happy new year/decade. what do you think we will call the years of this awkward decade? do you think we will call it “oh-ten” as we called last year “oh-nine” or do you think we will call it “twenty-ten”? awkward, right? whats not awkward is todays song, as it can be a mantra to live by for this new year. see how that all fits together? thao nguyen had never really caught my attention before, but she recently did a guest hosting stint with josiah, perhaps my favorite xmu dj, and it was only then that i realized i have a huge crush on her. besides being super cute and a musician, shes hella smart and ridiculously well spoken and uses crazy words that i would never think to use, but in a completely unpretentious way. thao, if youre reading this, i think you should come over one day and we can play guitar and mario kart together.

and then after i got an indie rock crush on her, i listened to some of her tunes and was really digging them, especially todays song, the title track of the recently released album. she said in the interview that “know better learn faster” is sort of an impossible request to demand of someone in a relationship. and this song is just super great both musically and lyrically. with the simple percussion, strings and guitar and the chorus “but i need you to be better than me/and you need me to do better than you”. thao, just as your partnership with kill rock stars started with a shot in the dark email, im expecting that this shot in the dark blog post will be the start of our partnership. just kidding. sort of. heres to a great 2010.

thao with the get down stay down – know better learn faster

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