Elements of Elegance.: Sound & Sensibility

Believe it or not, bandcamp and myspace music are absolutely marvelous tools to find great musicians.

Here's some of my aesthetically appealing favorites:

(Click on the giant captions to see the website)


Poplin

Poplin is as Frenchy as French-styled music gets. The songs are sung in English, but Poplin is somehow able to make the style of his songs sound French. The lead vocals in Poplin are sung by Bridget Low and Lilia Yip, but Koi is the creator of this music group and does some of the backup vocals. You'll get lost in the music and end up feeling like you're taking a stroll by the Louvre under the stars. (Or maybe it's just me.)

Inch Chua

Inch Chua has an absolutely beautiful and pure voice. For this reason, her songs sound lively and full of bounce. With a combination of fun acoustic and a bit of electronica (just thrown in every once in a while), I really don't think you can listen to her music without agreeing that she has a natural and raw talent for singing.

Songs for Cinema

Songs for Cinema is created by Jesse Chui who pretty much composes and writes his own music. All of these pieces are without vocals, but they pour out emotion. His work is impressive and completely enjoyable. This is the way to get lost in music. My favorite piece is "From Orphans to Royalty" in his album called A Steady Glow.

Colapesce

Colapesce is a band from Italy, that actually sings in Italian, so I never have any clue what they're singing about. Nevertheless, the group has soft and peaceful vocalists coupled with an indie style. My appeal for them mainly comes from the foreign language that they sing in, because Italian is just a pretty language.

Port Blue

Port Blue is a side project made by Adam Young (Yes, of Owl City). His compositions for Port Blue are ambient, but contain a sort of suspense and mystery, while still being calm and peaceful. The pieces from this are like nothing you've ever heard before, they're dreamy and imagination-inducing. I'd recommend listening to "Into the Sea", "Setting Sail", and "At Anchor".

Cady Groves

Cady Groves has a very beautiful country-sounding voice, but it works for her indie-styled music. Her natural singing and interesting lyrics all culminate towards the final product. Her first album A month of Sundays is really great. I absolutely love her songs "Phoenix" and "Changin' Me".

Updates

I think there is a general misconception that you write poems because you ‘have something to say.’ I think, actually, that you write poems because you have something echoing around in the bone-dome of your skull that you cannot say. Poetry allows us to hold many related tangential notions in very close orbit around each other at the same time. The ‘unsayable’ thing at the center of the poem becomes visible to the poet and reader in the same way that dark matter becomes visible to the astrophysicist. You can’t see it, but by measure of its effect on the visible, it can become so precise a silhouette you can almost know it.

-Rebecca Lindenberg

The Elements

Language - Words are the essence of life. Sure, a picture is worth a thousand words, but a string of words added together can convey so much meaning and emotion. I think poetry is fantastic, because it's so free and improvisational, yet it can give off so much life and reason. The simplicity and brevity of a poem makes it so much more enjoyable. Ever since I read House on Mango Street, vignettes have kind of been my favorite. It's simply beautiful.
Imagery - It always amazes me how much beauty there is in the world, and how our eyes can perceive it so easily. A picture captures this splendor in one second of time. There's so much that can happen in a photo - lighting, angle, color, timing, depth. It's pretty darn cool.
Movement - Film is like photography to the next level. It's not just a moment, but a coupla' moments altogether. And there's even more stuff you can do with video. The sequence of scenes, the timing, the zoom, angle, lighting, whatever. Film can contain so many implications that it's hard to keep track of all the feelings, but that's what's amazing about it.
Sound - Without the infinite different noises that we hear day to day and in music, life would be boring. And movies would lack all excitement and enjoyability. Somehow, sounds are able to convey meaning and feelings, and elevate them. It's kind of necessary to life.

It is these elements together that create the facets of the art that I so value. Even so, this is just a small piece of the lemon cake. There is so much more I can't contain in a small blog and so much more yet to discover.

The Purpose

Do I appreciate art? Absolutely.
Do I make my own? No doubt.
Am I skilled at it? I'm not at justice to say.
But I hope you can get a taste of my art and what I consider good art, righthere.
Art isn't just visual. It is linguistic, vocally and hearingly (?). It is still and moving. It is full of emotion and life.

Poetry and Photography are two of the biggest things I admire.
The way that poetry can capture strong feelings and a few words is so amazing. And photography is just so wide-ranging, I love it.

This is just a blog to show my artsy side and appreciation for the simple beauties in the world.
I would love to get all the feedback I can get. Constructive criticism is completely welcome, the best thing you can do for me is help me improve, by telling me what you like and what you don't.
I truly believe that anyone who takes the time to read these things I write and view the pictures I take has the great talent inside of them, or else you wouldn't be looking into what I make. It's an interest in these things that makes them look better in you. Sometimes, you are what you love.

I also have a more diary-like blog. Just ask if you want to read it (:

The Inspiration

The inspiration for the website name: modpodge hedgehog came from a book I read for English Class.
It's called Elegance of the Hedgehog and it's by Muriel Barbury. It's definitely an interesting read. It's fiction, but it involves travel, culture, philosophy, big words, and a cool title. Definitely recommend it, even though there are parts in it that I don't completely agree with. Though the ending may not feel satisfying for some, the parts that lead up to it are wonderfully written and elaborated on.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this as it easily invokes deeper thought and may help you realize how precious life is - and how you make it a life worth lived.

Elements of Elegance.

Elements

Sound & Sensibility

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