“Have you timed your move just right?” Jarvis Cocker asks on the chorus of “Synchronize,” this unexpected indie-club masterpiece by Discodeine, a French dance-music supergroup comprised of esteemed producer Pilooski and Pentile, just released on the infallible DFA label. It’s funny when a lyric from a club track hits you hard, and Cocker’s words target with acid subtlety that kind of manipulative operator who’s always hovering, that false friend ready to pull the carpet out from under you while maintaining a cool façade; we all know people like this, and it’s therapeutic to hear Cocker skewer such frauds when we ourselves cannot.

Even better, Cocker’s offhand brilliance—really, at his best he’s up there with vintage Elvis Costello—is underpinned by a great track from Pilooski and Pentile: with its tingling synths and tasteful disco rhythms, it has enough forward motion to get you grooving, but there’s a subtle melancholy to the melodies to give it added emotional heft where its least expected. Pilooski in particular is better known for his amazing re-edits and remixes as opposed to original tracks, but “Synchronize” points the way to a whole new dimension to his career. Along with Pentile, he’s created a late-entry candidate for song of the year.“It’s only a matter of time,” Cocker sings later in the chorus, serving as a foreshadowing for Discodeine’s ascdendancy and the downfall of the underhanded yet slick fool elegantly eviscerated in the lyric. Amen to the latter – comeuppance never sounded so funky and effortless; if it was only that easy…