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.
this week in music
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.
CATALPA VIDEO OF THE DAY: “SEEKIR” BY ZOLA JESUS
Singer-songwriter Nika Roza Danilova, better known as the one-woman recording phenomenon Zola Jesus, continues her reign as the alterna–Stevie Nicks on her third album, Conatus (Sacred Bones, October 2011), the follow-up to her 2010 sophomore full-length, Stridulum II. The twenty-three-year-old, who was born and raised on a large farm in Wisconsin, favors long, flowing blonde hair that meshes with her long, flowing white outfits, both supplying a stark contrast to her haunting electro-Goth music. On Conatus, she takes listeners on a dark, introspective journey into the fear that pervades her soul, filled with repeated images of fire. “Oh, it hurts to let you in,” she sings on “Collapse.” On “Seekir” she asks, “Is there nothing left / of this mess we made? / Is there nothing left / of the love I gave?” On tour she is joined by a backing band that ably captures her unique sound, whether at CMJ or in the Guggenheim rotunda, where she performed this past May. Zola Jesus will be at the Catalpa Festival on Saturday, sharing an impressive bill with Hercules and Love Affair, Umphrey’s McGee, TV on the Radio, headliners the Black Keys, and others. The two-day festival continues on Sunday with Snoop Dogg, Girl Talk, Matt and Kim, Matisyahu, and more. For an interview with the festival’s founder, Dave Foran, go here.