MANILA, Philippines—Had enough of Mariah Carey or Madonna? Time to widen your MP3 playlist then. You can start by downloading these catchy tunes from highly promising artists.
Sam Sparro
From: Sydney, Australia originally, but moved to Pasadena when he was 10 and was introduced to gospel music. He then headed to London, which further influenced his musical tastes and style.
Sounds like: Jason Mraz, Musiq Soulchild, Prince, D’Angelo or Maxwell, depending on the song he is singing
Listen to: “Black and Gold,” a hauntingly beautiful, catchy and poetic tune that sounds a little like “Tainted Love.” This song has a lot of several remixes, each one of them pure ear candy. He also has a funky song called “Cottonmouth” and a rendition of Estelle’s “American Boy.”
Alphabeat
From: Silkeborg in Denmark, where their first couple of singles were major hits
Sounds like: Something cinematically happy and catchy from the 80’s.
Listen to: “10,000 Nights of Thunder,” which sounds like something from the “High School Musical” OST, the finger-snapping, foot stomp-inducing “Fascination,” and the extremely catchy and addicting “Boyfriend.”
Tokio Hotel
From: Not Tokyo, Japan, but Germany, where they topped the charts and won awards during their early teen years. The band’s album “Scream,” composed of translated and re-recorded songs from their first 2 German albums, was released in Europe last year and recently in the US.
Sounds like: Linkin Park
Listen to: Emo hits such as the dramatic “Monsoon,” the rocking “Ready, Set, Go!” and the headbang-inducing “Scream.”
