Mark Ronson made a name for himself doing iconic covers of modern hits in a horn-heavy, jazzy vein, but with his new band the Business Intl, the in-demand, Grammy-winning producer has done a total 180, eschewing brass sections for synth banks and remakes for originals. And the results so far are every bit as awesome as his 2007 breakthrough album, Version.

As with Version, which featured the talents of Amy Winehouse, Santigold, Robbie Williams, Daniel Merriweather, Lily Allen, and Kenna, Mark's upcoming album with the Business Intl will be an allstar affair. The album, titled Record Collection, is thrillingly set to feature everyone from the long-missing-in-action D'Angelo to '80s legends Boy George, Simon Le Bon, and Nick Rhodes, from hip-hop vet Ghostface to newcomers like Miike Snow's Andrew Wyatt, along with past collaborators like Phantom Planet's Alex Greenwald, the Kaiser Chiefs' Nick Hodgson, and Sharon Jones' Dap-Kings. And writers on the album this time around will include

Expect 18-year-old Alexis Jordanto be one of the biggest breakout pop singers of 2010. Her debut single, theclub-ready anthem "Happiness," is already taking off on dance playlists. And itis a sound that is actually unique for an African American teen female singer.

Her predecessors of the last 15years - Xscape, Brandy, Monica, Aaliyah, Destiny's Child, Nivea, Ciara, Rihanna- launched their singing careers with pop, urban and hip-hop songs.

(WATCH the Hip Hop Media Training video interview with Alexis Jordan.)  

Jordan hopes her global sound willtake her abroad. "I want to tour in Chinaand Europe, and all that great stuff," she saidwhen she visited the Yahoo! Music offices in Santa Monica in April to playthree songs from her forthcoming Star Roc/Roc Nation debut.

Her petite frame and bubblypersona might suggest that her career is centered on her image as opposed toher talent. But it only takes one look at her 2006

There's something innately charming about Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor--the Sheffield, England-based pair that comprise Slow Club--in the course of their live performances.

Caught by Y! Music during their appearance at the recent South By Southwest conference in Austin this year, the pair come off as a low-key boy/girl duo in the classic  rock 'n' roll sense--singing together both in harmony and in unison, stylistically seeming to borrow from rural American music forms and, at times, oddly recalling the unique '60s pairing of Lee Hazelwood and  Nancy Sinatra.

Officially formed in 2006 after the demise of Sheffield band the Lonely Hearts, Slow Club have been heard in the usual run of seemingly random commercials (Ritz crackers, Lay's potato chips, Vodafone) and TV shows (Chuck, United States Of Tara), but can be heard to much greater effect on Yeah So, their debut album just released Stateside recently.

That Slow Club is attracting an interesting fan base is difficult to argue--as

Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore are responsible for one of the year's finest albums--and, however unappetizing it may sound, much of it is about coal mining.

More specifically, the pair, along with fellow Kentuckian Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket as producer, have produced Dear Companion, a heartfelt, wonderfully performed album of songs in part aimed to draw people's attention to the issue of Mountaintop Removal coalmining (MTR). What's that? Per Wikipedia, it's a process that "involves blasting with explosives to remove up to 400 vertical feet (120 m) of mountain to expose underlying coal seams. Excess rock and soil laden with toxic mining byproducts are often dumped into nearby valleys, in what are called 'holler fills' or 'valley fills.'"

Both directly and indirectly, Dear Companion explores the impact of the that process on both the environment and working lives of the people of central Appalachia; a portion of the album's sales, in fact, will benefit Appalachian Voices, a group