by Heather PharesOn his aptly named debut album Production, hot French producer Mirwais marries the stylish playfulness of contemporaries like Air and Daft Punk with an even more direct pop sensibility. Not only does this explain why he was the ideal choice to produce the bulk of Madonna's Music -- in fact, that album's best track, the brittle ballad "Paradise (Not for Me)," is included here -- but it also results in a collection of songs that are as clever and intelligently crafted as they are danceable. Though most of Mirwais' stylistic touches (stark, sculpted electro beats, running basslines, and vocoders galore) aren't really new, the freshness and innocence he brings to them are -- this is a man who named his label Naive, after all. Production's electro-pop works equally well taken as a whole or song by song: from the slinky-yet-funny album opener "Disco Science," which appropriates the irresistibly catchy foghorn vocals from the Breeders' "Cannonball" and puts them in an entirely different context, to the dreamy, brooding house of "Never Young Again," Mirwais invigorates these vintage elements with the energy of someone hearing and playing them for the first time. Despite its name, Production has much more than pristine sonics in its favor.