Decent Work for Decent Pay

iTunes Review

DJ and producer Wesley Pentz — a.k.a. Diplo — first got wide exposure as M.I.A.’s DJ on her 2005 breakout tour. But the Florida native had already garnered attention earlier in the decade for his mixtape work and his 2004 release, Florida, which drew on hip-hop, Dancehall, and other styles. 2009’s Decent Work for Decent Pay isn’t as striking as the earlier album, but it’s a good party disc with some hot tracks. The insistent remix of Spank Rock’s “Put That P***y On Me” is enhanced by a great psych-garage guitar riff taken from the Seeds’ mid-‘60s hit “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine.” The album’s version of Black Lips’ “Veni Vidi Vici” features sassy vocals and an assortment of percussion tics, while Bonde Do Rolê’s “Solta O Frango” offers schoolyard chants over a basic Baile Funk groove. The instrumental “Heater,” by Samim, finds room for samples of traditional accordion as well as spacey synth; “Smash a Kangaroo” includes the sound of archaic vinyl scratches and old-school-style rapping. The album closes with “Diplo Rhythm,” a dark track that rides a stuttering drum machine pattern.