Slow Walker / Via Facebook
For all their ambitions and good intentions, local music festivals tend to struggle when it comes to striking a balance between quantity and quality, sometimes stretching their best talent thin over too many shows, sometimes being selective to the point that they’re hardly “festivals” at all, which made this weekend’s inaugural Arte Para Todos all the more impressive. Beyond being enormous, spanning three days, three neighborhoods and 70 bands, it was also well rounded and chock-full of quality local artists, making for some tough decisions about what to do with one’s Saturday night, although this eclectic bill at Bremen Café certainly didn’t disappoint.
In addition to boasting an amazing lineup, Arte Para Todos also serves as a benefit for an equally amazing cause, raising money for, and just as importantly starting a conversation about, some criminally underfunded MPS arts programs, which no doubt contributed in part to the general air of good-natured conviviality in the café Saturday, specifically it’s crowded back room. Taking the small corner stage first was Fresh Cut Collective-affiliated MC Lorde Fred33, whose offbeat brand of acid rap easily got the audience moving, especially with particularly strong tracks like “Bango” and “Tupacalypse,” both from his new debut EP LRD3.
Next up was high-energy quartet Appleseeds, whose set of noisy, subtly glam-damaged garage punk was a stark shift from the opener, not that anyone in attendance seemed to bat an eyelash at it, another example of Arte Para Todos’ inclusive and infectiously positive spirit. As for Appleseeds, their set seems to get tighter and faster each time they play out, and never fails to leave an impression, thanks in part to hooky cuts like the acidic “I Do” from their recent split with Strange Matter or “Free Time” off their self-titled debut, and in part to live-wire vocalist Fly Steffens.
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Wrapping things up (at Bremen, at least—the party raged on in venues across Riverwest) was Slow Walker, a hard-rocking outfit best experienced live and with everything turned to 11, as was the case Saturday. Beneath the amplified bombast are some seriously well-written tunes, of the sort heard, albeit with a lot more clarity, on their new self-titled LP for Stale Heat Records. All told, the bill was far-reaching but solid through and through, much like Arte Para Todos as a whole, which, with any luck, will continue to be good (and do good) for years to come.
