Music
Press
The Heartstring Stranglers, apparent wonder band of Denton’s only indie record store/cheap cement-floor venue Strawberry Fields, puts on too good a show to sell for $1 to a BYOB crowd of half-listeners and those too devoted to smoke outside than listen inside.
Hey, hey wait.
I love Strawberry Fields. Forever. (Last one, promise). It has books on anarchy, new and old vinyl. It has cassette tapes, actual fucking cassette tapes. New ones. It has documentaries and a curtained-off adult section.
I also love BYOB, tall boy style. I love cement floors, shows for a buck. (I saw Darlington for a buck in a record store in the suburbs once and it was, perhaps, one of those ten transformative moments in my life.) The Stranglers had one working mic, and there was no door guy. The same guy selling you records took your cover and gave you an armband. It’s a raw place, for real music. I can’t say it’s free of Denton’s own brand of pretension: unlike Dallas’s, Denton’s version involves admonishing those who look like they might be from Dallas.
What I’m saying about The Heartstring Stranglers isn’t that they are too good for the store, the smokers, the chatters in the back. I’m saying they’re too grand, too large. Their four members filled that room with sound, with energy, with genuine this-is-what-it-means-to-rock-in-Denton-ness.
The Stranglers need a stage. They need more than one mic. When they use their foot stomps as instruments (which they skillfully and selectively do) they need the boom. They are worthy of commanding attention, not haphazardly gaining it.
The band’s MySpace classifies them as Folk, Italian Pop and French Pop. They sing in several languages (though usually and most often in English–the French and Italian are highlights rather than stand-bys) mostly about sex, love and murder. In a delightful, detached, meaningful way.
They play again, for better or perhaps not, at Strawberry Fields, Saturday March 15.
Their MySpace: www.myspace.com/theheartstringstranglers
(note from hss, i've never met this guy before so i don't really know who he is or what his background is)
- your memory is a monster
The real party took place across town at Strawberry Fields, the off-campus video store, where a yet-to-be-discovered band called the Heartstring Stranglers strummed their upright basses and dazzled a small but rapt audience with their indie-jazz and French lyrics. - New York Times
Yeah. I know it seems as though I tend to fall in love at the strum of a guitar..but…’t'ain’t really so. However, last night, I fell in love with the first verse….oh hell….I raved so much about these Heartstring Stranglers to the boy-child today….he finally stomped outta the room booming…”so why don’t you marry them!”
I love that kid….and these kids…and I think I shall consider the boy-child’s suggestion of marriage to this band….
This video stream was, perhaps, the worst of all, from last night. For #1 - I was mesmerized by their performance, therefore, forgot to pay attention to the sound mixer…for #2 - you gotta see these kids live - which I plan to bring to you soon - and check out the audio they have here….damn I love them….so much so, I think I shall marry them! - the fine line music blog thefineline.com
The Heartstring Stranglers honestly probably have all the musical makings for a local hipster sensation: quirky, theatrical folk songs, lyrics sung in French, and a polished sheen that seems to be a prerequisite for the kind of "appeared in an Apple commercial" indie success that many younger bands seem to strive for these days. This is not a bad thing in and of itself, of course, and it should be noted that what they are doing is rather unique in the area and fairly interesting in the grand scheme of things... I just don't know if it's my thing. All of the material I've heard from them is well written and will obviously be appealing to a lot of Denton music consumers. - weshotjr.com
Discography
So far our only release is our self-titled debut (2008) but a new record is planned for the end of February.
Photos
Bio
The Heartstring Stranglers began as a side-project of Nazli Prisk (now in exile) and Frederick Schulze. It was first conceived as macabre love-song/party music (hence the name) but as time passed more and more attention began being paid to complex stories, characters and historical milieus. Ryan Williams and then Robby Kraft were joined to the line-up during this period to help complicate the sound in line with the subject. The post-Nazli band, now featuring seasoned cellist Emily Hertz, is entirely historically centered, particularly in the period between the Paris Commune and the Spanish Civil War (1870s-1930s). The topics veer left on the political spectrum and the arrangements take their cues from European street music as well as classical masters like Bach, Liszt, and Satie. The shows are typically played without the aid of electricity to, as the New York Times noted, "rapt audiences".
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