In early 2008, Thao Nguyen released one of the pleasant surprises of the year with here debut album We Brave Bee Stings And All. For me, it was the album Cat Power should have made, complete with boot stomping attitude and witty lyrics. In the time since album number one, Thao and her band, The Get Down Stay Down, have toured the country a couple of times, played several festivals and now return for the follow up performance.

Thao shows off some of her intelligence and gives us insight into the album title when she says…

“The album is named Know Better Learn Faster because you can’t,” explains Thao. “By the time you realize you should, it’s too late. And I enjoy the predicament and the totally devastating, unfunny humor of that.”

While the title could be a commentary about love lost or missed opportunities, the new record is anything but a downer, mixing in the now signature stomps and handclaps with the sometimes sobering lyrics throughout. It’s this coexisting of heartbreak and celebration that drives the album as a whole too (see songs like “Body” for example.) Even down to the album cover art featuring a half blindfolded Nguyen in the midst of a huge party peeking out at a pinata that turns out to be a broken heart.

So don’t let this album fall below your radar like the first Thao album did for many, don’t let Know Better Learn Faster be here and gone before you realize how excellent it is. The album is out October 13 from Kill Rock Stars and Thao and company will be touring the country in support of it this fall.

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Know Better, Learn Faster

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 11:21 am and is filed under MP3's, This Just In. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.