Know better and learn faster with Thao Nguyen

Two things that feel exceedingly good on a craaazy-hectic Friday afternoon at work are: 1) learning about music blogs run by your friends that you never even knew about — and finding that they duly kick ass, then 2) finding a brand new song from an artist you love on there today.

Thao Nguyen & The Get Down Stay Down put out one of my favorite albums of the last year with We Brave Bee Stings And All — fiesty, thoughtful, aurally-pleasing rock. This first sample from her new album Know Better, Learn Faster is a malleable exercise in introspection (with some of those strings, maybe from Portland), honey-coated by her rich alto voice, spiking into a theremin-laced whirlwind of sound by the end that reminds me of something that DeVotchKa would have dreamed up.

Know Better, Learn Faster – Thao Nguyen

When I sat down to interview her in May, Thao wowed me with one of those wonderfully thoughtful conversations about music that makes me truly glad to get to do what I do on this site. We talked about this upcoming album, of which she said:

The record is primarily a response to the end of a relationship, so a lot of it is pretty reactionary. It’s trying to be introspective, but there’s always got to be a little “fuck you” in there – or, sometimes there’s a lot. I am excited about the emotional content of it and how we tried to convey our live performance and that level of energy that we have now.

Lyrically I think the new album is a lot more straightforward than We Brave, because on that album I just danced around a lot of things, it wasn’t a total confrontation. But this new record was very intense and emotional to write and it all came out very quickly, in a month or so. I think the album is a lot more intense and energetic and straightforward.

On this record, we’ve got a female choir, a lot more organ, more horns, a lot of trumpet, slide guitar. There’s one song that’s only handclaps and stomping, it’s a very short song, and we’re calling it “The Clap.” That’s the title – and I’m not changing it.

She also says of the title, “The album is named ‘Know Better Learn Faster‘ because you can’t. By the time you realize you should, it’s too late. And I enjoy the predicament and the totally devastating, unfunny humor of that.” It’s out October 13th on Kill Rock Stars.

After hearing this sample of her new stuff, I’m even more excited to see her this weekend at Monolith. Speaking of which…is it almost quitting time yet? After the day I’ve had putting out fires all over the globe, I srsly need a drink.

Monolith is this weekend!

The third annual Monolith Festival takes over the dramatically scenic crags of Red Rocks this weekend, with more music than you can shake a stick at or, say, run up and down a gazillion stairs for. You wouldn’t think it possible, but the organizers manage to fit five separate stages within the historic park, taking full advantage of the gorgeous views of Denver in the distance and the rosy rocks all around.

For the last two years, Monolith has packed in a sizable number of good artists, both well-known and fledgling newbies. This year is no different, with dozens of folks I want to see at what still feels like a boutique festival, in a very good way. You can get thisclose to the bands and get from stage to stage fairly easily (while toning your glutes — did I mention the stairs?). I plan to make the very most of my weekend this weekend — tickets are still available, and I think you should come too.

This year, Fuel/Friends contributor-pal Dainon is coming to the fest with me, to help cover all the goodness that is rarin’ to occur. We’ve each picked a handful of bands we are putting down as “can’t miss” on our Gigbot schedules. Who would you add? And why aren’t you coming? Oh, you are? Okay, good.



HEATHER & DAINON DO MONOLITH: 2009 EDITION

HB: Simply from the band name Cymbals Eat Guitars, this Staten Island band had me at hello, before I even experienced their massively sweeping, shimmering music that alternates between chaotic lo-fi punk and the most enormous moments of Explosions In The Sky. There’s a lot of buzz behind this group after only a self-released album (it grew wings when Pitchfork named it Best New Music]. It’s like Chocolate Eats Guacamole, or Using Your Turn Signal Eats Long Hot Showers. I mean, if good eats good, you end up with something even more amazing, methinks. Let’s go see.

And The Hazy Sea – Cymbals Eat Guitars
[Saturday 5:40pm, WOXY.com stage]

DM: There’s a reason why I saw Thao with The Get Down Stay Down three times in a row, three concerts in a row, three days in a row earlier this year (something I refer to as my own personal Three Thao Tour) … and it has to do with the honesty that accompanies a Thao Nguyen performance. She loses herself in her craft every single time she plays: the eyes shut and the guitar is wielded like a battle axe. Now that she’s got a new album on the horizon, with lots more shiny new songs to show off, this is an unequivocal no-brainer.

Bag of Hammers – Thao Nguyen
[Saturday 2:30pm, main stage]

HB: I apparently like having my insides pulled out of me in devastating fashion. This makes me a good candidate for sorority girl in a slasher film or, since we’re actually talking in metaphors here, attending a Frightened Rabbit show. Fronted by a pair of literate brothers from Selkirk, Scotland, Frightened Rabbit released one of my favorite albums in 2007 and puts on a powerfully visceral, poundingly jangly, truly honest show. I will not miss this one.

The Modern Leper – Frightened Rabbit
[Saturday 3:30pm, main stage]

DM: I hesitate to say I want to see Cotton Jones, only because it doesn’t seem like they’ve a rabid following, not that I can tell. I’d kinda sorta like to keep it that way, too. Liked ‘em when they were Page France but, with the organ in the mix, listening to their album is akin to filling my mouth with candy jawbreakers and not wanting to share. If you decide to show, just try and keep it down, yeah?

Blood Red Sentimental Blues – Cotton Jones
[Saturday 7:00pm, WOXY.com stage]

HB: Yes, OK Go does that genius dance in their backyard. Four years ago when that video came out, we didn’t have the luxury that we do now of sitting at a bar with friends watching it on an iPhone, as I did a couple of weeks ago. And guess what? It’s still marvelous. And I’ve always truly dug the sexy, driving pop sound of their music and its roots in semiotic intelligentsia (frontman Damian Kulash majored in it, and loves to create word images and twist a lyric so it rolls off the tongue just right). Dancing or no, this will be a really fun set to see.

You’re So Damn Hot – OK Go
[Saturday 4:45pm, main stage]

DM: It seems like Fancy Footwork has been around forever now, right? Do you know Chromeo? Do you know they could prolly work you into a dancier, sweatier mess than Girl Talk? Did you know they lucked themselves straight into a time machine, picked up some sounds from both Hall and Oates in 1978 and polished them off for the rest of us to benefit from? Well, if you didn’t … you do now.

Fancy Footwork – Chromeo
[Sunday 8:45pm, Southern Comfort stage, also DJing the VIP/Opening party Friday night]

HB: Nothing about a band called Deer Tick can be mistaken for enchanted twee pop, or, as their MySpace page says, they are “0% indie rock. Believe it, butt-head.” There’s a good helping of rustic twang here, but not that this is a whistlin’ Dixie mullet-hunting way to spend an hour of your Sunday at Monolith. Think the old-time radio sounds of M. Ward (also on the bill this weekend) meets the rowdiest of The Felice Brothers but with a piercingly ragged, whiskey-soaked howl, and you’ll be on the right track.

Smith Hill – Deer Tick
[Sunday 7:00pm, WOXY.com stage]

DM: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are the new freak-folky Devendra Banharts of the festival. If their Dave Letterman network television debut taught us anything, it’s that all we need is love. And beards. And an absolute bare minimum of four tambourines.

40 Day Dream – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes
[Saturday 3:00pm, Southern Comfort stage]

[my pic up top from last year's fest, poster by Mile44.com]

Warding off demons with Thao Nguyen (Interview)

One of the artists I’ve listened to very most in 2009 so far is the marvelously talented Thao Nguyen, and her band The Get Down Stay Down (N.B. – one of the best band names ever). Her last album We Brave Bee Stings And All (2008, Kill Rock Stars) strikes an eminently listenable blend of sharply clever lyrics and fresh melodic music. Along with the rest of her talented band, her drummer Willis Thompson notably layers in bold percussion, taking the songs to an unexpected level of fantasticness.

Fear and Convenience – Thao Nguyen

Sometimes her songs hit me with playfully familiar roots of girl groups or 1950s classic pop, but then she turns up the layers of fierce rock — she can wail on the guitar and stand up alongside some of the best women in music. Jack White is a fan of her skillful guitar playing, and behind her raw and earnest vocals, this album throws out bright colors of music with banjo, trumpet, handclaps, Wurlitzer and even beatboxing.

Thao studied Sociology and Women’s Studies at the College of William and Mary, and at 25 years of age, she is one of the most articulate and thoughtful artists I have ever had the pleasure of speaking with. You can tell that this is a smart person who has wrestled to present the very best of her thoughts and talents on her albums and in concert. Everything about her is a delight.

INTERVIEW: THAO NGUYEN
Interviewed on the storied brown plaid couch, backstage at the Hi-Dive
Denver, CO 5/6/09

I decide to start the interview with the elephant in the corner that always comes up in her music and in everything written about her. She is a female in rock music. I explore those halls as well, and…well, I want to chat about it. I show her a comic strip that I ripped from the Feminist & Gender Studies newsletter off the bathroom wall at the college where I work:

F/F: What are your thoughts on this, as it may relate to what you are trying to do as a musician?

Thao: (laughs) I think that there is a very pervasive enveloping stigma about women as musicians, and I think that within my personal experience you are, to a degree, immediately dismissed. I know that only as I said through experience, and that it is unfortunate but it becomes part of the deal – not only are you playing music but you are having to sort of debunk negative stereotypes and myths about women who play. For a long time, I was qualified as “a good guitar player, for being a female”…that was immediately the caveat.

Did that drive you crazy?

No, only because I have concerns about my blood pressure, so I try not to absorb it. But of course it does stick with you and float around in your mind. If nothing else, it is a motivator. I want to be good enough that it doesn’t matter what gender I am. That may be the ultimate goal, that we eliminate even the passing thought of it. It’s disturbing how much it plays a factor – but then on the other hand I think it should be totally acknowledged and commended when any woman gains a foothold in any male-dominated industry such as this, that she’s done it as a woman, with no apologies. It’s a weird line to toe and strange territory to navigate – being proud of being a woman, yet being willing to disregard that fact. And all the while just trying to maintain respect for yourself, and command respect at the same time.

I hear that you are volunteering this summer for Rock Camp For Girls?

That is correct! I am so thrilled, it is in Portland this June. I have dreamt of it for so long, since I found out that it existed, but I have been on tour every summer since I found out about it. My friend Laura Veirs mentioned it once a while back when I was on tour with her. This is the first summer that I have been able to make a window so that I can participate. I’m totally excited – I mean this sincerely, I really need a reminder sometimes to keep going and keep playing music and being involved in the industry, pushing along. I was filling out the application, I remember, and it asked me why I wanted to participate, and I think I started to tear up. It’s that significant to me.

I want girls growing up to have this experience, and I think back to when I was young and I would have been ruined without music. I don’t exaggerate, I think it saved me in a lot of ways. I just want little girls to know that it’s possible, you know? Just help them along. I am going to be a band coach and I am going to teach guitar – they haven’t told me what age yet, but I hope younger so they’re not better than me, because that would be embarrassing. But I just want the opportunity to show that it is possible, just to give them a vague idea of where they want to get to, and the rest is up to you. Just to tell them not to be intimidated.

There is a strength and confidence that you have when playing music that to an extent I think the world tries to stomp out of you. I think it is so tough to be a young girl growing up into a woman in this world, with all the weird pressures and the odd demands and the self-hate, and music is totally an outlet for that for these girls, and I swear it wards off demons.

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To read the rest of my interview with Thao (the dirt on her new album out this year, her secrets to rocking cathartic shows, and her work with the Portland Cello Project) head over to the Gigbot Downlowd companion piece.

These great photos here and over there were taken by Todd Roeth, my dream intern extraordinaire, and one of the wildly talented Gigbot inventors. He even makes girls look good sitting on that ratty couch in the basement of the Hi-Dive.

New Thao Nguyen song at SXSW

Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down played several kickass shows in Austin this year. Her set on Friday night at Momo’s was one of the most packed that I personally attended, with a huge line outside left unsatisfied. I squeezed my way in nimbly up to the front and wow — that woman is ferocious and fearless in her music and her stage presence. She knows how to wield a guitar and craft a song with all the right balances.

Thao played a brand new song to the packed house (there’s one blurb of scratchy audio but then my camera gets on the ball):

A new album is expected from Thao this year.

Delicious! Thao Nguyen on tour with Samantha Crain

One of my absolute favorite albums lately (like, front to back, over and over, in the car, trying to keep it down for my co-workers, air drumming in my kitchen) is Thao Nguyen‘s We Brave Bee Stings And All (2008, Kill Rock Stars).

It’s been a long time since I’ve found an artist that strikes as perfect a blend of fearless female honesty, introspectively clever lyrics, winsome melodies, and thoroughly interesting and unexpected percussion. I’m a sucker for the cool drumbeats, the ones that make me wanna clap my hands and tap along on my laptop (even as I try to write this post).

This might be my favorite song on the album, mostly because of the awesome way the drums edge their way into the room at 0:28, and then proceed to own the whole tune:

Fear & Convenience – Thao Nguyen

While Thao will be at SXSW (which I just registered for today) I also have good news! Thao’s back on tour with her band, The Get Down Stay Down, and (and!) Samantha Crain (artist behind one of my favorite EPs last year).

Come el Seis de Mayo, I might die a tiny death of happiness.

THAO NGUYEN TOUR DATES
Feb 26 – Noise Pop – Swedish American Music Hall (solo) San Francisco, CA
Feb 27 – The Coffee House (solo) Davis, CA
Mar 18 – SXSW KRS Day Party-Club DeVille Austin, TX
Mar 19 – NPR Day Show -The Parish Austin, TX
Mar 19 – Hotel Café Showcase – The Parish Austin, TX
Mar 20 – KUT Showcase – Momo’s Austin, TX
Apr 17 – Black Cat Washington DC
Apr 18 – Duke Coffee House Durham, NC #
Apr 19 – Village Tavern Mt. Pleasant, SC #
Apr 20 – EARL Atlanta, GA #
Apr 21 – Club Downunder-Florida State Tallahassee, FL #
Apr 23 – The Parish Austin, TX #
Apr 24 – Lola’s Ft. Worth, TX #
Apr 25 – The Foundation Lubbock, TX #
Apr 26 – The Sub-College of Santa Fe Santa Fe, NM #
Apr 28 – The Loft-UCSD San Diego, CA #
Apr 29 – The Hotel Cafe Los Angeles, CA #
Apr 30 – Independent San Francisco, CA #
May 1 – Mississippi Studios Portland, OR #
May 2 – Chop Suey Seattle, WA #
May 4 – Neurolux Boise, ID #
May 5 – Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT #
May 6 – Hi Dive Denver, CO #
May 9 – Empty Bottle Chicago, IL #
May 10 – Beachland Tavern Cleveland, OH #
May 12 – Iron Horse Northampton, MA #
May 14 – Bowery Ballroom New York, NY #
May 15 – First Unitarian Church Philadelphia, PA #
May 16 – The Boot Norfolk, VA #

# with Samantha Crain

PS – How do you say Thao’s name, you ask?

[top image credit Sarah Cass]