YOUTUBE: Hand Dance "We No Speak Americano"

By now its a pretty sure thing that you've heard the obnoxious and catchy techno-pop "We No Speak Americano" by the Australian duo known as Yolanda Be Cool. The original video has become a viral hit in and of itself, but this reinterpretation is much more entertaining, in my opinion.

Using a choreographed routine performed mostly using the hands while seated side by side at a small table, Suzanne Cleary & Peter Harding move quickly and synchronized as if they were marionettes being controlled by the same puppeteer. My favorite aspect of the entire performance is the fact that their faces show an expression somewhere between bordom and disinterest. Your face will be anything but.

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: "Painkillers"

A girl from Tennessee moves to Los Angeles at the age of 16, lives at one point with Lisa-Marie Presley, and sings with a reggae band. Later she stars in the hit Broadway musical "Spring Awakening" for a couple years before packing up and moving to England. Now, at the still young age of 22, Lauren Pritchard is releasing an album due in October called "Wasted In Jackson" with "Painkillers" as her debut single.

As a songwriter, Pritchard has a talent for crafting a song as a storyteller would. Her vocals are equally impressive, combining a raw tender coffee-house texture with the pipes of a rocker. A promising debut for an artist who seems to clearly have paid her dues!

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: "Club Can't Handle Me"

The fusion of two guys who have separately dominated the club scene seems only appropriate that their collaboration be this cocky. R&B singer Flo Rida and club kid David Guetta "Club Can't Handle Me" join forces for this hot track from the Step Up 3D movie, out last month. The song is high on energy and just about as high on life as you can get! Also, I've never wanted to get down in a laundromat as much as I do now after seeing the video!

Buzzy

YOUTUBE: Mike Tompkins Acapella cover

My two favorite types of videos on YouTube are those from people with talent and those who have waaaay too much time on their hands. This video, therefore, in double my pleasure and double my fun because it accomplishes both feats.

A gentleman named Mike Tompkins has created an acapella mash-up of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and Bruno Mars' "Just The Way You Are". Its similar to some Star Wars acapella video I saw awhile back that used one person and some split screened editing to make as many parts as needed, but I don't like Stars Wars much and these songs are just more entertaining. Tompkins sings not only the lead and harmonizing vocals but also mimics guitars, percussion, bass, and somethings called a "kick" and a "pad" which I can only assume to be more percussion (?). Either way, it is incredible and the more this guy clones himself its all the better in my book!

Buzzy

MUSIC: The Baseball's "Umbrella" cover

Who could have imagined the versatility of one very popular pop song from 1997 would be covered countless times in just as many genres by amateurs and established artists alike? Rihanna's 1997 hit, feating Jay-Z, "Umbrella" achieved her three #1 spots on different Billboard charts, as well as being named triple platinum in the US. The single has done other artists well also, including an acoustic folky recording by Marie Digby and a punk version by the band Vanilla Sky. It has not, however, gone back in time yet...until now.

In 2009, Germany band, The Baseballs, recorded a classic rock 'n' roll-inspired version of the song that could have easily come from your parent's collection of 45's from their teenage years. Combining stock footage from the early 60's with new black and white videography, the video might actually cause someone to question the origins of the song!

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: "Please Don't Go"

Put "Please Don't Go" on your next party playlist and not only will everyone be up and dancing but you'll have everyone asking "who is this?!?" Backed by a catchy but not annoying electro-beat, the smooth-voiced artist in question is 22-year old singer-songwriter Mike Posner and hopefully he will have the success he seems to be headed toward. If that happens, everyone will remember the first time they heard of him. Be sure to check out his debut album, 31 Minutes to Take Off, available next week!

Buzzy

MUSIC: Traveling Like the Light

A few months ago, iTunes generously offered up a single called "Shark In The Water" by pop new-comer V.V. Brown. I found myself over-playing it and asking others if they'd heard it. (No one ever had.) Well, V.V.'s album, Traveling Like the Light is now available and it is just as great as the single I so love!

If you're not convinced to just run out and buy this album, then let me try and entice you. First off, she's British, and if there is anything we have learned, music-wise, in the past couple years, its that the Brits know a thing or two about good pop music. (See: Joss Stone, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Duffy, James Morrison, etc.) Second, this song is good pop-dance music, meaning minimal synths and other artificial noise-makers. Thirdly, download the joyous flashback doo-wop inspired "L.O.V.E." and "Crazy Amazing" and tell me you hate it. I dare you.

Can you tell that I love this thing!?! As a bonus, it is on sale on iTunes for $6.99 right now! Even they want you to experience the greatness!

Buzzy

MUSIC: "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" video

Forget about the over-played summer anthem "Crazy" from a few years ago, Gnarls Barkley should be best known for creating ZONINO!-worthy videos as well as great pop music. The pop duo of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo Green did it again with the last single off their sophomore album from 2008. "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" does such an amazing job of conveying what heartbreak feels (and could look) like, I see no reason for anyone else to write a heartbreak song ever again! If more artists put this kind of creativity into the visual representations of their music, perhaps MTV would still be relevant...

Buzzy

MUSIC: Gin Wigmore

I love me some Joss Stone. It could be said that we have a history together. The smokey groove of her voice and its ability to drip off of every single soulful note it touches is masterful. Which is why I was intrigued when an advertisement on the side of my Facebook account invited me to check out New Zealand's own Gin Wigmore, comparing her to my favorite British soul singer.

While the two of them sound nothing alike, they both choose intriguingly pieces of music and bring heartfelt meaning to them. Sounding like a cross between Macy Gray, Bonnie Raitt, MoZella, and Missy Higgins, Wigmore's songs are inventive in the way they combine elements of pop, jazz, soul, and folk music into one beautiful heap. Born Virginia Wigmore, her most recent album, and first full-length, Holy Smoke, includes the infectious single "Oh My" as well as the rousing "Hey Ho" and the jazzy piano bar ballad "Dying Day".

Wigmore's EP, appropriately titled Extended Play contains some of her more tender and emotionally charged material like "These Roses" and "Hallelujah" about her father's death from cancer when she was a teenager. It's not easy, but I'm hoping this Kiwi makes it across the ocean into the earbuds of the American conscience; if Joss can do it, surely Gin can too!

Sergio del Limónar

MUSIC: "You Lost Me"

Ladies and Gentlemen, Christina Aguilera is back! After a nearly four year break, the soulful pop princess is back with a new album, Bionic. The third single, "You Lost Me", is a beautifully aching ballad stocked with Aguilera's trademark growls and vocal gymnastics. (Check out the linked performance during a visit to The Late Show with David Letterman earlier this month.)

From the point of view of a lover scorned by a cheating partner, she sings in the bridge,

"Now I know you're sorry, and we were sweet.
But you chose lust when you deceived me."

Both timeless and contemporary, Aguilera has once again found a way to create new and engaging music in a seemingly effortless manner. The listener at once knows the song and yet is intrigued by its stylings at the same time.

Sergio del Limónar

MUSIC: "Like OMG, Baby" (Mashup)

DJ Earworm has struck again with a mashup jam just in time for the heat of summer. "Like OMG, Baby" takes some of the hottest radio and club hits and remixes them together in a giant conglomeration that is arguably better than any one of its constructive pieces. Much like February's "Blame It on the Pop" this song is instantly recognizable and catchy without being tired and feeling over-played. Download it free from DJ Earworm's website today!

Sergio del Limónar

MUSIC: "Everything to Lose"

I'm not a fan of Carrie and the rest of her gal pals fro the Sex & the City franchise. I've caught parts of maybe three episodes back when I was in college, mostly on accident or while at a friend's house where I had no control over the remote. I haven't seen the movies, nor do I plan to. And when a friend did see the most recent film installation and reported that it was "soooo good OMG you have to see it!!" I quickly reminded myself that said friend still thinks American Idol is a great show and that crocs are cool. However, she did make me listen to one song from the soundtrack that I will admit is fun and catchy and that I must admit I kind of liked...and subsequently downloaded.

Dido is back, ladies and gents. Her single from the Sex & the City 2 soundtrack "Everything to Lose" brings the English pop star back to the dance floor in a slowish electro-pop groove. Her recognizable and soothing voice, as intact as it was when she was on the top of the charts nearly a decade ago, sings of the joys of living life and being content with what you have. Ironically inappropriate for the Sex & the City gals, who from what I've seen, do everything to trump this ideal, but then again Hollywood has held the throne on hypocracy for years now.

MUSIC: Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)

This is the fourth in a four part series.

A true international icon, Colombian singer and hip-shaker, Shakira, has won fans in Latin America, the U.S., and abroad with her infectious rhythm and instantly recognizable voice. It's only appropriate that she sing the official official anthem for such a worldly event as the FIFA 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament. "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)" combines phrases of the Fang language, English, and Spanish to create a song without borders. The titular phrase, "waka waka" literally means "where are you from?"

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: Janelle Monáe

Pop music is a fickle thing. On one side, in order to be considered "pop," it needs to be inherently "popular." To be popular it needs to be liked by the masses which usually means any catchy, over-produced, auto-tune filled, drivel. Take a look at the current Top 40 Charts and it becomes evident that many of these "artists" will be one-hit wonders or punch lines on some "Remember the 2000's" rewind show on VH1.

True inventive pop-stars are hard to come by these days, which makes Janelle Monáe a diamond in the rough. Already possessing the young and cute qualities we, as shallow public, demand from our celebrities, Monáe is different. Not in a contrived Lady Gaga or gimmicky Ke$ha kind of way, but in a I've-never-heard-that-before stream of listening. The last time I remember having my ear turned this sharply was the first time I listened to Brit Lilly Allen's debut CD.

Check out Janelle Monáe's debut single "Tightrope", featuring Outkast's Big Boi, off her second album, The Archandroid. Visually combining doowop aspects of the 50's with the years gone by trend of songs that invent a dance, Monáe shuffles and smiles her way through a funk and big band infused piece of musical genius. Let's hope this is not the last time we hear from her.

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: The Adventures of Bobby Ray

First off, I would like to declare publicly that I am NOT obsessed with B.o.B. despite the fact that I have now blogged about him twice in the past two months. My bad. I can't help it if he's one of the only people putting out decent music these days...

If you liked "Nothin' On You" and want more more more, then check out his just-released album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray. If you're cautious and want to test the waters slowly, check out the single islander-tinged "Lovelier Than You," or "Ghost In The Machine" which is a genre-crossing cover song in the making, if I ever heard one! By my personal favorite is "Magic" featuring the bubbly and smooth vocals of Weezer frontman, Rivers Cuomo, and is the perfect blend of rap and pop-rock that make the late-2000's a great time to be a hip-hop fan.

Buzzy

MUSIC: "Take Control"

Apparently, upon some very topical 5-minute research, it turns out Julissa Veloz, singer behind my new favorite booty-shakin' dance, "Take Control", was a contestant last season on American Idol 8. Turns out she didn't make it too far...

Either way, she's not doing too shabby for herself as this debut song is climbing the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Songs list and is [hopefully] poised to be one of the ones we'll all be hearing all... summer... long! Can you handle it?!?! This is definitely a song directed at the guys but all about the ladies. Check out the video and if you love it, then "take control" and head over to iTunes or Amazon.com and get it for yourself!

Buzzy

YOUTUBE: 4-Chord Song (The Axis of Awesome)

I've had Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" stuck in my head for what seems to be an eternity. It'll go away, only to come back at the least opportune time - like on a run or while riding the bus when I have no other music options to distract me. Maybe its because it is written in one of the keys that good pop songs come in since "all the greatest hits...just use four chords."

This according to Australian musical comedy trio The Axis of Awesome. Their routine 4-Chord Song will affirm this idea. Using just four chords the group rapidly moves through close to 40 pop hits spanning a large number of years. Everything from classic rock band Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" to current hip-hop group 3OH!3's "Don't Trust Me" are represented. The only acts that might be a little obscure are the Australian musicians who are relatively unknown outside of the continent down under like Missy Higgins and Kasey Chambers (although Aussie Natalie Imbruglia's hit "Torn" makes a recognizable appearance.

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: "You're Home"

Our Wednesday ZONINO! featured a song written by the talented Keri Noble. Known well in the cities of Detroit and Minneapolis, as well as parts of Japan, Noble is virtually undiscovered everywhere else, despite the fact that she has recorded several albums on different labels. Her sound is current, as she is often compared to other popular pianist female singer-songwriters, and yet she is not a household name, a tragedy in its own right. If anyone has "payed their dues," it's this woman!

On her current website, Noble offers a beautiful song, "You're Home", as a free download. The song, not available on any of her CD's is a hopeful tribute to soldiers away from their families and loved ones. "If this is dream don't wake me" sings Noble of the idea her recently-returned hero is back from overseas. The songwriting of this gentle ballad is typical of Noble's style so if you like it, check out her other stuff; you will not be disappointed!

Sergio del Limónar

MUSIC: "If No One Will Listen"

It's taken me a little while but I finally figured out why I love the song "If No One Will Listen" from Kelly Clarkson's fourth studio album, All I Ever Wanted, so much. Two related reasons, actually. The first is that I've actually heard the song before Clarkson recorded and the second is that it was written by the incredibly talented and virtually unknown singer-songwriter Keri Noble, who's 2004 Fearless album is the location of the original recording of the tune.

"If you find your fists are raw and red from beating yourself down
If your legs have given out under the weight
If you find you've been settling for a world of gray
So you wouldn't have to face down your own hate"

The delicate piano-driven song about finding confidence is a masterpiece in Noble's hands, as she composed it inspired by personal struggles. Clarkson does it justice as well, with her slightly trembling and vulnerable lightly-accompanied voice. It's exciting that Noble's song has been recorded by such well-known artist; despite the fact that this will not be one of Clarkson's singles, it is still a high-profile stage for Noble's work. If you don't already have this track, download it from either (or both) of these fine lady's CD's and look for more of Noble's work in the future!

Sergio del Limónar

MUSIC: Volume Two

Earlier this month we ZONINO!ed the first single, "In The Sun", by duo She & Him, off their sophomore album Volume Two. Now that the full record has dropped, featuring the talents of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, its celebration time all over again!

The actress and singer-songwriter have compiled a set of tunes that will keep your playlist on repeat for weeks. Both bubbly, melancholy, and sweet, each song seems to be crafted with purpose and care. Lead off track, "Thieves" has a distinctly alt-country vibe that would surely make Ryan Adams proud and the bouncy and steady strings and drums guiding "I'm Gonna Make It Better" make it a delicious piece of ear-candy as well. Overall, everyone will find their own unique gems in this collection, even after only one listen.

Sergio del Limónar