What do Sheryl Crow, Barry Manilow, and Foster The People lead singer Mark Foster have in common? They all started out writing commercial jingles--who would've guessed?

L.A.-based trio Foster The People's contagious brand of light-hearted indie-pop has been getting a lot of buzz since their debut single "Pumped Up Kicks" dropped last year. There have been a lot of comparisons to fellow indie band MGMT--which Foster is flattered by--although I personally think "Kicks" echoes the gentle '60s-tinged sound of Peter, Bjorn & John's hit single "Young Folks."

Lead by multi-instrumentalist and jingle veteran Mark Foster, the band is rounded out by Mark Pontius on drums and Cubbie Fink on bass and backing vocals. Initially the band was called "Foster & The People," a simple namecheck to Mark. But after enough mishearings and misspellings, the band acquiesced to their current, kind-of-political-sounding current name. 

Foster The People recently played their first Glastonbury Festival this past

Breakbot is a 30-year-old French producer and DJ (real name: Thibaut Berland) signed to hipster electronic music label Ed Banger Records (home to Justice, SebastiAn, Cassius, Uffie, Mr. Oizo, and others). He is tres cool and tres French, and his new club anthem with Ruckazoid, "Fantasy," makes us wants to dance around with loaves of crusty bread tucked under our arms while wearing berets and striped shirts. But the foxy (and presumably French) female star of the song's video apparently feels the urge to strip off her clothes when she hears it.

The "Fantasy" video depicts an art class full of worked-up male students who just can't seem to concentrate on their canvases once their subject, a brunette beauty, drops her trenchcoat and strikes an unclothed pose. Then one particularly creative, and particularly distracted, student starts fantasizing about the model...and it all culminates in an "A-ha moment," so to speak.

Check out Breakbot's funny work of art below!

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There's no denying Michael Jackson's influence on rising popstar B. Howard. The way B. Howard styles his curly hair, wears big-framed shades,pops his shoulders when he's dancing, and sings in a whispery, nasal vocal tonereference the late king of pop's "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" eras.

It's especially evident in the video for B. Howard's latestsong, "Dancefloor." It has the suspense of "Thriller"'s opening scene, and modernized special effects and choreography of "Rock With You."

It makes sense.  B. Howard grew up around the Jackson family. His mother, Miki Howard, was one of the strongest female R&B voices of the 1990s.

"Dancefloor" is a feel good, dance record founded on therhythm of the bass rather than the drums.

Producer Teddy Riley describes B. Howard's sound as realmusic. "I think people take more to his energy more than his music and whenthey start hearing the music they are so surprised," said Teddy, who has workedwith Michael, Janet, and Dr. Dre. "I can only say you

Actor Darius McCrary, who rose to fame in the 1980's as ateen star on the long-running ABC sitcom "Family Matters" that also featuredJaleel White in the lead role as super nerd Steve Urkel, has continued toexpand on his impressive filmography, including dozens of movie and televisionroles in the likes of "Transformers," "Saw VI," and the "The Young And TheRestless."

But music is Darius's first love. Darius not only sings, buthe also plays the guitar, piano, harmonica, and percussions, and is a member ofmusical family The McCrarys, who have worked with the likes of Steve Wonder,Chaka Khan, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

With his band The D List, Darius and his brother Donny haverecorded an album titled "The Dissertation Of D" that does not yet have arelease date.

The D List performed Saturday at the 102.3 Radio-Free BlackMusic Month Summer Jam Session in Los Angeles. Darius played guitar and sang lead on theirsong "Changes" which is reminiscent of music from 1970's soul singer Al