"I'm not a jerk. I'm Suzie."

3 more reasons to love The Narrative:

8tracks Playlist: For the Week of 3/30/09 - 4/5/09

Several months later, and I'm still mourning the digital loss of the original Muxtape site. Muxtape allowed anyone to upload songs and create a digital playlist that could be shared with friends, family, enemies, minions, etc. But alas, digital copyright laws, confusing as they are at this point in time, forced the original site to shut down. R.I.P., Muxtape.

But enough of that. 8tracks* is not my favorite thing, but it operates in the same way, though it does it legally.

So I'll be using 8tracks to share more songs both old and new, of all different genres, from artists of varying successes (and even talent, to be honest). My aim is to feature on a weekly basis a mix of songs that will make some people think, Why isn't/wasn't this a hit?

This week, there's a mix of rock (The Gaslight Anthem, Straylight Run), hip hop (Sufjan Stevens/Tor feat. Aesop Rock), indie (The Narrative), and pop (The Killers--back to their old selves!, Sam Sparro, The Ting Tings, and The White Tie Affair). I needed some variety this week. Hope you enjoy!



[*8tracks has many legal restrictions. It operates like the radio--there's a list of songs ready to be played, but they play randomly so the listener doesn't know which song plays next. For further details, check out the site's legal page.]

Ernest Hemingway Wishes He Wrote Songs Like This

Who needs a Kindle 2 when you can just listen to The Narrative?

Before the airwaves were conquered by breathy moaning, groaning, and "oh-oh-ohs"; or littered with countless songs bragging about money, bling, and junks in trunks, there was a time when songs told stories through music.

Just take a few minutes out of your day and give "The Moment That It Stops" a spin. Really listen to it, take it in, groove to it if you feel it in you. It's a fresh song, with a catchy drumbeat you could sway to, that tells a story of a relationship in the middle of a breakdown. The song sounds like a confessional; it's almost like we're eavesdropping in on this couple.

The male-female harmonies of lead vocalists Suzie and Jessie really elevate the song, even setting it apart from all of those other indie bands experimenting with male-female harmonies. There's an exchange after the second chorus where Suzie and Jessie take turns singing some of the most honest lyrics put to music in a while:

"[Jessie] I think a change is what I need
[Suzie] I thought you needed someone you knew you could trust entirely
[J] I've always been fine on my own
[S] I thought that you were growing tired of always feeling alone"

Ouuuccchhh. If you listen really closely during this part, you can hear hearts breaking in the background. Not really, but it's hard not to feel the hope leaving Suzie's voice after each line she sings, as her pleas are shot down one after the other, and punctuated by the unaffected tone to which Jessie responds to her. He even pulls an "It's not you, it's me" kind of line. I think that qualifies him to be a "douche." Grey's Anatomy wishes they had scenes this deep.

These guys know how to write really well. The lyrics to their songs are absolute poetry. It's just as wonderful to read The Narrative's lyrics as it is to listen to their music. If one thing is for certain about this band, it's that they won't be writing the next "Popozao." And like a good story, there's a tension that rises throughout the song and is wonderfully capped off with one perfect line that serves as the emotional climax, quickly followed by a resolution...of sorts. Think along the lines of Brandy and Monica's "The Boy Is Mine" (you know you love it).

Suzie, Jessie, Charlie, and Brandon can craft songs like it's nobody's business. Their Just Say Yes EP is their first release, and it's an impressive debut. It's filled with six songs that show a lot of promise. Think Death Cab for Cutie in its early days. With this debut, The Narrative proves that they can certainly gain a following the way that DCFC has. They're a local band (as their MySpace profile says, "We live on Long Island, we live in Manhattan, we live in Brooklyn"), and I believe that they have a lot more to offer us. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on them for years to come, and I'll be keeping track of them on here. According to their MySpace profile, they're still unsigned. Somebody get on that, please?

Listen to The Narrative's entire Just Say Yes EP on Facebook, MySpace, or purevolume.