Thao With The Get Down Stay Down
We Brave Bee Stings & All
Kill Rockstars






Thao With the Get Down Stay Down is one of a number of bands making folk young again. They blur lines, sounding a bit like a Rock & Roll marching band fronted by acoustic guitars.

As an album, We Brave Be Stings & All sounds like a good kind of silly, even if the lyrics are not. The songs roll and bounce forward putting a layer of powdered sugar on lyrics that tend to be opaque. Even after three or four listens, it can be hard to say if when Thao Nguyen sings, “We splash our eyes full of chemicals/Just so there’s none left for little girls” she means to be quirky or disturbing.

Overall, WBBS&A is fun, and a good kind of catchy, though by the end of the album the songs can be a bit repetitive.

--Gidalya




Priscilla Ahn
A Good Day
Blue Note Records






A few days before receiving this album, I was flickering through itunes and listening to samples of it--excited to buy the album off the 30-second clips. The album is even better in it's full length. Poetic as it sounds, the album plays like sunshine. The song "Red Cape" repeats the lyric "just got to let it go" enough times that it should be annoying. But instead, it's comforting. The album is reminiscent of a meshing between Fiona Apple and Liz Phair-but with a folk twist. "I Don't Think So" is another standout on the album. The song itself sounds like the perfect track for any movie soundtrack. You can see the character walking down the street with a smile on their face and the world on their shoulders. Even the mellower "Leave the Light On" fills the album with light. If you're looking for an album to brighten your mood, do not hesitate to put A Good Day into your player!

--Tania Katherine