Diplo's a pretty entertaining Twitter user. He often sends out witty jokes and one-liners and posts Instagrams of women dancing in wild poses at his shows, lending some of his fans (and detractors) to see him as some sort of semi-vulgar performer.
In real life (shocker: the internet isn't always reflective of real life), though, Diplo is a dad and all-around nice, curious guy. He just has his own opinions, some of which he has to end up explaining in lengthy Facebook posts, like this one about Daft Punk.
Or, more specifically, about his tweets about Daft Punk. Last week, Diplo tweeted a number of jokes about "Random Access Memories," the new album from the disco/house/electronic/vintage/vocoder legends. He mused that it might "be really good to take drugs and listen to on a rainy bridge in Mexico" and said "these guys are way smarter than me" before offering a few track-specific critiques ("I think the song with Julian Casablancas would be better with Marky Mark's character from 'Boogie Nights'"; "the song with Paul Williams needs more sidechain and less ragtime barbershop quartet").
This led many blogs to snap up screenshots of the tweets and decry that Diplo had given the album a negative review. Fun, right? Except it was a joke. (We didn't post Diplo's tweets because pretty much everything he posts on Twitter is funny, so there didn't seem to be any reason to grab his thoughts on someone else's album, but dance music blogs serve a more niche audience and there's only so much dance music news to go around each day.)
On Tuesday, Diplo took to his Facebook page to explain that he uses social media as a place for "performance art," that he doesn't hate the album and sees many things (name, his views on "mainstream electronic dance music") the same way as Daft Punk. He did, however, cop to admitting that the album feels like "excessive, blissed out easy listening" and reminds him of music he disliked when he was growing up in Florida. Basically, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Daft Punk make him feel old, and he's not ready for that.
Read the full text of his "rant" below and let us know what you think in the comments. For more Diplo, including his actual views on record labels, dance music and much more, see our in-depth profile of the producer.
going on rants never works out for me but fuck it this is a long flight…
ill start with a story
My favorite poet is william blake..
When I was younger. I had one teacher that didn't like his poetry.. her opinion was that he shouldn't have been so revered as many had put up so high. I didn't even understand half of what william blake wrote. But I loved the words. I loved the drawings with his poems and I loves how his sentences made me read them 4 or 5 times in a row until they jus steamrolled over my brain.. I was ride or die for william blake.. But was I gonna quit school because my teacher wasn't.. Nope.. I wasn't about to argue with her either. I didn't care.. it was between me and william blake. The teachers opinion didn't matter.That fact that she had an opinion made my opinion more valid .. Because I made up my mind what I liked and I stood by it.. Nothing influenced me.. And I hope u guys feel the same way and also feel strong about what u believe or what u feel inside..
My all time favorite daft punk song was "make love" from the last album, not the bangers that you might expect but the subtlety of that record was amazing and i love the production on it..
the new album i do like a lot as well.. my favorite song being doing it right with panda bear i think its my favorite tune of the year so far. i quite like the album .. my twitters were sarcastic.. per usual social media to me is more of performance art.
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but lemme try and explain my reviews of the album
I spent most of my life in florida..
Right now.. In my life.. I don't want music that represents excessive blissed out easy listening. I grew up being forced to listen to hotel california..
And Im also not into the white bearded rich malibu palm tree los angeles that it paints.. LA is great because its real and gritty so that just turned me off…
I jus imagine it to be bearded white men in fancy cars and white suits being excessive … anyway I'm old... 34 years old..
When I first heard daft punk I was in my teens and going to my first parties that played dance music.. With no words.. That was new world to me.Maybe I'm in denial because I'm old.. But this album was obviously for people that enjoy breazy walks with their pets and smoking cigarettes in malibu.. I do not. I spent most of my life in florida..making sandwiches..mowing lawns or parking motorcycles.. There wasn't anything I hated more then the eagles and micheal mcdonald.. I wouldn't even listen to fleetwood mac until I was 28.. An adult.. Then I got it. Eventually i even fell in love with stevie nicks..
But I have her... Lots of songs.. I don't need daft punk remind me that I'm old. I still like to turn shit upside down and make noise..
When I make statements on twitter. I usually think they are just for myself.. but they always become rumor and gossip blog fodder.. if you know me in real life you might know I'm not a complete asshole, even though all my girlfriends all think that i amI also know that nobody will post this letter on a news source..
But over 50 influential blogs and music wedbsites posted my twitter one liners... Within an hour Why? Because it was funny controversial and will bring readers into there site and hopefully drive up traffic. That's pretty much what I'm good at.. being obnoxious. Making people feel one way or another. i agree with everything that daft punk said in the billboard interview…. thats exactly how i feel about mainstream edm as well.but for some of the fans to get mad at me for having an opinion .. thats just ignorant.. I also don't think any daft punk stans will read this.. They jus think me as a bitter dj that is jealous of daft punk. they also don't even know my msic.. They probably only googled me and decided to write on my facebook because that's there way of showing their love for daft punk.. I highly doubt they even thought thru my sarcasm on twitter... Pretty much 95 % of my twitter is that.. making fun of social media by using it incorrectly ..
but I am jealous of daft punk because their fans did blindly get moved and angry when someone doesn't like their idol.. haha yeah i am! No one boycotted pitchfork or philly weekly when they trashed the last major lazer album! where's my navy!?! I'm joking i love bad reviews they make me work harder and think more.. even though u always risk over intellectualizing music..
So if u actually care about music not about percieved gossip and trashy blogs.. and you read through this I appreciate it. Thanks
