As our coexistence with technology becomes more and more dystopian, Ninajirachi has decided to swim against the tide. The virtuosic DJ and producer today released her debut album, I Love My Computer, an ode to the hyper-connected and wired world of electronic music, but above all to the physical machines around which it all revolves.
Just as Giorgio Moroder praised the Moog synthesizer for allowing him to create “the sound of the future,” Ninajirachi is unafraid of celebrating her machine as an extension of herself, and as her muse, her music teacher and her best collaborator.
Meticulously crafted and instinctively raw, the 12-track album guides us through a mosaic of memories that encapsulates this relationship. Ninajirachi and her computer have created a world that feels intimate as a personal diary and endless as the World Wide Web.
Beyond the instant-classic quote “I wanna fuck my computer ’cause no one in the world knows me better” from her single “Fuck My Computer,” the album’s lyricism depicts many other moments with which every producer can easily identify. Lines like “FL Studio so late I fell asleep on the keys, with it looping through the speakers bleeding into my dreams” (from “Ipod Touch”) and “Fell into the screen like a star, as a girl, found a world there and gave it my heart, now we’re soul-bound” (from “All At Once”) deliver the concept with unapologetic flair.
Even the less optimistic cut, “Infohazard,” which highlights the risk of being exposed to inappropriate content on the internet, is extremely relatable for all generations since the advent of the internet. Ninajirachi sees these episodes as part of an indispensable rite of passage, a liturgy that—even in its most perverse moments—leaves a rooted sense of nostalgia in those who experience it.
And while nostalgia is undeniably one of the pillars of I Love My Computer, what she offers is not a jaded and envious look at what is no longer there. It’s not a sterile vaporwave-style celebration of an idealized past. Ninajirachi cheers these pivotal life moments in an openhearted fashion, leveraging them as a springboard to push herself towards an even more promising future.
The stunning album effectively crystallizes the Australian artist as one of today’s brightest young stars in the electronic music scene. Since she was named by EDM.com as one of the best music producers of 2022, she has only gained momentum. She released a pair of sister projects, 4×4 and girl edm (by her own admission, they could have been combined into a single album if she had more patience), created the official demo project for Ableton Live 11, performed at major festivals like Lollapalooza and EDC Las Vegas, and headlined sold-out club shows on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.
What makes I Love My Computer stand out, however, isn’t just the storytelling. In the wake of her previous EPs, the production lands as among the most unique in the contemporary electronic music landscape. Although Ninajirachi draws from sounds that were trending when she just was a toddler—like electroclash, YK2 trance and the complextro of Wolfgang Gartner and Zedd—this record feels modern and completely her own.
As she explained on Triple J’s Perfect Sundays podcast, her beats are often inspired by classics that shaped her younger days, like Avicii and Nicky Romero’s progressive house classic “I Could Be the One” and Empire of the Sun’s ageless “Walking on a Dream.” To that end, the plan for I Love My Computer was clear: embrace the past and hyperlink it to the present.
Ninajirachi’s renowned technical skills allow her to bend all these influences to serve the kaleidoscopic range of her vision. We encounter subversive shifts in tempo and texture across the album’s tracklist, like in “CSIRAC,” “London Song” and “All I Am,” where she produces industrial drums, distorted basslines and abrasive synths.
“iPod Touch,” “Delete,” “It’s You” and “Infohazard” lean into brighter soundscapes with playful arpeggios and candy-coated vox. Elsewhere, “Sing Good” arrives as the album’s black sheep. Featuring only Ninajirachi’s voice and a synth, this ballad carries an ambient feel that sets it apart from the album’s glittering exuberance.
You can listen to I Love My Computer by Ninajirachi below and find the new album on streaming platforms here.
Follow Ninajirachi:
X: x.com/ninajirachi
TikTok: tiktok.com/@ninajirachi
Instagram: instagram.com/ninajirachi
Facebook: facebook.com/ninajirachi
Spotify: spoti.fi/3hVlbBm
