By WSN Music Desk Staff
Check out what WSN’s Music Desk is listening to this week.
“Cracks In the Floor of Heaven” – Oh Honey
Before the Brooklyn natives take on The Studio at Webster Hall Wednesday night, check out a track from their 2014 EP “Sincerely Yours.” The duo has a way of perfectly articulating how you feel when you’re stumbling through the process of figuring out life and falling into/out of love. “Cracks,” with its plethora of inspirational lyrics and touching balance of strings and guitar that swell and build effectively throughout, is one of their best. If the line “maybe the cracks in the floor of heaven are the stars in the sky” doesn’t give you those emotional feels, I don’t know what will. – Rachel A.G. Gilman, Staff Writer
“You, In Weird Cities” – Jeff Rosenstock
There’s a very familiar, drunken-teenage-nights-in-suburbia, pop punk vibe in former Bomb the Music Industry frontman Jeff Rosenstock’s new album “We Cool?” It’s very tired and bitter, almost as though Jeff is now looking back on his teenage years and living vicariously through his memories as a young, stupid kid. His take on the genre and his subject is angry, exciting, and unceasingly passionate. His calls of “when I listen to your records/It’s like I’m making out with you” invoke those fuzzy feelings you had towards the totally punk girl you used to like in your math class in 10th grade that you haven’t felt in a while. Sure, you may be 26, working a 9-5, and don’t see her anymore; but what’s wrong with reliving the past every now and then? – Kieran Graulich, Staff Writer
“Representing Memphis” – Booker T. Jones
From its smoky, odd-couple duet to the breathtakingly glistening groove, “Representing Memphis” is the crown jewel in a severely under-listened record. Jones, a Stax Records veteran, updates his sizzling organ aesthetic with The Roots behind him and soul singer Sharon Jones and Matt Berninger of the National on vocals, proving definitively that when you’ve written “Green Onions” you get to do pretty much whatever you want. The song, like most of the album, is a good-times record, but also a subtle musing on the ecology of the city and the people that give it, well, soul. – Zane Warman, Staff Writer
“Wuthering Heights” – Kate Bush
“Wuthering Heights” an iconic soundbite of Kate Bush’s peculiar soprano and, regarding the video, an iconic image of her amazingly bizarre dance moves. The serious lyrics and chilling story sung in Bush’s almost comically wispy voice makes “Wuthering Heights” a juxtaposition of austere and frightening. Covers by Hayley Westenra and others lack this unique and almost uncomfortable quality that makes the original an instant classic. Bush pairs her song with a dance of equal ghostliness to Emily Bronte’s story, which is fitting, as the song is sung from the perspective of the ghost of Cathy as she addresses a wretched Heathcliffe. “Wuthering Heights” captures the nuance of the literary classic with ’70s hippiness. – Audrey Deng, Entertainment Editor
“Split & Fly” – EASTER
Staccato synth-pop is at its finest when sung by a duo of German weirdos. “Split & Fly,” one of the standout tracks from EASTER’s 2012 release, “The Softest Hard,” features hushed vocals, trippy lyrics, and a minimal electronic production overlaid by a drum beat. The introspective lyrics talk about two lovers chasing each other through the world, being with everyone but each other, and finally ending up together. Rather than make love a dream, it brings the concept to reality: “As the white noise takes you back into heavy sleep/ you will till real life wakes you, together take a leap.” With a balanced song about a journey of love in the outside world with a production that beckons inward retrospection, this dreamy duo’s unique take on love is not to be overlooked. – E.R. Pulgar, Music Editor
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