Mac Review Cast

Artist - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Title - We Brave Bee Stings and All
Hometown - SF CA, Fall Church VA
Label - Kill Rock Stars
Street Date - Out Now
RIYL - old Cat Power, Liz Phair, Juliana Hatfield (Blake Babies), Rebecca Gates, Lois, Mary Lou Lord, Kaia, Death Vessel
Favorite Songs - They are all good which makes it nearly impossible to pick a favorite.
Richter Magnitude Scale - Major

Put down your new Chan Marshall record and walk away from it. That's right, just walk away and don't look back. Meet Thao who has created your new favorite record and a much better record than the new lack luster heavy on the production Cat Power. I hate to pit artist against artist but Thao Nguyen has the charisma and charm that Chan has lost somewhere along the way.

And shame on cokemachineglow for going the cute girl route in their review. It started with a fair point of reference in explaining how looks play a more important roll than ever for women in music but the last two lines made me squirm a little.

"If Nguyen’s next album improves on Bee Stings as much as that album improved on Like the Linen, I doubt I’ll have much cause for complaint at all. Or much of a reason to mention her looks."

In a perfect world I don't think we should ever be discussing attractiveness when it comes to music makers. Real artists deserve better than that and Thao deserves more respect than that. We don't talk about men who make music in the indie world that way so why should we head down that path for the ladies?

And lastly for you RVA locals - check out what I learned from Wikipedia:

"Thao Nguyen and Willis Thompson met Adam Thompson (no relation) during a show at the Harrison Street Coffee Shop in Richmond, Virginia. At the time, Adam Thompson was performing as a solo jazz-influenced act under the moniker The OK Bird. "