Diplo: Decent Work For Decent Pay

Whether as producer, artist, or remixer—all those hats are on display on the Philly DJ's quasi-best-of Decent Work For Decent Pay: Selected Works Volume One—Diplo's tracks tend to hang on isolated moments repeated, and their success often depends on what's been isolated. The rhythm-guitar cluck he rebuilds Peter Bjorn And John's "Young Folks" around (the whistle is used sparingly) gives it a new spring without necessarily improving it, and that happens a few times on Decent Work: See also Diplo's irritating reworking of Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" and the blipping keyboards in his tweak of Bloc Party's "Where Is Home." But that knack serves him well as often as not: The looped Clash guitar line for M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" (here featuring guest verses by Bun B and Rich Boy) elevates it to a modern classic, while subtly tweaked synth snarls boost Claude Von Stroke's "The Whistler." That mixture means the title of this collection gets it a little too right: It's decent, but seldom more.