Decent Work for Decent Pay: Selected Works, Vol. 1

AMG Review of Decent Work for Decent Pay: Selected Works, Vol. 1

John Bush
All Music Guide

Diplo's best remixes collected onto a CD would have lit up sales sheets back in 2006 or 2007, when dance music's most hotly tipped producer was unveiling brilliant new remixes practically every month, with a list of clients including M.I.A., CSS, Kanye West, Peter Björn and John, Bloc Party, and Spank Rock. Two years later those tracks may still sound good, but the balloon looks a little deflated, despite the airing of a new self-production: "Way More Brazil," which includes his usual blend of uptempo Baltimore club music, digital claps from the rap world, and storms of Brazilian percussion. Best of the tracks on Decent Work for Decent Pay: Selected Works, Vol. 1 are remixes of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," with Bun B and Rich Boy lightening the mood of the original, and Peter Björn and John's "Young Folks," where the indie anthem swings and grinds in a clap-heavy remix more reminiscent of Oakland than Stockholm.