Modest Mouse Possess Virginian Woman, Make Beautiful Music

Okay, raise your hand if you thought there was a new Modest Mouse song playing on the radio lately? Don’t be shy, raise those arms. Well, I was along for that ride, but I never knew the song title – and of course the DJs would never actually say what the song was. So in search of a title, I went to the WRSI web site looking for the playlist. And there it was – “Bag of Hammers” (as in “dumb as a…”) by Modest… no, really? Not Modest Mouse? Or for that matter, not even a male vocalist? Huh.

So who was it? A singer by the name of Thao - her last name is Nguyen, but that’s as unnecessary as a surname for Prince, thank you. Her band is The Get Down Stay Down, and all together they sound a whole lot like the aforementioned rodent band – in the best of ways. Looking them up this morning, I found that their new album, We Brave Bee Stings and All was just released. It’s Thao’s second album, but the first with this band.

Listening to a couple of quick snippets on their MySpace page, I’m hooked. Check them out now, while they might still be on the club scene – I’ve got a feeling they’re going to take off quick…