this week in music

SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS

James Murphy says farewell to LCD Soundsystem in multifaceted concert documentary

SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS (Dylan Southern & Will Lovelace, 2011)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
July 27 – August 2
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.shutupandplaythehits.com

On April 2, 2011, after ten years of building a devoted following that was still growing, electronic dance-punk faves LCD Soundsystem played its farewell show at Madison Square Garden. Directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, who previously documented the British band Blur in No Distance Left to Run, capture the grand finale in the often bumpy, sometimes revelatory concert film Shut Up and Play the Hits. The movie is divided into three distinct sections that take place before, during, and after the massive blowout, with Southern and Lovelace weaving between them. There is extensive footage of the event at the Garden, including performances of such LCD classics as “Dance Yrself Clean,” “All My Friends,” “Us v Them,” “North American Scum,” and “Losing My Edge.” Although the multicamera approach tries to make you feel like you’re there, onstage and backstage with front man Murphy, keyboardist Nancy Whang, bassist Tyler Pope, drummer Pat Mahoney, and various special guests, it lacks a certain emotional depth, and the sound, primarily during the first songs, is terrible, although that could have been the fault of the tiny theater at the IFC Center more than the film itself. The second section features music journalist Chuck Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto) interviewing Murphy at the Spotted Pig in the West Village a week before the concert, asking inane, annoying questions that Murphy strains to answer. But the most fascinating part of the film by far, and how it starts, involves Murphy the day after the show. He allows the camera to follow him everywhere, from waking up in his bed with his dog to carefully shaving with an electric razor to visiting the DFA offices for the first time in a year. It’s hard to believe that the night before he was a grandiose rock star but now he is walking his pooch, sitting on a bench in front of a coffee shop, and spending most of the day alone. The camera literally gets right into his face, showing every gray hair, zooming in on his puffiness and his deep-set, nearly dazed eyes. The film would have benefited from less time with Klosterman and more with Murphy as he contemplates his past, present, and future. It also would have been interesting to hear from the other members of the band, but Shut Up and Play the Hits is specifically about Murphy, who, at forty-one, suddenly doesn’t know what to do with his life, having left an extremely successful gig that was only gaining popularity.

CATALPA VIDEO OF THE DAY: “GOODBYE SERENADE” BY THE REBEL LIGHT

Brothers Alan and Jarrett Steil, who grew up in Montauk and previously teamed up to form the duo Suddyn, have recruited drummer Brandon Cooke for the trio the Rebel Light. As the band prepares its debut EP, you can check out three groovy new anthemic indie tunes, “Wake Up Your Mind,” “My Heroes Are Dead,” and “Goodbye Serenade.” The Rebel Light will kick things off Saturday on the Second Stage at the Catalpa Festival on Randall’s Island, on a bill with the Sheepdogs, Zola Jesus, Hercules and Love Affair, TV on the Radio, the Black Keys, and others. To find out more about Catalpa, read our interview with the festival’s founder, Dave Foran, here.

FESTIVAL SANTIAGO APOSTOL DE LOIZA A EL BARRIO

The thirtieth annual Festival Santiago Apostol de Loiza returns to East Harlem July 27-29

105th St. between Lexington & Park Aves.
July 27-29, free, 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
cccadi.org/loiza

Named after Chief Yuisa of the Taino tribe in Puerto Rico, the Festival Santiago Apostol de Loiza is held in the fifty-first state as well as right here in New York City, where the thirtieth anniversary of the three-day celebration takes place July 27-29 in East Harlem on 105th St. & Lexington Ave. For three decades, Loiza residents have been gathering to honor the Spanish Reconquista of Iberia from the Moors hundreds of years ago, with the first day focusing on men, the second women, and the third children. Organized by the Hermanos Fraternos de Loiza, the festivities, a mix of Spanish, Caribbean, and African culture, include such traditional food as ice slurpies, stuffed platanos, and coconut drinks, live music and dance, storytelling, arts & crafts, special masks and costumes, a family art workshop with Manny Vega, and a procession featuring Vegigantes, El Viejo y La Vieja, La Loca, El Caballero, and others. Among the many performers are Caridad De La Luz “La Bruja,” Los Pleneros de la 21, Pete Rodriguez & Su Orquesta Dulzura, Ashley Alvarez, Eternal Legacy, the Starlite Dancers, Bomba Works’ “AYA,” Ralph Sabater Jr., Los Pleneros De Trastalleres, Kumba Carey, and Zon del Barrio, Tato Torres, and Yerba Buena.

CATALPA VIDEO OF THE DAY: “MR. PRESIDENT” BY THE HIGH TIMES CANNABIS CUP BAND WITH RAS DROPPA

In addition to the three stages where such acts as the Black Keys, the Sheepdogs, Matt and Kim, Felix Da Housecat, Girl Talk, the Dirty Heads, Alex English, and many other bands will be playing throughout the two-day Catalpa Festival on Randall’s Island, High Times magazine is curating a Reggae Stage, which will include such groovy collaborations as Skadanks with Lenky Don & special guests, Marcia Davis & Outro, Leon & the Peoples, Lupa with the Anthem Band, Num & Nu Afrika, Rasmenelikdacosta & the Arc Angels, the Rudie Crew, and more, anchored by the High Times Cannabis Cup Band featuring Ras Droppa. To find out more about Catalpa, read our interview with the festival’s founder, Dave Foran, here.

CHELSEA ART WALK 2012

Artist Patrick Lundeen will play with his band, the Oblique Mystique, at Mike Weiss Gallery as part of Thursday night’s Chelsea Art Walk (Lundeen’s solo show, “Good for You Son,” continues at the gallery through July 28)

Multiple locations in Chelsea
Thursday, July 26, free, 5:00 – 8:00
artwalkchelsea.com

More than eighty galleries and some two dozen artist studios will remain open until 8:00 on July 26 for the third annual Chelsea Art Walk. Although summer is of course the time for group shows (not that there’s anything wrong with that), there are a handful of solo exhibits worth looking out for, including “Jake Berthot: Artist Model, Angels Putti, Poetry Visual Prose, works on paper” at Betty Cuningham, “Zoe Strauss: 10 Years, A Slideshow” at Bruce Silverstein, “Luca Pizzaroni: Bianco Trash” at Fred Torres Collaborations, Shawn Barber’s “Memoir: The Tattooed Portraits” at Joshua Liner, “Patrick Lundeen: Good for You Son” at Mike Weiss (including a set by the artist’s band, the Oblique Mystique, at 7:00), “Holly Zausner: A Small Criminal Enterprise” at Postmasters, and “Jim Marshall: The Rolling Stones and Beyond” at Steven Kasher. Among the special events are tours at 6:00 & 7:00 led by “fledgling theater company” Rudy’s Meritocracy (meet at Tenth Ave. & Twenty-first St.), a book signing with William Steiger and Rainer Gross at Margaret Thatcher Projects, and visitors to Ultra Violet Studios can have a Polaroid portrait taken of them, among numerous other gallery and artist talks and tours and opening and closing receptions.

CATALPA VIDEO OF THE DAY: “LET’S GO” BY MATT AND KIM

Nobody throws an outdoor party quite like Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino. The perpetually smiling Pratt couple better known simply as Matt and Kim have been making fun, infectious music since 2005, including their eponymous 2006 debut album, 2009’s Grand, and 2010’s Sidewalks. Onstage they are an utter delight, Kim pounding away on her drum kit — when not standing on top of it — and Matt banging on the keyboards and taking lead vocals. They’ve stirred up the crowd at McCarren Park Pool, the Siren Festival in Coney Island, and RiverRocks on Pier 54, and now they figure to do the same this Sunday when they play the Catalpa Festival on Randall’s Island, on a bill with Girl Talk, Matisyahu, the Dirty Heads, City and Colour, Snoop Dogg, and others. Look for the crazy kids, who once famously ran naked through Times Square for a music video, to feature songs from their upcoming album, Lightning, which is scheduled for release on October 12. To find out more about Catalpa, read our interview with the festival’s founder, Dave Foran, here.

CATALPA SONG OF THE DAY: “THE WAY IT IS” BY THE SHEEPDOGS

The Sheepdogs should bring warm feelings of Woodstock to Randall’s Island when they play the Catalpa Festival on Saturday afternoon. The bluesy psychedelic rockers, who hail from Saskatoon, Canada, know how to keep on choogling with their rollicking good-time music, as they’ve shown on such records as 2007’s Trying to Grow and 2010’s Learn & Burn and an exhausting touring schedule. But singer-guitarist Ewan Currie, guitarist Leot Hanson, bassist Ryan Gullen, and drummer Sam Corbett, LP lovers all, took a giant leap forward last summer when they were voted onto the cover of Rolling Stone, the first unsigned band to achieve that honor. The victory came with an Atlantic Records contract; their eponymous major-label debut is set for release September 4, but the first song, “The Way It Is,” is available now. The Sheepdogs will be taking over the 2nd Stage at Catalpa at 5:00 on July 28, following the Demos and before Umphrey’s McGee. For an interview with the festival’s founder, Dave Foran, go here.