philip sherburne

Crack! Pop! Clickety-ick-ick-kersnap!

No, that's not a transcription of the latest Perlon release, it's the sound of my bones after spending a long night on the floor of Newark International. (Friends, beware Continental airlines: you may find that, upon hitting inclement weather and missing a connecting flight to Barcelona—not that I minded my six hours spent after being diverted to Pittsburgh, half of it on the runway—Continental claims it has "no obligation" to speed you on your journey. Apparently a $1300 ticket isn't good for much these days. [It certainly won't get you into the President's Club, where the promise of electrical outlets beckons as your laptop's life drains away; only a $45 day pass will get you that. No thank you.] The next flight Continental could guarantee me to Barcelona would depart Newark this Saturday, arriving Barcelona Sunday morning—just in time to catch, well, none of Sónar. And so, in order to make it to my gigs on time, tonight I fly to Lisbon, where I pick up a new flight on Vueling—on my dime—to Barcelona, where I'll arrive a mere 55 hours after beginning what promised to be such a fleet and routine journey. I ask, whither customer service? I'm pretty sure Continental's reply, hissing out of the "customer care" specialist's teeth, sounded like: "Wither customer service!")

(I should note for the record: the flight crew from Portland to Newark were kind, courteous and totally wonderful, as was the woman on the phone that eventually helped me wrangle a jerry-rigged itinerary. To everyone else in the Continental empire that contributed to three hours spent standing in line, two hours on hold, and eight hours prostrate on the floor of the airport, shivering beneath a scarf-sized blanket, may your downsizing be swift, meciless and without severance pay, beginning with the CEO.)

But back to the music:

• MUTEK rules (Pitchfork column)
• Hear me spin (Allez-Allez session)
• Come see me play (Resident Advisor party)
• Bpitch is in control (eMusic column)

And here's a quick chart of June faves:

Exercise One, "Dark Star" (Mobilee)
Lan Muzic's Exercise One stretch out with a jiggly, Lazy Fat People-style track full of rolling drums and chirps

Len Faki, "My Black Sheep" (Podium)
Heavy as lead, squirrelly as mercury, this is one of the year's deadliest cuts

Len Faki, "Mekong Delta" (Ostgut Ton)
Regal organs accompany the melting-down of all the world's crowns and scepters

Quenum & Dachshund, "Paradox" (Platzhirsch)
Hypnotic, absorbing, dark as a fever dream

Anja Schneider, "Loop de Mer"/"Belize" (Mobilee)
Not out til September, but just you wait: her best tracks yet

Martin Buttrich, "Well Done (Headhunter Remix)" (Four:Twenty)
A techno staple gets dubstepped, without gumming up the works

Dave Aju & the Invisible Art Trio, "Be Like the Sun" (Circus Company)
Caned by the Wighnomys at MUTEK/Piknik Electronik, this has sleeper hit written all over it; out in September

Idjut Boys feat. Rune Lindbaek, "Laisn (Kalabrese Remix)" (Bear Funk)
Slow, murky, bizarre, this marries rainforest forays with dub blues; is there anything Kalabrese can't do?

Dominik Eulberg, "Gruenschenkel (2000 and One Remix)" (Traum)
Clave patterns and mosquito needling from Amsterdam's damn fine 2000 and One

Eway Pearson, Fabric 35 (Fabric)
Mix CD of the year, period.