Some bands have a distinguished sound. This is usually because of the voice of the singer and sometimes through antoher typical sound. I used to be able to recognise most bands after hearing just a few bars, but these times are gone. This is of course because of the dozens of new bands I hear every week. After a few weeks I'm not be able to recognise most of those bands, but I think I might be able to identify the music of Thao even in a few months.
Thao is Thao Nguyen and this 23 year old singer/guitarist/songwriter is from Virginia. Willis Thompson, Frank Stewart and Adam 'The OK BIRD' Thompson form her band The Get Down Stay Down. Thao and band have a very recognizable sound. First because of the voice of the front woman and the sound of the guitar and the often used banjo are also very noticeable. Her voice can't be called beautiful but it's a very fascinating voice which reminds me of the voice of Cat Power sometimes and it fits this music, which is somewhat related to Americana, perfectly.
The debut album "We Brave Bee Stings and All" from Thao will be released in a week or two at Kill Rock Stars. You can download two tracks from the band's website (one is also below). The other songs below are also from the CD but these are the versions Thao recorded in the summer of 2006 for her Daytrotter-session.
>mp3: Beat (Health, Life and Fire)
>mp3: Geography
>mp3: Feet Asleep