 |
Label: Kill Rock Stars - Rating:
Thao with The Get Down Stay Down slams their foot hard on the spring board and takes one massive leap to success. Their second full-length album, Know Better Learn Faster consists of 13 short, light-hearted and fun songs. The compilation (which totals to just under forty minutes) hands off catchy tunes with a quick tempo, slow tunes with drawn out and reverberating vocals, and trickier arrangements.
This San Francisco-based band consists of vocalist and guitar player Thao Nguyen, Adam Thompson on bass guitar, Willis Thompson holding the rhythm down on drums, and producer Frank Stewart on lead guitar.
The album begins with ‘The Clap,’ where the music is created by the band as an a* *cappella group, paired with a series claps and stomps. This is the ideal beginning to an album that takes chances, proving to its audience they use more than just instrumental talent to be innovative.
For me though, the real winner of *Know Better Learn Faster** **is *the second track, ‘Cool Yourself.’ In this upbeat and beguiling ballad Nguyen delivers only a few words with strong backing vocals from her bandmates. The song has a playful guitar tempo and while she exclaims, “Ooh whoa whoa whoa-oh-oh oh-oh,” she reminds me slightly of the young sounding vocals bellowed by Karen-O. I get this same feeling in ‘Body,’ as Thao so humbly screams, “What am I, just a body in your bed? / Won’t you reach for that body in your bed?”
In the title track ‘Know Better Learn Faster,’ the band shows their versatility as they throw Andrew Bird in the mix. Different from their other simplistic songs, this track has a mess of instruments including strings. When I listen closely, drowning out the rest of the music, the strings sound rather theatre-based and dramatic - which really adds a reactive element and a nicely polished, finished touch.
‘The Give’ is the longest song on the album, and in my eyes, also one the most the passionate. This song has a folk-like feel to it, and weaves in the waver and tremble of Thao’s voice to compliment the music perfectly. I would definitely recommend giving this band a chance, as their sound unique and their ideas inspiring.
Like Thao With the Get Down Stay Down? Check out: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Camera
Obscura, The Weepies
