“XLB”

When, as is sure to happen, some enterprising media company finally live-streams a trepanation over the web for the first time, Pearson Sound's “XLB” would make an excellent soundtrack. Its corkscrewing arpeggios feel not unlike a fine-tipped drill bit whirring through bone; the beatless breakdown, full of jellied blips, suggests all that grey matter quivering expectantly. And then once the beat kicks back in, kablam: an exhilarating rush of clarity, the kind that some contemporary advocates of the process claim as one of its benefits. Pearson Sound has been making these kind of stripped-down drum tracks for a while, but “XLB” finds his tools sharper, and his hands steadier, than they've ever been. This is percussive mayhem delivered with surgical precision. Expect dancefloors to erupt when this gets played out this summer.