Oscar Lopez was born in Santiago, Chile and relocated to Canada to further his musical career. His ventures into different styles of music as a member of several bands broadened his musical palate, enabling him to bring multiple influences into a fusion with the nylon-string flamenco style of his homeland which he plays today.
A winner of multiple Juno awards (Canada’s Grammy equivalent) Lopez is a world-class guitarist with a real knack for melody.
Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows has been heading up the Minus 5 since 1993, which makes it a little more than a side project. In fact, on their self-titled 2006 LP (nicknamed “The Gun Album”) it’s more Alan Parsons Project, with a stellar lineup of contributors including Jeff Tweedy, Peter Buck, Colin Meloy, Ken Stringfellow, John Wesley Harding, Kelly Hogan, and even Mott the Hoople alum Morgan Fisher.
It’s mostly downer lyrics with bright, perky melodies, a combination I’ve never been able to resist since the days of ABBA.
Da Vinci’s Notebook: “Another Irish Drinking Song” (2002)
What the Capitol Steps are to politics, Da Vinci’s Notebook are to…pretty much everything else. The award-winning novelty a capella group from Maryland’s take on traditional Irish folk balladry is about as wacky as their treatment, on other songs, of subjects such as liposuction, Billy Joel’s face, and enormous…uh, male members.
Random stabs of cultural muddlement such as a bar of “Hava Nagila” and a shout of “Olé!” punctuate the silliness.
There’s nothing like sibling harmonies. And the bittersweet blend of Sweden’s Söderberg sisters is a typically close-meshed and pleasing sound. What is atypical, for two gals from Sweden, is their choice of style and subject matter.
Their sound–steel guitar and atmospherics that bring to mind bands like My Morning Jacket and Fleet Foxes–lands them squarely in Americana territory. And “Emmylou” name-drops country legends like Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash and his wife June.
I guess that’s illustrative of the ever smaller and more interconnected present-day music scene. And it would take a more qualified writer than myself to say whether this is brilliant cross-pollination or unfortunate homogenization. Will there come a day when contemporary Scottish music doesn’t sound distinctly Scottish anymore? When you can’t tell that an African rhythm is really African? Has that day already come and gone? Is something lost when it all gets mixed together? Or is this kind of musical melting pot the way to stir diverse influences into brilliant music we’d otherwise never know?
I suspect both are true at the same time. It’s great that American musicians are making “World Music” and Swedes can do Americana and, hey, where would we be if British bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones hadn’t chosen threads of American blues and R&B to weave their rock tapestries?
But perhaps what’s inevitably disappearing as the music world shrinks is the same thing we notice disappearing when we travel to eastern Europe and see McDonald’s and Subway and Pizza Hut crowding out the small, long-established locals. Maybe we’re losing a little of the provincial flavor.
The only thing I know for sure is that if these two girls want to sing like they’re from Kentucky, I’m all ears.
Philadelphia’s Wanderlust made one album in 1995 that deserved a better fate, as did the band, who were dropped by RCA Records while recording a follow-up.
I won’t get carried away with the “lost masterpiece” talk of some, but if you’re a fan of 90’s rock I would suggest you give this one a try. “I Walked” (their single) and “Wanna Feel New” (see link below) should be enough to give you an impression of this forgotten band’s talent. Used copies of the out-of-print Prize CD can be found online for under a buck.
Every Moment Has A Song 