Khalil Fong - Goodbye Melody Rose

This artist has one of my favorite male R&B voices. It's so smooth and controlled! And this is one of my favorite songs by him. Strangely, I can't remember how exactly I started listening to his music. I think I just saw his name floating around forums for a while and finally decided to check him out.

Khalil Fong A.K.A. 方大同 - Goodbye Melody Rose:

Christina Stürmer - Scherbenmeer

I heard this Austrian artist's music first because she provided the theme song for the German soap opera Alles was Zählt (do American soaps even have theme songs?), but when she guest starred as herself in an episode or two and sang some more songs I liked what I heard and looked more of her music up. Among the other songs by her that I listened to, I especially liked this one. Here's an English translation of the lyrics.

Christina Stürmer - Scherbenmeer [Sea of Shards]:

Linkin Park - From the Inside

I doubt anyone here doesn't know of this artist, since they're incredibly famous.  I heard of them when their first single came out and I saw their angsty MVs on TV, and their first album holds a place as one of my most-played CDs of all time.  I love pretty much every song from their first two studio albums, but for some reason this song really stuck to me when I was living in the land of depression known as Oregon.
Note: HD available!

Linkin Park - From the Inside:

Akino Arai - 月の家

This is an ending theme of the anime Outlaw Star, but I heard it in an Outlaw Star AMV by Aluminum Studios first, MANY years ago, back when I was first getting into AMVs.  This is also one of the first Japanese songs whose lyrics I memorized.  This artist's singing doesn't floor me or anything, but she has a lot of pretty music.
Note:  The video contains Spanish translations of the Japanese lyrics, so if you know Spanish you're in luck.

Akino Arai A.K.A. 新居昭乃 - 月の家 [Tsuki no Ie - House of the Moon]:

Il Divo - Regresa a Mi

This is a Spanish cover of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart," performed by the Simon Cowell-created international singing quartet that my friend got me into during high school. I believe their music is characterized as "popera." This is the first song I heard by them, and probably their most well-known song.
Note:  HD again!

Il Divo - Regresa a Mi (Return to Me):

Lauryn Hill - Forgive Them Father

Wise words from a seemingly wise woman. It's hard to pinpoint when I heard of this artist first since she's so well-known and widely respected. I've definitely known about her since I was little, though. She combines skillful lyricism, soulful vocals, and social consciousness to make great music. Random fact: I just found out her 6th child was born 3 days ago.

Lauryn Hill - Forgive Them Father:

The Rocket Summer - Never Knew

I found this song through a fanvideo, and though I didn't realize it at first I eventually concluded that this is a Christian song, after finding out the singer is a Christian artist. I really like this guy's high-pitched voice!
Note: Another HD video, weeeeeeeeee...

The Rocket Summer - Never Knew:

Gaelle - Transient

I JUST discovered this artist through a music column on a blog. I listened to a bunch of songs of hers on YouTube and found myself really liking her style, which seems to range from R&B to new age. This song leans more toward the new age end of the spectrum. I was listening to this song in the background while I did other stuff, and it still managed to give me chills.
Note: Available in HD!

Gaelle - Transient:

TV on the Radio - Mr. Grieves

A friend burned a CD of songs he liked for me, including a few by this artist.  Of them, this was my favorite.  Turns out it's a cover of a song by The Pixies.  Acapella is awesome, and I love their harmonizing and the song's kinda haunting quality.  This sounds pretty unlike the other music I heard by this group, and very unlike the original song.  Fortunately I like this version WAY more.

TV on the Radio - Mr. Grieves:

Sarah Brightman - Eden

I've known who this artist is for a long time, because my mom is a fan and has some of her music, but I heard this particular song (which is one of my favorites by her) in an excellent Trigun AMV that YouTube keeps disabling the audio of.
Note:  This song seems to have been pretty thoroughly removed from YouTube, and this is the ONLY copy I found of this song from my alternate source for this blog.

Sarah Brightman - Eden:

Buck-Tick - Long Distance Call

This is such a sad song. Even before I looked up the full lyrics translation I got a lot of the meaning, because I understood the lyrics, "I love you, Mom," in the chorus, and it had that personal feel to it. Then I found out Atsushi Sakurai (the lead singer) had written this song about his last phone call with his mother before she died. I love Atsushi's voice and I love a lot of Buck-Tick's songs, but this is one of my favorites.
Note: The video isn't ideal, but its description has the English translation of the lyrics.

Buck-Tick - Long Distance Call:

Stefanie Sun - 懂事

This Singaporean artist's voice and singing style has always reminded me of someone else, and I've never been able to put my finger on whom.  But that's OK, because I like her voice, style, and music overall, and she's a talented artist in her own right.  This is one of my favorite songs by her, and you can find an English translation of the lyrics here.

Stefanie Sun A.K.A. 孙燕姿 - 懂事 [Dong Shi - Sensible]:

James Horner - Casper's Lullaby

OK, so I watched the movie Casper when I was little, but music tends to stick in my head better than plots so for years the melody of this would get stuck in my head periodically and I thought it was lovely and sad, but could not for the life of me figure out where I'd heard it.  After some number of years, I heard a midi of this autoplaying on a friend's blog and demanded to know what it was.  As I recall, she didn't know where it was from but when I looked up the file info it said it was from Casper and it allllllllll came back to me.

James Horner - Casper's Lullaby:

Porcelain and the Tramps - The Neighbor

A friend of mine posted this song on Facebook a few weeks ago. On one hand, it grates on me when female vocalists scream like this because I know it's probably ruining their voices. On the other hand, it sounds so cool! Apparently this is the former artist name for Porcelain Black, whose music with the rich homeless man known as Lil Wayne I was not nearly as fond of.
Note: HD, biznitches!

Porcelain and the Tramps - The Neighbor:

Mario - Let Me Love You

I heard this artist's first few singles on the radio and found them to be kinda lackluster, then somehow saw his music video for this song playing on TV one time.  He just has a really nice, smooth voice and for some reason the song stuck to me. I didn't realize the song was as successful as it was until I looked up the info about it on Wikipedia. 0_0 Dang.
Note:  HD quality!

Mario - Let Me Love You:

Tori Amos - 1000 Oceans

It's kinda lame that I only got into this amazing artist years ago after I heard this song in a Naruto AMV, but oh well.  It was not the first Tori song I heard (which probably was "A Sorta Fairytale," since it was a single that was played on the radio), but I think it was the first one I heard that made me go, "Wow, this is beautiful.  I should look up more music by her!"  It's still one of my favorites by this artist.

Tori Amos - 1000 Oceans:

DBSK - Rising Sun

I was predisposed to disliking this artist because it's a boy band, but when I listened to them I realized they're really talented.  Compound their talent with their young age and they're even more impressive.  This is the song that made me say, "Hooooooly crap, these guys are a force to be reckoned with!"  Even though this song is clearly heavily produced, they don't have to rely on production because they started out as an acapella group.

DBSK A.K.A. 동방신기 - Rising Sun:

Ikue Asazaki - おぼくり~ええうみ

This is such a lovely songggggggg. It's a traditional Okinawa-style ballad, but I heard it from the anime Samurai Champloo, which is interesting because the rest of the soundtrack is very hip hop-influenced. I love that too, but this was a really beautiful departure from that pattern.
Note: Watch in HD!

Ikue Asazaki A.K.A. 朝崎 郁恵 - おぼくり~ええうみ [Obokuri~Eemui - Obtain Bearing]:

Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch

Duuuuuuuuude, I totally thought the lead singer was a woman until I saw the music video for this song. I heard this song in the trailer for the recent movie Sucker Punch. The song certainly adds to the appeal of the already-very-appealing trailer. I like the bass in this song, which is weird since I normally can't even hear the bass in music.
Note:  Video has HD!

Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch:

Ellie Goulding - Your Song

She has a really sweet voice!  I discovered this British singer through an article on a blog I frequent (as I mentioned last time I posted a song by her), then my friend posted this song on Facebook and I was impressed all over again.  Obviously, this song is originally by Elton John, but this singer's voice suits my taste better.

Ellie Goulding - Your Song:

K'naan - Voices in My Head

I think this is one of this hip hop artist's best songs. This is also one of the first songs I heard by him, which of course led me to look into more of his music. You can really feel his passion in his delivery; it's excellent! (I should probably mention that this song has a little bit of profanity, in case that bothers anyone, but it's not much.) I can't remember how I first found K'naan, but I remember one of my professors later recommending his music and playing a music video of his in class, which I thought was kinda strange but cool.

K'naan - Voices in My Head:

Yuki Kajiura - Canta Per Me II

This is the instrumental version of a theme to the anime Noir. This composer is one of my favorites; she makes lots of great music for anime soundtracks. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but her style is distinctive enough to be recognizable because I was recently watching another anime series (El Cazador de la Bruja) and for some reason thought the music sounded like a composition by this artist... so I looked up the soundtrack info and discovered that she indeed was the composer for that series as well!
Note:  There is HD to heighten the glory!

Yuki Kajiura A.K.A. 梶浦 由記 - Canta Per Me II [Sing for Me II]:

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism

This is possibly the only time you'll see me post a song by a popular indie band.  In general, I find typical indie band music boring, but I make an exception for this song.  I probably wouldn't care for this song nearly as much if I didn't associate it so strongly to the wonderful series Six Feet Under.  (It was used in an episode of the show, and in a featurette for the show, and in an excellent fanvideo for the show.)
Note:  The friggin' record labels apparently blocked every one of the numerous uploads of this song on YouTube in the U.S., so I must resort to alternative sources once again.

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism:

Raiomond Mirza feat. Mena - Ma Fini Fakker

Like everyone else who knows this song, I heard it through the soundtrack of the film I Can't Think Straight. I think this song was recorded FOR the movie, actually. Which would make sense, since one of the main characters is Lebanese and this song is supposedly in the Lebanese dialect of Arabic (not to mention the song title is a translation of the movie title). I love the combination of instruments in this one. Trivia: I found out the composer is married to an actress who was in the movie, and whom I've also seen in a popular British soap opera.

Raiomond Mirza feat. Mena - Ma Fini Fakker [I Can't Think]:

Calogero - Pomme C

I found this song about online dating (I think) while looking for French music on YouTube. I found out the lyrics of this song were written by another French artist whose music I've posted, Zazie. And, with the help of this lyrics translation website I discovered that the lyrics are pretty clever! I had for a while been agonizing over what the title could possibly mean, and fortunately that site provides a handy explanation.

Calogero - Pomme C [Apple C]:

Lacuna Coil - Swamped

My friend introduced me to this artist's music many years ago, but I didn't really pay attention to this song until I heard it on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack.  I think the guy's vocals are pretty corny and the song really could have done without them, but oh well.
Note:  HD!

Lacuna Coil - Swamped:

Patrick Doyle feat. Liesel Matthews - Goodbye

This is the lovely ending theme of the Alfonso Cuarón movie A Little Princess.  I loved this movie when I was a child (still do, I suppose, but I need to rewatch it!) and especially loved this piece (the part that starts after 1:00).  I distinctly remember staying to watch the credits just to hear it finish.  And even though many, many years passed without me watching the movie, I remembered this song!  The singer is the main actress, BTW.

Patrick Doyle feat. Liesel Matthews - Goodbye:

Cherry Filter - Channel-Non

As I've said before, I LOVE YOUJEEN'S VOICE SO MUCH.  Especially when it gets all growly & angry in the chorus of this song!  I also love the weirdness of the song overall, but the angry Youjeen voice is what ultimately makes this song one of my favorites from this Korean band.

Cherry Filter - Channel-Non:

Sneaker Pimps - Blue Movie

This song could potentially be perceived as offensive because of its juxtaposing themes, but I love its instrumental. I could be totally off the mark, but my understanding (and the seemingly reigning interpretation) of this song is that it's about how if Jesus returned to Earth now, he would see a world inundated with pornography. I don't think it's meant to be religious, but more of a commentary on the shameful & hypocritical state of our society. Regardless of your interpretation, this song sounds awesome!

Sneaker Pimps - Blue Movie:

Mary J. Blige - No More Drama

I've always liked this very well-respected & talented queen of contemporary R&B, and the more I hear about/from her, the more I like her as an artist and a person. This has long been one of my favorite songs by her and I always used to hear it on the radio.
Note: HD quality on the videooooo.

Mary J. Blige - No More Drama:

Placebo - Blind

Annnnd time for another song by this artist! One time I was listening to this song and the thought occurred to me: This song would have made a good single! Something about it just seems more accessible and widely-appealing than a lot of their other music (which I also love, but would probably be more of a risk if marketed toward a mass audience). I feel like it would have gone over well. But it wasn’t a single. Whatever.
Note: More HD goodness!

Placebo - Blind: