Talib Kweli - Get By

This song is amazing.  Lyrically, musically, contentwise, everything.  I'm convinced that if this played on the radio instead of "Lollipop," the world would be a better place.  BTW, this track was produced by Kanye West, back when he stuck to what he actually knew how to do: producing.

Talib Kweli - Get By:

Sarah McLachlan - Full of Grace

My mom owned the album this song is from, so I heard this many, many times throughout my childhood and loved the entire album, but when I had to live in cold, lonely Oregon for a year and was basically depressed, this song suddenly took on a whole new meaning for me and it grew to be my favorite song on the album.  Dramatic, yes, but I guess that demonstrates how much I absolutely hated living there.

Sarah McLachlan - Full of Grace:

The GazettE - 蜷局

This song is kinda weird so I find it addicting.  I love the "kara kata kata kara kata kata katari" part, and the scream.  :D  I think I found this band (formerly known as just Gazette) through an mp3 rotation site, and eventually found this song through an mp3 rotation site too.  They're pretty popular among fans of Japanese rock.

The GazettE - 蜷局 [Toguro - Coil]:

P!NK - Most Girls

A lot of people diss P!NK's earlier R&B-style music like this, but I tend to be partial to R&B over pop rock in general so I love this song (plus, as far as I'm concerned, P!NK's voice at any point in her career is the definition of "sexy"). I've been a fan of hers ever since I heard this song, which was her second single, on the radio back in 2000, and I'm amazed that a female artist who has always deviated from the typical touted image of femininity in American pop culture has managed to maintain her fame and success for so long. She is STILL churning out albums, just as popular as she was 10 years ago, and making music that I love, even though it's a different genre.

P!NK - Most Girls:

Libera - Recordare

British boys' choir.  Need I say more?
OK, fine, I will.  I believe I first found a song by them through an mp3 rotation site, then I looked up more songs by them and found this.  INTENSELY PRETTY!!

Libera - Recordare [Remember]:

J - The Crush of Love

This is the English version of another song by this Korean singer.  Her voice is not really powerful... it's actually pretty soft, but I love the subtle little vibrato she does.  Also, her voice (and this song) are just really pretty to me.  I only have one album by her (which has the same name as this song), but this is probably my favorite song from it.

J - The Crush of Love:

Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

It took me a while to warm up to Rufus Wainwright's music, even though I knew he was very well-respected as an artist and really liked his cover of "Hallelujah" (as played in Shrek).  Fortunately, when my friend sent me this song years ago I saved it in the hopes that I would eventually grow to like it, and it worked.  Much later, after listening to another song that made me start to really like his music, I went back and listened to this song again, and appreciated its ironically cheery tone and clever lyrics.  Which are about drug addiction.  o_0  So yeah, some dark comedy right here!

Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk:


And how could I NOT include the live performance? (I am SO JEALOUS of his piano skills!!):

Luxuslärm - Unsterblich

I heard music by this German band in a German soap opera that evidently has a music department with very good taste.  This isn't the song I heard there, but once I heard one song by them I listened to their entire first album and found myself especially liking this song 'cause it's purdy.  I thought the whole album was pretty strong though, and was impressed that the lead singer, unlike in many rock bands, can actually sing.

Luxuslärm - Unsterblich [Immortal]:

Pep's - Melodie

Time for a bit of light-hearted French reggaeish pop, no?  Actually, their other songs are more obviously reggaeish than this one, but this one is quite catchy and energetic so I went with it instead.  I found this song/band a few months ago when I was aggressively scouring YouTube for modern French music.  I came across this song's MV and was impressed by the band's interesting sound.

Pep's - Melodie [Melody]:

Neil Patrick Harris & Felicia Day - My Eyes

If you don't like Neil Patrick Harris, there is something wrong with you.  This is a fact.  I don't know as much about Felicia Day, but she seems quite dandy as well.  Anyway, this is my favorite song from the musical Internet sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog.  I've also seen this song floating around under the title "On the Rise."
Note:  I'm also including the clip from the short film in which it is sung.

Neil Patrick Harris & Felicia Day - My Eyes:

And the clip from the movie:

Tokyo Jihen - 喧嘩上等

I think I found this song through an mp3 rotation site long ago.  At the time I knew who the singer Shiina Ringo was, but didn't know she had a band in which she was the lead singer (this one).  Her voice is pretty distinctive, though, so I figured it out quickly.  Anyway, I like this song's quirkiness in message, sound, and structure.  (This song also made me feel better after a fight recently because it seems to make light of that sort of situation.  Behold the power of music!)

Tokyo Jihen A.K.A. 東京事変 - 喧嘩上等 [Kenka Joutou - Active Fighting]:

Matthew Good - Weapon

This moving song by this Canadian artist was apparently popularized by its usage in the American version of the originally-British series Queer as Folk... but I heard it in a Naruto AMV.  XD  Anyway, there's something really tragic and desperate-sounding about the music.  So naturally I love it.

Matthew Good - Weapon:

The Good Natured - Fortune Teller

I heard of this artist about a week ago through a music column on a blog; I wasn't expecting to like her music that much when I first listened to a song by her, but it grew on me as the song progressed, so I looked up more songs by her and found this one.  This song really did it for me in making me decide I like her music.  I am not particularly impressed with her voice by itself, but the harmonization sounds really nice and something about her melodies is interesting.

The Good Natured - Fortune Teller:

Sodagreen - 暫時失控

Qing Feng, the lead singer of this formerly-indie Taiwanese band, has the most adorable voice I've ever heard.  Good God.  AND he knows how to use it!  The band has an original sound, not just because of the singer, and this is one of my favorite songs by them.

Sodagreen A.K.A. 蘇打綠 - 暫時失控 [Zan Shi Shi Kong - Temporarily Out of Control]:

Invincible feat. Abeer - People Not Places

This Detroit-based emcee (whom I had the pleasure of seeing live a couple years ago) goes hard all day, every day, son!!  But really, she's undeniably skilled.  Invincible is Israeli-American and outspoken in her anti-Israel political beliefs, and she makes no secret of it in this hip hop song, so if your stance is pro-Israel in the whole Israel vs. Palestine mess you probably won't care for it much.

Invincible feat. Abeer - People Not Places:

CunninLynguists feat. Tim Means - America Loves Gangsters

This group is one of the best hip hop acts around, easily, and this song is just one of many amazing tracks for their much-praised album A Piece of Strange. The title pretty much explains the theme of the song: America has an unhealthy fascination with gangsters.

CunninLynguists feat. Tim Means - America Loves Gangsters:

Laura Pausini - Como si no nos Hubieramos Amado

I heard this song in my Spanish class in high school.  The teacher played it for us and had us fill in the lyrics, so I've had the lyrics memorized for a number of years now.  It remains one of my favorite Spanish-language songs to this day.  Also, sidenote: due to its intensity, fun to karaoke to, preferably with other people who know the song well!

Laura Pausini - Como si no nos Hubieramos Amado [As if We Hadn't Been in Love]:

Malcolm McLaren - About Her

When I was rewatching Kill Bill 2 last semester and this song started to play in a scene, I went, "What is this song?!  I must have it!" and immediately rushed to my computer to investigate.  Turns out it was this one.  It's kinda eerie and I believe goes under the classification "trip hop."  (Despite how often I listen to music, I don't really "get" genre classifications.  They all seem too ambiguous and numerous since people keep inventing new sub-sub-subgenre names, and it seems like no matter what you call it someone will disagree with you.)  Apparently, the artist died last year, so even though I didn't know much about him, R.I.P. Malcolm McLaren.
Note:  HD!

Malcolm McLaren - About Her:

3LW - Is You Feelin' Me

Girly pop R&B from my childhood.  Whatever; I like their voices, they can sing well, and the music is veryyyyy catchy.  I remember getting this album for Christmas, so many, many years ago...  Aww, I miss 1990s R&B...
Note:  HD!

3LW - Is You Feelin' Me:

Sigur Rós - Sæglópur

I had heard of this Icelandic band years ago, but didn't go out of my way to listen to them until I heard this song used in a commercial for a Prince of Persia video game on TV.  The song was so pretty I looked up the game trailer on YouTube, and found it with tons of comments asking about the song as well, so the uploader had included an mp3 link in the video description for just the song.  After that, I looked into the band's other music and was still impressed, but this song remains one of my favorites by them.
Note:  I really don't know why the video shows some dude's back, but the song is in HD, so deal with it.   :-P

Sigur Rós - Sæglópur [Lost at Sea]:

Natalie Imbruglia - Smoke

This song is one of my favorite tracks from one of the first albums I ever owned, Left of the Middle.  I always liked it, but it seemed even prettier after I saw a Serial Experiments Lain AMV that used it many-a-year ago.

Natalie Imbruglia - Smoke:

Altan Urag - Requiem

Music by this Mongolian band reminds me of a cross between Russian music and Chinese music, which makes sense, considering the geographic location of Mongolia relative to those two areas.  Anyway, this group is so gangsta and this song by them is especially pretty!

Altan Urag - Requiem:

Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism

What a crazy, intense song.  I found this years ago on an mp3 rotation site; the sound took some getting used to, but I found the lyrics rather funny so I kept it, and now I'm glad I did.  It conveys the mania so well!

Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism:

Gackt - Oasis

If you know anything about modern Japanese music, you probably already know who Gackt is.  This song is from early on in his solo career, so his voice is pretty different from how it sounds now.  (His voice has changed over the years and I don't like it as much now.)  Despite his overwhelming popularity, which normally predisposes me to not wanting to like an artist, I believe he actually is deserving of recognition for his talent, since he composes, writes, sings, and sometimes plays instruments for his own music.

Gackt - Oasis:

Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive

I found this song by this Swedish singer when I saw the trailer for the video game Mirror's Edge.  I think it was on TV...  Anyway, I always thought it was really pretty and looked it up later.

Lisa Miskovsky - Still Alive:

Jason Mraz - 10,000 Motherf***ers (Live Acoustic Version)

Obviously, this song has a bit o' profanity, but it's probably not what you're expecting based on the title. His voice is gorgeous, the message is meaningful, and the lyrics are full of quotables.  This is actually one of my absolute favorite Jason Mraz songs.  I was SO HOPING he would perform this when I saw him in concert the year after this live performance was recorded, but no such luck. :(
Note: I've included multiple versions of this song; one is in HD quality, but I prefer the versions that were uploaded in lower quality. One is with piano, the other with guitar, and both are beautiful. The 3rd one, I think, was recorded before Mr. A-Z got very famous.

Jason Mraz - 10,000 Motherf***ers (Live Acoustic):

With piano:

With guitar:

Vitaa - Une Fille Pas Comme Les Autres

In a way, this sounds like typical dance/club music... which I generally don't care for much, but I really like something about this song.  The R&B elements probably help.  Anyway, found this one YouTube when I was mining for French artists.
Note:  Yet another song YouTube won't let me upload...  So I have to settle for this video.

Vitaa - Une Fille Pas Comme Les Autres [A Girl Like No Other]:

Jones Shi - 曙光

This guy doesn't seem very famous, even in Singapore and Taiwan, but I really like his work.  I think he's pretty underrated, as his songs are all really nice, his voice is good, and his falsetto in particular is quite pretty.  I picked a song by him that is one of my favorites but wasn't his "big" hit.

Jones Shi A.K.A. 石康軍 - 曙光 [Shu Guang - Sunrise]:

Dido - Isobel

Here's a lovely, depressing song from one of the first albums I ever owned.  Hurray!  I like pretty much every song on Dido's first album, but I chose this one because I was relistening to the album a few months ago and paid attention to the lyrics of this song for the first time, which led me to go, "Whoa, that's dark!"  So here it is.

Dido - Isobel:

Adam Lambert - Voodoo

It's probably weird that this is one of my favorite songs by this singer, considering it's one of the few tracks that doesn't really show off his incredible, powerful voice that much (which is my favorite thing about his music), and I must admit the lyrics are pretty corny at times... but I like the "dark" feel of it and I find the New Orleans imagery kinda unique.

Adam Lambert - Voodoo:

Tori Amos - Gold Dust

I'm starting off the new month with one of my absolute favorite artists of all time.  This is one of my favorite songs by the genius that is Tori Amos.  She's known for having ridiculously opaque lyrics, but this is one of the few songs by her that I feel I actually understand the meaning of with relative ease.  In a word, nostalgia.  It's about longing for your childhood and realizing as an adult how precious the random, fleeting moments of your childhood were.
Note:  Wow, my YouTube upload of this song was blocked worldwide, so I am resorting to another source.

Tori Amos - Gold Dust: