Album: Thao, Know Better, Learn Faster (Kill Rock Stars)

Reviewed by Simmy Richman

Sunday 10 January 2010

Print
A A A
Related articles
Suggested Topics

We Brave Bee Stings and All, Thao Nguyen's 2008 album with her band the Get Down Stay Down, was that year's best-selling record on the Kill Rock Stars label and something of a breakthrough.

Its follow-up, Know Better, Learn Faster, is no less lovely in spite of the fact that it is this young Vietnamese-American's break-up album. The Pitchfork-perfect quirky pop (think Bat for Lashes-lite) is never dampened by the subject matter, and if that can feel a little odd, the album closer reminds us that "sad people dance too".

Comments

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Arts & Ents blogs

Children’s Books: Recommended read – ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness

Thirteen-year-old Conor awakes in bed one night to discover that the yew tree outside his house has ...

Made in Chelsea – Series 5, Episode 11: Louise plays and wins at Spencer’s game

It’s hard not to feel sorry for doe-eyed Andy. He spends months pining after Louise, has huge nostr...

The Returned: ‘Simon’ – Series 1, episode 2

Fragility of life looms large over an episode that closes with the scarring on Julie's stomach. Whil...

       
SPONSORED FEATURES

Get your summer started with British Military Fitness

BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes

M&S prizes Rosetta Stone Nook
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

How will you make today delicious?

Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.

Military Fitness Rosetta Stone Nook
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

Learn a new language

Add another string to your bow with Rosetta Stone, whether it's Spanish, Italian or Mandarin...

Military Fitness M&S prizes Nook
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

Making reading fun for kids

Nook is donating eReaders to volunteers at high-need schools and participating in exclusive events throughout the campaign.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Get reading Prizes & offers Business videos

Introducing the 'Get Reading' campaign

Get the latest on The Evening Standard's campaign to get London's children reading.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Nook Prizes & offers Business videos

Enter the latest Independent competitions

Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Nook Get reading Business videos

Business videos from commercial thought leaders

Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.

Military Fitness M&S prizes Rosetta Stone
Nook Get reading Prizes & offers
 

ES Rentals

    Beards, brawn and body art

    Beards, brawn and body art

    Meet London’s new batch of male models
    Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

    Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

    British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
    Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

    The Great Green Wall of Africa,

    Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
    Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

    Laughter Inc

    The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
    The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

    The bad science scandal

    How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
    To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

    Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

    A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
    Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

    In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

    Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
    Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

    Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

    English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
    Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

    Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

    Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends
    Incredible edible: Guerrilla gardeners are planting veg for the masses in West Yorkshire

    Incredible edible: Guerrilla gardeners

    Holly Williams joins the volunteers who have turned a small town into a thriving community with a guerrilla gardening scheme that has provided a blueprint for sustainability.
    Seasoned to taste: The restaurants that draw happy diners back year after year

    Seasoned to taste: Food institutions

    In an industry famed for short-lived success and pop-up pretenders, it takes something special to stick around.
    Anatomy of a waiter: Service staff spill the secrets of their trade

    Anatomy of a waiter: Staff spill their secrets

    Next Sunday is the first ever National Waiters' Day. To celebrate, we share tales from the restaurant trenches by those in the front line.
    Drink in the sun: The season's best wines

    Drink in the sun: The season's best wines

    From complex English sparkling wine to juicy Sicilian reds...
    Iran election: Farewell Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, we’ll miss you – but not that much...

    Robert Fisk

    Farewell Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, we’ll miss you – but not that much...
    India sends its final telegram -(Stop)-

    After 163 years India sends its final telegram -(Stop)-

    Mobile phones and the internet have superseded the once-essential service