Review: Thao, Indie Folk Rock Album of the Year

Thao

Album: Learn Better, Know Faster

Label: Kill Rock Stars

In early 2009 the venerable Kill Rock Stars was once again rewarded for good taste when Thao Nguyen’s much lauded second album became the label’s best seller of 2008. If that album, We Brave Bee Stings and All, was taking a playful distance on growing pains to adulthood, Thao & Co.‘s third album, Know Better, Learn Faster, is a creative, catchy, and often ironically emotive reflection on the timeless theme “love hurts.” It’s all in the title, as Thao explains on the Kill Rock Stars page for the album: “The album is namedKnow Better Learn Faster because you can’t. By the time you realize you should, it’s too late.” Continue...