Customer Reviews

We Brave Bee Stings & All [Vinyl]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is simply a great album. Don't be put off by the one-star review. The reviewer complained about the quality of the recording and songwriting. Listen to the previews of the songs and you can hear there's nothing wrong with the quality of the recording. The simple fact is that some people can't enjoy any music if it's not artificial, over-processed Barbie-pop. This is a very tasteful album with solid performance and solid songwriting. It deserves much more than one star.

Thao Nguyen's second full-length album has anything a music-lover could ask for: catchy guitar-playing, clever lyrics, and most importantly, feeling. Thao's voice conveys emotion like few other singer-songwriters can. Her backing band, the Get Down Stay Down, add depth and interest to the sound without overwhelming the focal point of the songs - Thao's lyrics and the amazing voice she sings them with. It might take a few listens to figure out what the lyrics are saying, but it feels more like an intriguing mystery to solve than a chore. Is she talking about her childhood? Is it a metaphor for a relationship? What is this "Bag of Hammers" that the second track (and one of the best on the album) is named for? No matter what conclusions you reach, I guarantee that the listening process will be an enjoyable one!

I've been listening to "Bag of Hammers" over and over again ever since I first heard it in December. Thao does jangly pop in an original way. This is some of the finest new music I've heard in a long, long while. The entire album is a winner.

My daughter introduced me to Thao Nguyen's music with her first CD a couple of years ago and I am greatly impressed with the growth young Ms. Nguyen shows on this second fine collection of original songs. It's certainly aimed more at the generation of listeners who have made the "Juno" movie soundtrack a bestseller than at people my age, but I find Thao's music extremely personal and original, and the addition of more musicians and an obviously sympathetic producer make this disc a big step forward.

David Dye of Public Radio International's prestigious "World Cafe Live" broadcast sang the praises of Thao Nguyen and her band last week and music critic David Malitz of THE WASHINGTON POST recently wrote that "a refreshing vibrancy permeates Thao Nguyen's splendid sophomore album." My only complaint personally is that the total time of the disc is a bit short, so maybe next time around Ms. Nguyen and her band can relax a bit and stretch out the songs to add a few minutes.

On the other hand, her "less is more" approach works well with a fragile, spare delivery that draws the listener nearer. The songs not only benefit from repeated listenings, they demand as much.

Ah, the power of YouTube. I was cruising the web a few months back and stumbled upon a video of Thao Nguyen singing her then most recent single, the hand-clapping, foot-stomping, beat-boxing BAG OF HAMMERS. I was pleasantly stung. So, after pulling up all of her other videos and giving them a listen, I bought the CD, WE BRAVE BEE STINGS AND ALL. Take my word, this is an album that you will want to listen to from beginning to end. From the opening chords of BEAT (HEALTH, LIFE AND FIRE), to the closing strains of WE GO, Thao's quirky, original voice, offbeat lyrics and bouncy, diversified melodies will grab your attention and keep it. Her Virginia based roots clearly show through her use of banjo, mandolin and other 'folk music' related instruments. People have labeled Thao an "indie-rock" artist. I have no idea what 'indie rock' means. Back in the 1960's we would've called this "folk-rock". But, like many of the great artists of that bygone era, it's dangerous to try and pigeon-hole Thao's style. There's a hint of rock, jazz, bluegrass, traditional folk, Asian undertones, pure Americana, rhythm and blues, Dixie-land jazz, punk and catchy-pop all folded into a recipe of fairly delectable sounds that come out of the musical oven as purely Thao.

On WE BRAVE BEE STING AND ALL, Thao gets fairly introspective and self-deprecating. This is an album, so Thao says, about growing up and owning up to past mistakes and the sins of omission. While it's unusual, at first, to hear downer lyrics coupled with upbeat melodies, in a way it is a healing process. If you can sing away your blues with upbeat melodies and come out of it whole, what's so bad about that?

In BEAT, (HEALTH, LIFE AND FIRE) and FEET ASLEEP, Thao sings about her parents. "Oh, how could they be liars?" Thao asks, alluding to her father who abandoned the family when Thao was only 12 years old. FEET ASLEEP is a song dedicated to Thao's mother who single-handedly raised the family by working in her laundry business from sunup to sundown without complaining. So in the song, Thao complains for her.

SWIMMING POOLS, probably the most talked about song on the album and its most recent single, is based upon one of Thao's true life experiences where Thao is exposed by some of her so-called 'friends' to witnessing the degradations of a wet tee-shirt contest. Says Thao: "It was spring break and my friends persuaded me to go to this beach town. I don't even like wearing a bathing suit. This was so depressing, total objectification. These incredibly drunk women walked down a runway and got sprayed, and the guys stood on a balcony and cheered or booed them off stage depending on how big their breasts are. The power dynamic was so unsettling." The song is an anthem for women who want to face up to and then change the way females are victimized by society so that future generations will not have to endure the same crap. "We brave bee sting and all," Thao sings, "and we don't dive, we cannonball, and we splash our eyes full of chemicals, just so there's none left for little girls."

It's been a long while since I've discovered a new artist that's worth listening to. And, in a time in music history when the generic sounds of AMERICAL IDOL winners are considered 'music', Thao Nguyen's offerings come across like a refreshing glass of water.

Thao Nguyen came pretty much out of nowhere with her 2006 debut album "Like the Linen" which was a pleasant introduction to her folk-rock type music. After endless touring now comes Thao's second album.

On "We Brave Bee Stings and All" (11 tracks, 33 min.) Thao and her excellent backing band The Get Down Stay Down expand on the sound of the debut album, with great result. Check out the opener "Beat (Health, Life and Fire)" and even better the second track "Bag of Hammers", which is just bouncy and beautiful. Many of the songs are short, Thao makes her musical (and lyrical) point, and moves on to the next. Other highlights include "Geography", "Fear and Convenience", the best track on the album (which reminds me of somehow of John Mayer's "Why Georgia") with revelatory lines like "My legs are on your bed so I do not think about her/but tell me/did he hurt you/in a new way?", and "Travel", but there really are no weak tracks on here. And at 33 min. this album clips by in no time, and you find yourself playing this again and again. A terrific album all around.

I had the chance to catch Thao and the Get Down Stay Down in concert last week, and they put on a great show, bringing a lot of the "We Brave Bee Stings" album. Thao was in a great mood, interacting with the crowd, just a terrific set. "We Brave Bee Stings and All" is a great album, and Thao is a talent to be watched.

Wow, this is a GREAT album! I first got introduced to Thao from listening to another talented artist named Mirah. If you haven't checked her out yet, be sure to do so. Anyhow, like most albums there are a couple of tracks that I don't much care for, but just a couple and I have a feeling they will grow on me. Overall, this CD is 4/5 and definitely worth the buy. It is great to listen to the whole way through. She uses a variety of instruments, sounds like banjo, ukelele, guitar, various percussion. It's pretty dynamic, much more so that just drums,bass and guitar. It's very upbeat so you'll wanna bump around a bit and it will probably brighten your day. It does mine at least.
Favorite Tracks; Beat, Bag of Hammers, Swimming Pools, Feet Asleep, Fear and Convenience, Travel, Big Kid Table.

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

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My father passed away in early January, and I can honestly say that last month when I listened to "Bag of Hammers" and watched the clay animation of it on YouTube I felt like an angel had come to lift me up on her wings. That she's Asian too (as am I) made me feel even better-- I really do think it's something that comes across in her songs-- a kind of Vietnamese bluesiness that's defiant and sensual and strong. Thank you, Thao you are one MELLIFEROUS woman & I hope I get to share a bowl of pho with you some day! Ben Huang

Who would guess 2'31" could seem such a long time? If you spend it listening to Beat, it seems like an eternity: the same rhythmic bass figure and pentatonic pitch set over and over again. There is no melodic, harmonic or rhythmic originality here. The band is just plain out of tune in Big Kid Table. And the jangly guitar, yuck. The vocal technique is poor and her diction is poor. The recording engineering sounds like a mic set up in a garage (although in Yes, So On and So On, there is a little reverb on the voice). Woe is me that we're living through a time period when the current "sound" is so crude and amateurish. I think poor technique is mistakenly interpreted as honesty and integrity. Bah! Don't be so easily fooled. Happily, pop trends these days tend to only last a year or so. You want unpolished integrity, go listen to your kid brother practice for his piano lesson. In the meantime, I'll keep searching for good music and good music performance.