Topical Dancer is propulsive, playful, and political

Last week’s recommendation, Sotomayor’s Wabi Sabi, has a very particular vibe that you don’t find in a lot of records. One of the few things it called to mind was 2022’s Topical Dancer from Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul, which I ended up revisiting this week a lot.

The two records don’t seem particularly alike on the surface. But they’re both rough around the edges smash-ups of electronic and organic elements packaged for dancefloor abandon. The way the sounds and rhythms click together feels very much of the same ilk.

There are, of course, differences. Significant ones. Adigery and Pupul draw more heavily from rock and early electronic music, at times evoking acts like the Talking Heads. The bass lines on tracks like “Ceci N’est Pas un Cliché,” cut through any reservations you might have about throwing your hands up in the air and waving ‘em like you just don’t care.

It’s not all empty fun, though. Topical Dancer’s political commentary is almost as sharp as its basslines. On “Blenda,” Adigery chants, “Go back to your country, where you belong. Siri, can you tell me where I belong?” over percussive synth bass and 80s drum machine hits.

On “Esperanto” she offers winking advice to people who say problematic things, “Don’t say ‘But I’m allowed to say that because I grew up in a black neighbourhood’, Say ‘My n……eighbour’”, drawing out the nnn sound for much longer than is comfortable. And “Don’t say ‘White people can’t dance’, Say ‘Tom marches to the beat of a different drum’”, delivering each syllable delightfully off kilter, in what feels like the musical equivalent of cringe comedy.

It’s not all confrontational takedowns of racists, xenophobes, and misogynists, though. There’s the late album highlight “HAHA” which features Adigery laughing for almost four minutes on end, only occasionally interrupting to say, “Guess you had to be there.”