I'm still looking for sureness in the way I say my name

[nprmusic]

It’s still July, which means it’s still National Ice Cream Month! 

The Music Team (including the interns) enjoyed…a few or more to the sounds of their favorite ice cream themed song. What’s yours?

[mmesophiefrances]

im in this!!

[mmesophiefrances]

hey all! just fyi im not using this blog too much anymore! 

i have a portfolio now which you can follow and stay updated with the writing i’m doing.

things have been really really good for me, thanks for all of your support

sophiefkemp.com

[sign5l-deactivated20160921]

000783.

Beach House - Bloom (2012)

www.beachhousebaltimore.com

[mmesophiefrances]

Opening up about having major depression not to glamorize it but for my own survival and with the hope that my honesty one day will help others survive too. 

That’s all for tonight. Just needed to put my thoughts somewhere

[mmesophiefrances]

at the office today

[fifidunks]

Yes, but those subjects were all of my own choosing. I’ve hardly ever written anything on commission. I am not at all interested in writing about work I don’t admire. And even among what I’ve admired, by and large I’ve written only about things I felt were neglected or relatively unknown. I am not a critic, which is something else than an essayist; I thought of my essays as cultural work. They were written out of a sense of what needed to be written.

Sontag at your service (via The Paris Review)

[mmesophiefrances]

the best piece of advice I have ever been given from another music writer went something along the lines of “No one opens a door for you and says ‘You’re  a genius! Come Right in!’ you have to open those doors for yourself” this is taken out of context but you get the idea. This has kept me going for months. I like my writing now. 

[mmesophiefrances]

Today I experienced the feeling of total happiness and gratitude, something I have not felt in a very long time. I have a long way to go in some senses (I’m still on shaky footing with mental illness but am looking upwards) and in others (career aspirations and otherwise) I am so close. Feels good. 

Sorry for not posting on here very often. A lot has happened and a lot is a good thing. Hopefuly some updates later this week

[mmesophiefrances]

The sumptuous reverb, a regular feature of her work, comes in this instance from architecture, rather than any trick of circuitry or silicon. That's no effects pedal, our ears tell us; that's an overpass.

Philip Sherburne on the new Julianna Barwick album

sorry this blog is literally just pieces of writing that i love and are an inspiration of how i hope to one day write 

ughhh this is gorgeous. also a marvelous album 

[mmesophiefrances]

And while there were always themes of New York state iconography running through the band's disjointed discography-- the Coney Island Cyclone, the Rockettes, Bronx cheers-- Deserter's Songs projected an especially vivid sense of place, casting a set of intimate, romantic narratives against the staggering natural beauty of the band's upstate New York surroundings.

Stuart Berman on the reissue of Mercury Rev’s ‘Deserter’s Songs’ 

One of the reasons I love love love this album (other than that it is an orchestral space rock masterpiece) is that it is kind of situated as a love letter to upstate New York. “Catskill Mansions, Buried Dreams” takes on a whole new meaning when I also share the hundreds of miles of expanse that rests above New York City. “Endless Ends” is more about long childhood drives than it is about say, long conversations with a lover

but how does that old song go?

[mmesophiefrances]

i’ve been listening to sharpless all day and it’s left me feeling tragic and dangerous 

[mmesophiefrances]

*listens to industrial rock once*

i am deep into finals and am in my most tragic form. 

[mmesophiefrances]

Setlist: Be Proud Of Your Kids final airing

My last airing of Be Proud Of Your Kids this semester. I just played all of my favorite songs. Thanks for your support :) 

1) Love Like A Sunset Pt 1- Phoenix

2) This is a True Heart- Julia Holter

3) Heart of Chambers- Beach House

4) Heaven or Las Vegas- Cocteau Twins

5) Opus 40- Mercury Rev

6) Apology 2- Salmon 

7) Spoiled- Infinity Crush

8) Sleep My Pretties- Swanning

9) Endless Shore- Melody’s Echo Chamber

10) All Around And Away We Go- Mr. Twin Sister

11) Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space- Spirtualized

12) Bells Ring- Mazzy Star

13) Crown of Love- Arcade Fire

[mmesophiefrances]

Words: S. Frances Kemp Nothing is new under the sun for Free Cake For Every Creature. Childhood towns become big cities, muffins are a dinner food and being in your early 20s is scary. It’s ok to be sad and sometimes stress baking is the only actual solution to your woes. These little ideas about growing up and trying on life, make up the gooey center of Free Cake’s second full-length album Talking Quietly of Anything With You. The album opens up with a song that shares the title of the album. Bennett is figuring things out for herself in the opening. The song starts with a simple chord progression and moves into hushed vocals. Bennett’s nervous, it’s her first summer in a city and everything feels new. This kind of simple sentiment is something I can relate to. It’s that feeling of finally being just old enough to comprehend that you’re on your own and it’s up to you to find your way, both in terms of topography and in the cheesy, metaphorical sense, as 20-somethings are beaten over the head with a copy of Oh the Place You’ll Go. The song eventually breaks into a quiet play between drums, guitar, and a second set of vocals. Things never get more complicated, sonically, than the addition of a bass line or a set of drums nodding off in the back. That being said, things don’t need to. "So Much Strange to Give" is a highlight on the album and shows off the band’s ability to be musically versatile. It plays a little bit with some of the conventions of surf rock but is ultimately grounded in the tender pop lyricism that pulls this album together. Bennett’s world under the Free Cake moniker is a simple and glorious one. Like most of the bedroom pop coming off of Double Double Whammy in the past few years it is about the diaristic quality. Talking Quietly presents a world where we talk about the things we draw and the little moments of bliss that come from riding your bike. It is an album that follows a tradition as old as Free Design in the 60s and popularized again in the 90s and early 2000s by bands like the Softies and Dear Nora. There is something so special, in an age of sound effects pedals and electronics about DIY minimalism. It’s evocative of the way we tell stories to our friends. It’s ok to dial it down once in a while. After all, Bennett would just rather draw chubby cows in her journal. talking quietly of anything with you by free cake for every creature

I wrote this review of the new free cak album for the Grey Estates! Check it out!!

[nprmusic]

Florist: Tiny Desk

Florist sing quiet, delicate songs filled with vivid memories. Hear their Tiny Desk concert, filled with small moments of great beauty.

[mmesophiefrances]

A Gentle Revolution for A Gentle Kisser: A Playlist

What I’m listening to this week featuring my two favorite things: kissing and twee pop

Everything’s Cool- R. L Kelly

All You Gotta Be When You’re 23 Is Yourself- Free Cake For Every Creature

When We Get There- Modern Charms

All My Little Words- The Magnetic Fields

I’m 20- Frankie Cosmos

Jorge Regula- The Moldy Peaches

I Think I’m Old Enough- Adult Mom

Katherine- Infinity Girl

Interference Fits- Perfect Pussy

All The Colors of the Dark- Marissa Nadler

Heart of Chambers- Beach House

Opus 40- Mercury Rev

Into the Mystic- Van Morrison

La Vie en Rose- Edith Piaf

Prank Calls- Kelley Stoltz

Spoiled- Infinity Crush

The Punks Are Writing Love Songs- Tullycraft

Are You Kissing Anyone?- Saturday Looks Good To Me

[mmesophiefrances]

I start working at NPR in just over a month??? 

life’s sweet y’all