Announcing his first album in 2016, New Zealander confirmed it was the first in a project entitled 10/10/10: ten albums in ten different genres in ten years, followed by retirement. Remarkably, he's still on track. Highlights include (psychedelic soul), (roots reggae) and the brilliant (a folk singer-songwriter hybrid made with another Kiwi, Delaney Davidson).
The albums are soulful and blur into each other quite nicely – genre boundaries aren't entirely respected – but album number eight, recorded at the fabled Rancho de la Luna studio in Joshua Tree, stands out as a real labour of love. It's an album that reflects Kingi's admiration for 's , with the fuzz ramped up and song titles like and . And it works.
, and are suitably sludgy, and the frantic whips like the tail of a trapped scorpion. is a lovely slice of lilting Tex-Mex psychedelia, while the thumping is a junior desert rock classic. Only , a lumpen freakout based on a riff somewhere in the vicinity of 's , fails to impress.
Otherwise, pass the Mezcal. . Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014.
38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author.
Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter:.