Arthur Baker, sans crazy stomach flu

​Producer and DJ Arthur Baker helped change the sound of New York in the early '80s, producing the pioneering Kraftwerk electro-twurk of Afrika Bambaataa's 1982 single "Planet Rock" and running early hip-hop label Streetwise. He was ready to spout about all this stuff at the M for Montreal Festival this weekend, a nifty showcase for 30 Canadian bands--and a festival kind enough to fly the Village Voice out for a sneak peek at this year's crop of poutine-eating popsters. Baker was booked to chat at Friday's producer's panel alongside Bjork wrangler Valgier Sigurdsson, Arcade Fire knob-twiddler Howard Bilerman, and a few other esteemed headphone jockeys. However, dude got crazy stomach flu and did the whole damn thing from his bed in England via Skype. In between bloops, blips, dropped calls and static, the New York dance legend dropped some science about getting New Order to play nice, cracked wise about turning down the Happy Mondays, and announced an upcoming collaboration with Cold Cave.

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