Diplo Releases “California”
Before worldwide stardom and innumerable A-list collaborations, before mobilizing an endless parade of twerkage with Major Lazer, even before his revolutionary work with M.I.A. on “Paper Planes†and Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1, a 25-year-old named Thomas Wesley Pentz released an album called Florida. It was a strange, compelling trip-hop record, notable, in 2004, for its multi-genre fluency. But the other striking element—then and particularly now, for those who have followed Pentz’s career as perhaps the best-known DJ of his generation—was the sadness at the album’s core. Damn, it’s true: Even Diplo gets the blues. Fourteen years later, Diplo has released another solo record named for a state. Details.
