Customer Reviews

Decent Work for Decent Pay

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If you're a fan of Diplo like me, then you were probably pretty happy when his new album came out earlier this month.

Diplo is DJ Wes Pentz who is originally from Philly (which I did not know). For his debut only being 5 years ago, Diplo is a pretty big influence in the remixing world. There aren't too many of his works that I don't like. That's why I was just a tad disappointed with his newest release Decent Work for Decent Play.

Coming in with 12 songs (good), the album is only about 41 minutes long (not good)! Usually we're used to having an average of 5 minute long tracks especially in this genre. But, some of them are just past the 2 minute mark. The first track off the album is Diplo's "Newsflash" featuring Sandra Melody. I really like the song; does anyone remember Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo? The very original? And the scenes where you had to go through the castle to find and defeat Koopa? That's what this song reminds me of. Good stuff.

Second, is a Spank Rock song. "Put that Pussy on me" is a decent song. I recognized it from Girl Talk using parts of it in one of his tracks on his newest album Feed the Animals.

I don't know for sure what it is about the third song, but I love it. It's all Diplo himself and the name of the song is "200". That's that.

Samim's "Heater" is one of those happy dance songs. I'd already heard it on my Sirius one day, and had it downloaded. So, it was nice to know that I already knew one of the tracks.

There's a couple I could go without hearing more than a few times, though. "Way More Brazil" starts out awesome, but loses it's shine. "Smash a Kangaroo" is another one I am not super into. Interesting title though, huh? I like that. Pretty much, when you listen to the album, the first half gets you going and loving it. Then, the second part kind of slows you down to where you're half moving, and staring at the speakers wondering, "What's going on?!"

I'd also like to add that "Baby" featuring Vybz Kartel has some more Nintendo sounds in it. This time, it sounds like Super Mario Bros. 3. Particularly when Mario is underwater. Am I imagining this? Am I subconsciously longing for my childhood days of playing old-school Nintendo for hours? I don't think so...but maybe Diplo is?!

Note that this MP3 album doesn't contain all 17 tracks that appear on the full CD release; for whatever reason (probably licensing), the iTunes store doesn't have the full version either.

Diplo shows off his production skills for other artists on DECENT WORK FOR DECENT PAY, though he kicks it off with his own "Newsflash," a thick slab of digital-electro ragga. It wouldn't be a compilation without his biggest hit, M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," and she appears here in all its gunfire and cash register glory. On his own "200," he layers on the sounds, bringing a heavy, buzzing bass. His take on various indie rock staples (Bloc Party; Peter, Bjorn & John) are uniformly interesting, stripping out most of the vocals and inserting deep grooves instead, ranging from the frenetic (Hot Chip) to the grindy (Black Lips). He inserts some favela-flavored funk into Samim's "Heater" and bucking-bronco beats into Claude Vonstroke's "The Whistler." But even better is his work with various Brazilian groups: CSS's "Lets Make Love" is down and dirty, while Bonde Do Rolê's "Solta O Frango" has a spare party vibe that makes it, strangely, even more catchy. His own "Way More Brazil" has way less Brazil, and is almost minimal in its construction, and when he travels to Australia for the didgeridoo groove of "Smash a Kangaroo," it's silly and toe-tapping at the same time. Not all the tracks are as successful, though: Kano's "Reload It" seems rather lethargic, despite the quick beat, but there's plenty of decent work on this album to make up for it.