Most of us are by now well aware of Diplo, his original productions, his remix work, his involvement with his label Mad Decent, and considered by some as a trend setter devastating dancefloors the world over.
Epistemology Suite EP was his debut release, showcasing more DJ Shadow-esque beatscapes, which has become a timeless classic of sampledelia, followed shortly after in 2004 by his debut album Florida. Florida showed a broader palette of influences, often encompasing a more electroid sound, machine rhythms beyond their time.
This is a collection of some of his remix work, remixes of his own tracks, and tracks by Daft Punk (which only made it on the promo due to licensing problems), MIA, Spank Rock, Kano, Bloc Party, CSS, Bonde Do Role, Samim, Hot Chip, Black Lips, Claude Vonstroke and Peter Bjorn & John. He has been known to veer into the ‘Baltimore’ style of dance music, reinventing early 90’s rave rolling drum breaks, but this is not his best work. Its when he steps away from the formula that Diplo excels, dragging what would be straight up rock onto the dancefloor with his electro touch. The stand out tracks on the compilation would have to be his remixes of MIA, keeping the ingenious gun rhythm intact, Kano, underpinning his flow with amazing precision, CSS, Black Lips, maintaining the guitar hook from the original, as well as his own Newsflash featuring the great voice of Sandra Melody. Its good to see the inclusion of Smash A Kangaroo, which was made during his visit to Australia, and indigenous communities, which remixes one of the songs he composed with some very talented indigenous boys.
While I tend to grimace when I hear that ‘Baltimore’ sound, the rest of the tunes here are alot of fun.
Wayne Stronell
