Diplo: Express Yourself EP Review
Published: July 6, 2012
By: Jake Krzeczowski
In July, Wesley Pentz, better known as Diplo, will be on a long train ride through Canada with fellow EDM mainstays Pretty Lights, Grimes, and Skrillex as they headline the Full Flex Tour.
Perhaps inspired by the solo success of those three as well as his own skyrocketing reputation, Pentz is putting out Express Yourself, an EP expected to be released at the end of 2012, and his first meaningful individual work since his debut, Florida, in 2004.
On his newest offering, Diplo keeps the party rocking and the backsides bouncing with his particular blend of electro house.
With nearly a decade in the game, the Tupelo, Mississippi-born Pentz proves his hunger to continue to develop a sound he helped popularize.
Mixing his special blend of loops, heavy bass lines and quick synths, Diplo weaves together consistently-progressing lines of sound that easily open into an all out ear assault.
The title track of the EP builds slowly, evolving itself from a trance-like introduction before quickly building the beat into his signature moombahton sound.
The Philadelphia DJ achieves this through a mix of squirreling synth lines and reggae inspired sample loops that take you on a journey of sound that finally dumps you off three and a half minutes later feeling as though you've explored the full catalogue of your music library.
Always one for experimentation, Diplo doesn't shy away from trying something new on his latest EP. While maintaining his signature dancehall influenced rhythm he weaves in throughout.
Each track on the record sounds blindingly similar at times, which works within the context of keeping people moving and the party hopping.
Not to be mulled over, songs like "Butters Theme" and "Move Around" employ a host of guests from Elephant Man to Billy the Gent.
The bevy of features touch on genres from dancehall to moombahton and back again, demonstrating not only the DJ's range of musical tastes, but also his ability to move seamlessly between them.
Express Yourself comes on the heels of a book, a TV show and a production credit on Usher's newest single, and feels like a wave from the podium as he glances back on his rise over the past ten years.
If it is anything, the most recent digression by Diplo is more review of his career this far and only a small inkling of where he has to go from here.
In July, Wesley Pentz, better known as Diplo, will be on a long train ride through Canada with fellow EDM mainstays Pretty Lights, Grimes, and Skrillex as they headline the Full Flex Tour.
Perhaps inspired by the solo success of those three as well as his own skyrocketing reputation, Pentz is putting out Express Yourself, an EP expected to be released at the end of 2012, and his first meaningful individual work since his debut, Florida, in 2004.
On his newest offering, Diplo keeps the party rocking and the backsides bouncing with his particular blend of electro house.
With nearly a decade in the game, the Tupelo, Mississippi-born Pentz proves his hunger to continue to develop a sound he helped popularize.
Mixing his special blend of loops, heavy bass lines and quick synths, Diplo weaves together consistently-progressing lines of sound that easily open into an all out ear assault.
The title track of the EP builds slowly, evolving itself from a trance-like introduction before quickly building the beat into his signature moombahton sound.
The Philadelphia DJ achieves this through a mix of squirreling synth lines and reggae inspired sample loops that take you on a journey of sound that finally dumps you off three and a half minutes later feeling as though you've explored the full catalogue of your music library.
Always one for experimentation, Diplo doesn't shy away from trying something new on his latest EP. While maintaining his signature dancehall influenced rhythm he weaves in throughout.
Each track on the record sounds blindingly similar at times, which works within the context of keeping people moving and the party hopping.
Not to be mulled over, songs like "Butters Theme" and "Move Around" employ a host of guests from Elephant Man to Billy the Gent.
The bevy of features touch on genres from dancehall to moombahton and back again, demonstrating not only the DJ's range of musical tastes, but also his ability to move seamlessly between them.
Express Yourself comes on the heels of a book, a TV show and a production credit on Usher's newest single, and feels like a wave from the podium as he glances back on his rise over the past ten years.
If it is anything, the most recent digression by Diplo is more review of his career this far and only a small inkling of where he has to go from here.
