Bumps, the latest addition to the Stones Throw breaks and instrumentals catalog, is a collection of raw breaks, beats, and drums — nothing different from a label that specializes in rough-hewn grooves designed largely to stoke producers' imaginations. To read more go to http://earplug.cc/111525.

At a certain point last year, it became almost impossible to visit an MP3 blog without coming across the cut-and-paste electro punk of London trio Klaxons, or the many dance-ready remixes of their effusive spazz-out singles. Music mavens loved them, it seemed. But the industry is a fickle beast, and many buzz bands — blog bands, nowadays — never grow larger than blips on the mainstream musical radar. Even with the right producer (James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco), the right remixes (Crystal Castles, Van She), and the right labels (Modular, Polydor), a new band has to work hard. Klaxons, however, had to work extra hard: they were dubbed the originators of a new genre, and a dubious one at that, before even releasing their first long player. The question was: would they drown in the media hype, or could they create more? To read more go to http://earplug.cc/111549.

Check out this preview of this upcoming electronic music festival, set to take place on June 1st & 2nd in Rome, Italy. You can find it at http://earplug.cc/104074.

Once an "apostle-like" 12-member multimedia conglomerate, Iceland's GusGus is now a self-anointed techno-soul trinity in full halo drag. Their current album, Forever, dropped in February. Earplug's Jorge Hernandez gets the grease from President Bongo, leader of the Pineapple Empire, on their "spectacular Schnitzel on the Highway show," due to burn rubber this spring. Check out the interview at http://earplug.cc/104190.

Check out this article about the unlikely pairing of techno with modern dance at http://earplug.cc/104141.