Mas Rapido!

Mas Rapido! is one of the many aliases of guitarist and vocalist Donna Esposito (formerly with the Cyclones) and bassist and vocalist Frank Bednash (ex-Riff Doctors), a duo with a knack for energetic power pop, stellar songcraft, and a habit of changing their collaborative name (and their drummers) on a regular basis. New Yorker Esposito and North Carolina native Bednash began making music together in 1983, releasing a single as Cowboy and Spingirl (the name came from in item on a Chinese restaurant menu that later discovered was meant as a double entendre); following a self-released cassette, they partnered with Subway Records to issue an eight-song EP in 1988, which combined self-produced demos with sessions recorded with Mitch Easter. After relocating to Seattle, a full-length Cowboy and Spingirl album appeared in 1993, but after releasing a second album, Odds & Bobs, the group evolved into Toothpaste 2000, releasing six albums for Parasol Records beginning with 1997's Death of the Italian Film Star. After a sojourn in the U.K., Esposito and Bednash found a new home in Hoboken, NJ, and began making uptempo pop music again, this time with a sharper, punk-influenced edge, under the name Mas Rapido! The new trio cut their self-titled debut for Parasol in 2003. A second Mas Rapido! album, Pity Party, followed in 2007, while Dumb Is King appeared in 2010.