I must study music if I study art

ust as history inspires my art, so does my passion for music - I'm involved in our school's choir program, and I also like to write my own music in my spare time. More importantly, I have many different modern musicians that I listen to, and listening to them often inspires my work. Here's a few that I don't think you guys have heard of - you should check 'em out.

1. Cloud Cult

These guys are crazy. They use tons of synthesizers, a violin, and a cello on top of the traditional guitar-bass-drums combination. Their lyrics are very unique and heartfelt. One of their songs, Everybody Here is a Cloud, inspired my "unity project" from the beginning of the year (people with the censor bars):

And everybody here is a crowd,

we each walk around with a million faces.

Somebody turn the lights out.

There's so much more to see

in the darkest places.

2. Crystal Castles

These guys are freakin' insane. No, really. They're on coke. They use a vocoder and do kind of weird, trip-hop, techno-y stuff. Sort of an acquired taste. They were also a big part of inspiring my unity project. You can see why in the lyrics to one of their best songs, Crimewave:

Eyes lit,

I want short breaths.

I found dark eyelids.

Nice breasts,

like the summer into rough hands.

3. Arcade Fire

You guys actually may have heard of these guys. One of their songs, Wake Up, was used in the promos for Spike Jonze's "Where The Wild Things Are." This same song was a big part of inspiring my first self-guided, because of its eccentricness and sick beat:

If the children don't grow up,
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms turnin' every good thing to rust.
I guess we'll just have to adjust.