Megaherz - 5. März

I heard this German band first from a pretty popular AMV for Naruto (which you can watch here), for which they used this song. I wanted it so badly I bought their album with it, which was expensive because it was out-of-print AND a foreign import, without hearing any other songs by them. Fortunately, I ended up really liking the album so it wasn't a bad investment. I really like a lot of their songs, so I just went with this one since it was the first one I heard.
Note: I can’t embed the video, which has HD, but I have the link to it. Also, if you don’t understand German, but you can read Hungarian, you can read the lyrics translation provided in the video! :-D

Megaherz - 5. März [March 5]:
http://youtu.be/unF7fXUDYVY

Ana Tijoux - 1977

I heard this hip hop song in an episode of the excellent TV series Breaking Bad (which I’ve been watching obsessively). Here is the scene where it's used. I can’t understand all the lyrics because they go too fast for my subpar Spanish skills, but her flow sounds really good! Even if you can’t understand what she’s saying, just the rhythm of the words is pleasing to listen to. I found out this song was pretty successful as a single, and this artist used to be part of an extremely successful hip hop group in Chile. Nice! This song is about the emcee’s life. (She was born in 1977.)
Note: Video has HD!

Ana Tijoux - 1977:

Paul Haslinger feat. Sussan Deyhim & Nona Hendryx - Beginning to End

Usually I learn about songs from TV shows, but in this case I learned about a TV show from a song. A friend in high school burned some CDs for me with music she liked, including this track. I looked it up and found out it was from the soundtrack of the American TV series Sleeper Cell, which I finished watching a few months ago. The show has a pretty grandiose soundtrack, and this song is no exception. I initially didn’t know who either of the vocalists of this song were by name, but when I looked up their info I found that both of them are really accomplished artists and I probably should have known who they were before.

Paul Haslinger feat. Sussan Deyhim & Nona Hendryx – Beginning to End:

Ella Fitzgerald - Mack the Knife

Her vibrato is sooooooo delicious. And of course this is live and still virtually flawless. I don't care for this music genre much, but her singing is so great it makes up for it. No wonder people still talk about her!

Ella Fitzgerald - Mack the Knife:

Apocalyptica feat. Ville Valo & Lauri Ylönen - Bittersweet

The main artist is a Finnish rock band consisting of 3 cellists. They seriously headbang while playing the cello. Cellos are so hardcore, man!! A lot of their stuff is just instrumental, which suits me fine, but I think this song is pretty. Ville Valo is the lead singer of the Finnish band HIM, and Lauri Ylönen is the lead singer of the Finnish band The Rasmus. So it’s a big Finnish rock collaboration! I think their voices sound really good together, with Ville’s signature baritone voice and Lauri’s comparably high register.
Note: HD!

Apocalyptica feat. Ville Valo & Lauri Ylönen - Bittersweet:

Agnes Monica - Cinta Diujung Jalan

Another song by this Indonesian artist! This time a sad, pretty one. I would karaoke this song if I had the opportunity! I think the music video is exceptionally pretty, for some reason, so I’m including it.

Agnes Monica - Cinta Diujung Jalan [Love at the End of the Road]:


And here's the MV:

JJ Lin - 进化论

It’s this talented Singaporean artist again! I love his voice SO much. I like a lot of his ballads, but his more upbeat songs like this one are great too.  He seems to have a thing for the sci-fi theme, because the previous song I posted by him was about a robot, and this is supposed to sound futuristic.

JJ Lin A.K.A. 林俊傑 - 进化论 [Jin Hua Lun - Metamorphosis]:

Sugababes - Too Lost in You

Can't say I'm a fan of this British girl group, since I’ve only heard a handful of their songs and this is the only one that really stuck to me, but this song has a nice melody and their voices are nice. I don’t know exactly how, but I’ve heard this song numerous times before (maybe on the radio?) and I like it.  I don’t think they're as big here in the U.S., but from their discography it looks like they are pretty successful elsewhere. They have released a lot of music (and evidently are still at it), yet I almost never hear of them.
Note:  Video has hi-def!

Sugababes - Too Lost in You:

2pac - Dear Mama

Seriously, who doesn’t have love for 2pac? Behold, the hip hop legend that it seems every modern rapper aspires to be and compares himself to. Such a huge cultural icon, I suspect a lot of his popularity is owed to his appeal to a range of audiences, since he mixed social consciousness with an authentic “thug” mentality. I believe this is the song that made me pay attention to him. Even though he passed away long before I actively listened to hip hop, he was one of the first hip hop artists I listened to, because his songs played on hip hop radio stations constantly (and still do). One day I was in the car listening to the radio, and this song was on and I for once heard the lyrics. I said, “Wow, this song is actually pretty meaningful!” The family babysitter, who was driving, said, “Yeah, a LOT of 2pac’s songs have a good meaning!” So then I started listening. Last week was the 15-year anniversary of his death, but you can tell he’s left such an indelible mark on our culture by the fact that I still regularly hear people talking about him or hear his music blasting out of cars driving by. R.I.P. Tupac Shakur.

2pac - Dear Mama:

Sarah Riani - Intouchable

Wowwwwwww, what a great voice. I stand impressed. I came across this artist on YouTube within the past year when I was looking for French music. I found the video of her performing this song live first, so I’ma post that too.

Sarah Riani - Intouchable [Untouchable]:


And the live:

The Idan Raichel Project - בואי

I found this artist through a YouTube channel that uploaded random songs. I think the sung parts are in Hebrew, performed by Idan Raichel. I don’t know who the people reciting the Amharic parts are, but I’m assuming they’re Ethiopian. Just so you know, because of the reversing script, this post was a pain in the neck to format.
Note: There are Polish (I think) subtitles in the video, in case that helps at all? :-P

The Idan Raichel Project A.K.A. בואי - הפרוייקט של עידן ריי [Bo'i - Come]:

Natu - Gram Duszy

I heard about this Polish singer through a music recommendation column on a blog. She has such a nice, soulful voice! I was sifting through a few songs by her on YouTube and especially liked this one.

Natu - Gram Duszy [Grams of Soul]:

MUCC - 輝く世界

This is one of my favorite songs by this Japanese band. I don’t know why I like this particular song so much. It wasn’t a single of this artist’s or anything, but right from the beginning, the first time I listened to it, it grabbed my attention. Fun fact: two people I didn’t know friended me on Facebook solely because I went to the same school as them and listed this band among my favorite music artists.

MUCC - 輝く世界 [Kagayaku Sekai - Glittering World]:

Meredith Braun & Michael Caine - When Love is Gone

Who would suspect a song from a Muppets movie would be so pretty? This is a part of my childhood because I watched the movie this song is from, The Muppet Christmas Carol, when I was, like... 10. I don't really remember the storyline that triggered this song, but I somehow NEVER forgot the song itself.

Meredith Braun & Michael Caine - When Love is Gone:


Here’s the clip from the movie:

Wheesung - Insomnia

As much as I like Craig David's voice, I think I prefer this cover by this Korean R&B singer, whom I've posted music by before. (Apparently this song has since been covered by a few more Korean singers, for some reason.) I think the music video looks pretty cool too, so I'm using it. Black & white!
Note: The vid’s in HD. It also says it has English subs, but I can’t get the closed captions to work these days.

Wheesung A.K.A. 휘성 - Insomnia:

Katie Costello - Stranger

My friend recommended this song to me after hearing it in the show Switched at Birth a couple months ago. It reminds me of Sarah McLachlan's style, and I think it’s quite pretty. Haunting piano!  Oh, and I just found out this artist is only 20 years old.
Note: Also HD!

Katie Costello - Stranger:

Fischerspooner - Money Can't Dance

I heard this song in one of those funny Chloë Sevigny parody videos (this one, to be exact). Weird song in a weird YouTube video; good stuff. I guess quite a few people found this song through that video. I listened to a few other songs by this artist and I liked them, too, but I decided to go with the first one I listened to.

Fischerspooner - Money Can't Dance:

Do As Infinity - 真実の詩

I don't remember ever seeing the MV before, but I really like something about it so I'm including it. This was actually one of the first Japanese songs I ever acquired; I heard it because it was an ending theme song for the anime InuYasha, which I used to watch on TV years ago. That series introduced me (and a lot of other people) to a number of popular music artists in J-pop, like Ayumi Hamasaki, Amuro Namie, V6, Nanase Aikawa, Every Little Thing, BoA, Tackey & Tsubasa, and this band.

Do As Infinity - 真実の詩 [Shinjitsu no Uta - Song of Truth]:


Embedding was disabled, but here's the link to the MV:
http://youtu.be/7UvdKt3hLNM

Cocoon - Oh My God

I found this French artist when looking on YouTube for French music. I thought this was one of the prettiest discoveries produced by that search. The music video for this song is pretty interesting, too, so I've included it.

Cocoon - Oh My God:


And the MV, which has hi-def:

Ciara - Like a Boy

I really don't know why I took so long to look up this song/video, because I knew of its existence for a long time, but didn’t bother until sometime last year. This artist’s voice never stood out to me, but OMG THIS VIDEO. OMG. OMG. I love so many things about this MV...  For one, girl can seriously dance!  For another, black & white!  For another, Ciara in drag!  And the list goes on...  As for the song itself, string instruments make everything better, but I also like this song's attitude.

Ciara - Like a Boy:

Dúné - Let Go of Your Love

I found this Danish band pretty recently, when clicking around on the related videos margin of YouTube. I like their sound; what more can I say?
Note: HD!

Dúné - Let Go of Your Love:

Bat for Lashes - Glass

I heard this song when my housemate was playing it on her laptop at a party. It was so pretty (and definitely not typical party music) so I checked out the song and artist, then my housemate gave me the mp3.
Note: HD, fuuu~!

Bat for Lashes - Glass:

Mr. Lif - Because They Made It That Way

This song mourns the sad trajectory of hip hop and what it has come to represent. It attacks the materialism and hedonism that dominates mainstream hip hop today, castigating the gradual cultural commercialization of the music, and complains that modern hip hop promotes values that are toxic to society instead of uplifting people.  There's a bit o' profanity.
Note: This is the actual music video, 'cause I just like it. The synchronization on this upload is a bit off, but it's in hi-def.

Mr. Lif - Because They Made It That Way:

Shakira - Ojos Así

It would be hard to not know who this artist is, but maybe not everyone has heard this song by her. I like a lot of her songs, but this one has the advantage of the distinctive Middle Eastern sound, which is reflective of that part of her heritage. Cool!  BTW, the English version of this song is called "Eyes Like Yours."

Shakira - Ojos Así [Eyes Like Those]:

The Prodigy - Shoot Down

I heard this song because of this AMV for the awesome series Canaan. I'm not crazy about the whole song, actually, but I really like the beginning.

Prodigy - Shoot Down:

Lucia Micarelli - Lady Grinning Soul

This is a violin cover of a David Bowie song by the same name, and I listened to this cover before I listened to the original song. I came across this on an mp3 rotation site years ago. I didn't know this until I looked up her info on Wikipedia, but apparently she's done a lot of collaboration work with another artist I've posted music by, Josh Groban.
Note:  This song is blocked on YouTube AND is missing from my other source I usually use, so we're trying a new player this time.

Lucia Micarelli - Lady Grinning Soul:

Anson Hu - 願望

A couple weeks ago I found the file for this song just sitting in a folder on my desktop, unlistened to after YEARS of it being there. So I listened to it, FINALLY, and really, really liked it. Now I feel stupid for having it that whole time and never listening to it until now. And since then I haven't been able to stop listening to it. I love the combination of R&B style with traditional Chinese music! It sounds so GOOD.

Anson Hu A.K.A. 胡彦斌 - 願望 [Yuan Wang - Wishes]:

MakSim - Знаешь ли ты

Strangely, I can't remember how I came across this Russian singer, even though it wasn't that long ago.  Somewhere on the Internet is all I can recall.  Anyway, the singer has a nice voice and I like the song as well.

MakSim A.K.A. МакSим - Знаешь ли ты [Znaesh' Li Ty - Do You Know]:

System of a Down - Spiders

It’s another song by this awesome band! Years ago I played the 1st three albums by this band constantly, and they have a lot of crazy, high-energy songs, which I love, but this was one of my favorites because I found it quite beautiful. Supposedly it’s about government surveillance.
Note: HD available!

System of a Down - Spiders:

Loveholic - 신기루

This was the ending theme of the anime Black Blood Brothers, but I heard it in an AMV for Le Chevalier D'Eon first. One time I played it near a friend and she was shocked because she "[doesn't] like Korean music," but she liked this song regardless. I like it too, of course, but that's not such a shocking idea. It's interesting that this song is by a Korean band, with Korean lyrics, but its title is often presented in Japanese and it was the theme of a Japanese show.
Note: The video has English subtitles for the lyrics!

Loveholic - 신기루 [Shingiru - Mirage]: