Creating a buzz in the Midwest is Vedera--a Kansas City, Missouri-based quartet who've just released their major label debut, Stages, on Epic Records.

The quartet, fronted by colorful lead vocalist Kristen May, have most recently been huge inroads on the touring circuit with artists like the Fray, All-American Rejects and the Plain White T's--bands that, like Vedera, inspire a loyal fanbase focused on music much more than image. And they're being noticed.

Rounding out the band is guitarist Brian Little--who's also May's husband--as well as Little's brother Drew on drums and bassist Jason Douglas.

What do they sound like? Check out their most recent music video.

The band got its start locally in 2004 with an EP entitled This Broken City, and within a year was on the road with bands like MuteMath and Jason Mraz, promoting their official debut album The Weight Of An Empty Room. Word soon spread and the band finalized a deal with Epic, resulting in the big step up that is Stages. The

Jay Sean did it. His US debut single "Down" just reachedNo. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

For weeks, Jay Sean patiently waited for the Black Eyed Peasto give up the coveted position. They have been holding the No. 1 spot for 26weeks. But when their song "I Gotta Feeling" dropped to the No. 4 slot thisweek, Jay Sean was waiting in the wings.

In just 14 weeks, the British pop-R&B singer-songwriterof Sikh Punjabi descent has topped the charts, making him the first solo male artist from South Asia to claim this honor.

"It's like a dream to have a song and you know you'vewritten those words, you came up with that melody and go, 'Here America, whatdo you think?' and everyone goes, 'Yo, we love this'," Jay Sean said via phone."You're getting No. 1 most added, No. 1 in requests. Shows in the country...That'scrazy."

Jay Sean is not new to fame. He scored a top 20 hit in the UK withhis first song "Dance With You (Nachna Tere Naal)" from his 2004 Virgin Recordsdebut album "Me Against

"I just stopped searching," Jaicko says, describing his quest to determine his musical style. "When you search you are looking for the door to be unlocked. But I realized the door was already unlocked."

The Barbados-bred singer, who turned 18 on August 6, speaks with the wisdom of someone three times his age.

Jaicko has been making music for half of his life. In the past 9 years, he has tried rap, and different styles of pop. He eventually settled on something that felt a bit more natural.

"I started listening to a lot of our local music," Jaicko says via phone as he sits in a conference room at his label home Capitol Records. "I call my style Caribbean infused pop."

Jaicko's description fits when applied to his US debut single "Oh Yeah," a feel-good anthem that he describes as the perfect beginning of the week pick me up.

He lucked up, landing a feature from Snoop Dogg on an alternate mix, "Oh Yeah Pt. II."That was a blessing," Jaicko explains. "When the A&R said, 'How about getting

A few months ago when I first received a copy of Walking On A Dream, the debut album by Australia's Empire Of The Sun, I got one eyeful of the disc's fantastical cover art (elephants and tigers and Adam Ant facepaint, oh my!) and thought, "Okay....either this is going to be the worst thing I've ever heard, or it's going to be the BEST thing I've ever heard."

And I slapped it in my stereo right away to find out.

So I am thrilled to report that--as cool as it might as been if Empire Of The Sun had turned out to be the pseudonym'd secret side-project of Sigfried & Roy (as that dazzling cover pic certainly, fascinatingly implied)--it is actually the side duo of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore (from the Australian cult bands the Sleepy Jackson and Pnau, respectively). Empire's music immediately brings to mind a sort of more ethereal (and dare I say even more melodic) MGMT, and it very well just may be the best thing I've ever heard--at least in 2009:

And it turns out I am not alone in my