Thao and the Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn FasterI've avoided writing about Thao and the GDSD because two members of the band (including Thao) went to the same school I did and are friends of friends. I don't know why that would make a difference (it's not like there's a conflict of interest here), but it made it difficult to think about their music without also pulling into the mix tons of memories about seeing shows at school, playing in barely-extant bands, etc. I've seen Thao and the band play near a small, green pond, in the back of a cramped record store, and, most recently, at an amphitheatre poised on the edge of a very pretty lake. They always play hard and look like they're having fun. They're pretty much what I imagine when I think about how great and terrible it could be to be in a band with one's friends--something about their dynamic is terribly seductive, but I know, from what I've heard, that's it's tough, of course it's tough. The line on the most recent album, "Know Better Learn Faster," was that it was the result of a long break-up, and that the songs at first, in demo form, were (understandably) pretty fucking dour. But listen to this one! Unbelievable how your friends can help you turn your most leaden miseries into something bright, precise and kinetic.[Buy Know Better Learn Faster]