King Strang:
Sand Boy Stomp
Album Review
By | Parker Marlow
Photos | Wade Plafcan
Originally published in Issue VIII
As an album, King Strang and the Stranglers listens like a time capsule, buried forever ago and dug up, still new. Lo-Fi, live, and full of raucous crowd noise, the record transports the listener to someplace else. Equal parts rowdy 1940’s jazz club, punky house show, and rural dive bar, King Strang, fits in the spots in between. Not a genre, nor style; not jazz, or grass, or punk, or folk, just… Strang!
Featuring, bass, sax, accordion, two guitars, and trumpet, the arrangements of the album are playful and loose, carried in high spirits by the gifted musicians playing them. Hollering vocals from the whole band pair together into a posse of wry talent. Shining brightest is the wit and nonchalance from Strang and the Stranglers. From the banter sometimes featured in between tracks, to its clever start/stops, jaunty rhythms, and even a quick sampling of a certain sci-fi cantina theme...
Get up, dance! Let the music take you to that other place, unstitched from time and place, and most of all, don’t forget to get a little more Strang.
King Strang’s new album is available for streaming on Spotify.
