by Moses Namkung

There are bands that look like they're having a blast on stage and there are bands that turn into dried fecal matter once they hit the floorboards. We remember the first time we saw Built to Spill when we were barely out of high school. Frontman Doug Martsch, like, stood there. The entire time. He looked as engaging as an Excel monkey trapped in a cubicle on cold Monday.

But Thao Nguyen, leader of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down (... TwtGDSD? Er.... scratch that, we'll just go with Thao et. al), what with her rocking out, whimsical audience interaction, and cowboy boots, enjoys performing in front of a crowd. Really, she loves an audience. At one point, during her last song before the encore, she invited fans onto the stage, resulting in fifteen or so audience members joining Thao et. al to play instruments, sing, or bang a couple of drumsticks together.