There might not be a more sarcastic song in dance music than “Your Biggest Fan,” which opens Montreal producer Marie Davidson’s Ninja Tune debut. Over bubbling synths, she dryly intones every cliché in nightclubbing (“Do you have drugs?” “Wait, do you play in a band?”)—simultaneously unmasking fakers and putting her feminist foot down. The entire album deftly balances unrelenting club beats with incisive commentary: “Work It” critiques capitalist bootstrap dogma over punishing acid house; “The Psychologist” beats back naysaying voices with shuddering EBM grooves. The instrumentals are no less powerful: “Workaholic Paranoid Bitch” careens ahead at 144 BPM, drum machines ready to explode, while “Lara” attacks its acid sequence like a dog with a bone. It’s not all so heavy, though—the new-age miniature “Day Dreaming” makes for a welcome dose of self-care.
- Charlotte Adigéry
- Planningtorock