Diplo at Siren Studios, November 6, 2009

Last Friday was the second day of Kia’s Soul Collective event held in Hollywood. The show was headlined by Diplo who is currently riding high from his work with M.I.A. and the success of his Major Lazer album, a collaborative project with DJ Switch. The show was scheduled to start relatively early, at 7:00PM. A good sized crowd eventually arrived but it was by no means packed to the level of the previous night’s raging Crystal Castles show. Los Angeles based all girl hip hop act, Pink Dollaz opened. At 8:15, Diplo took the stage and started things off by projecting a short film from French duo Jonas and Francois who are known for directing videos for Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.,” Kanye’s “Good Life” and also Madonna and Justin Timberlake’s “4 Minutes.”

Diplo delivered a nearly one hour set spinning tracks that spanned the gamut from grunge to dubstep to dancehall. Major Lazer was dropped frequently much to the crowd’s delight. Approximately halfway through, he pulled in the requisite Michael Jackson tribute track and later followed with a remix of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” which made the crowd nearly start moshing. He played something for everybody, as any good party DJ should. During his performance he gave shout outs to electro/dub DJ Rusko who made a few passing appearances on stage.

Diplo at Siren Studios

After closing with another Major Lazer track, the crowd demanded an encore. Diplo obliged with a downtempo piece, and he quietly hinted to the crowd to check his Twitter feed for info on an after party. I have to admit it felt slightly strange to be at a dance music event that finished at 9PM on a Friday night. In reality, I think this show was just a preface to the after party, which according to his Twitter posts here, here, and here, there were three of them with DJ’s from his label Mad Decent showing off their skills.

Diplo has proven himself to be talented not only as a DJ but also as a producer and label owner. By being versatile in his roles, he is well positioned for continued success in the new music business, and I look forward to what he will deliver in the future.