy Kingi and his “space filter” Mara TK, and these were transcendent throughout the live show. Aided by the most crystal clear sound I have encountered in some time, the effortless vocal interplay between Kingi, TK and Vanilau cast a spell on the audience I’ve seldom seen in a live bar setting. The first four rows of audience were enthralled by the performance.
Troy Kingi and Mara TK at Wellington's Meow Photo: Stan Alley
Kingi’s high-concept Shake That Skinny Ass All The Way To Zygertron provided the tight musical spine for the night, the improvised and extended jams proving popular with the audience. The alchemy between Kingi and TK was especially striking in their a capella treatment of the 'Golden Taurus'.
The crowd were left wanting more of the Zygertron material. At this point it would have been good to see some interpretations of Kingi’s back catalogue or even the Kingi-TK collaboration 'Cold Steel'.
The performance was a journey to different times and places. At times to an imagined local music past, peering through a window back to a previous generation of Aotearoa Futurism beaming out from pub stages and counter-culture festivals of decades past. Kingi and TK’s time machine also gave the crowd a glimpse of the future too, showcasing new material and ideas in the various guises as EWH, Love and Hope et.al, while enjoyable, some moments took away from the outstanding heights of their Zygertron set. As productive and fruitful as this musical mateship is, the only problem I can foresee is how they will limit their seemingly infinite sonic universe.
Troy Kingi & The Galactic Chiropractors w/ Electric Wire Hustle + Borrowed CS + Mark Vanilau play Christchurch's Blue Smoke on 23 February and Totara Street, Mount Maunganui on 2 March.
