Money Sucks, Friends Rule

Recording information: Elephant Squirrel Studio, Los Angeles, CA; Mad Decent Studios, Burbank CA; Martin Garrix' Studio, Amsterdam, NL; Pulse Recording, Los Angeles, CA; Studio Fuzion, France; Stylo G's Studio, London, England; Sultan & Ned Shepard's Studio, Los Angeles, CA; The Mothership, Los Angeles, CA.
A social media prankster who also offers speaker-ripping floor-fillers, DJ and producer Dillon Francis seemed genetically engineered for the Mad Decent label, as if Diplo hired scientists who bred the EDM wunderkind in a test tube with a Mishka sticker stuck on the outside. The man debuted with the hot, stuttering Moombahton sound and then moved onto the stomping genre of trap, and with his debut album, Money Sucks, Friends Rule, he's up for whatever the rave requires, for better or worse. With "When We Were Young," featuring the Chain Gang of 1974, it's pop-tacular fireworks that could bridge a Black Eyed Peas track with some Katy Perry remix, while "Drunk All the Time" is the same kind of slick but on the R&B tip and with singer Simon Lord. These cool rulers are all fine and dandy, coming off like Dada Life living in the land of Major Lazer, but when Dillon goes dumb he's most glorious of all. "Get Low" with DJ Snake is punny enough to employ the sound of a snake charmer while crunk beats blast underneath, then "Not Butter" plays out like a crank call from Kraftwerk that was then handed over to 2 Unlimited for remixing. Add the Moombahton touches of "We Make It Bounce" and the over-the-top disco fury of "Set Me Free" with Martin Garrix, and all the elements of a Mad Decent monster (fun, cool, loud, campy chaos) are here, and yet, all that edgy awesomeness makes the pop come off as somewhat plain. Rearrange the album for maximum effect or cut it into two slices, one for party night and one smaller, sane slice for nursing hangovers and returning to reality. ~ David Jeffries