Chapter 1: Snake Oil
| Diplo
Chapter 1: Snake Oil
Chapter 1: Snake Oil is the second studio album by American DJ and musician Diplo, under his moniker Thomas Wesley. It was released on May 29, 2020 under Columbia Records.
The album features collaborations by Orville Peck, Noah Cyrus, Thomas Rhett and Young Thug. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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NME
That’s because at its heart, this isn’t a country album at all; rather it’s an excuse for Diplo to wear some razzle-dazzle Nudie Cohn-style suits and fancy cowboy hats.
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Euphoria
Diplo’s first effort under his country moniker of Thomas Wesley (his real full name is Thomas Wesley Pentz), feels like a delicate balance between the Diplo of previous albums but with the country flair he’s been leaning into.
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Standard
Lyrically, the record is missing country’s most enticing attribute — powerful storytelling. The not-so-catchy title sums up the album’s issues; just as he doesn’t quite commit to releasing the record under his real name, Diplo also clings to the beats and production he’s famous for. It’s neither one thing nor the other.
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The Times
The problem with being a personality, however, is that nobody around you will say when your latest project stinks. And Snake Oil reeks of horse manure.
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Thomas Bleach
There was so much more that Diplo could’ve done with this album, and it feels like he just attacked it at a surface level approach instead of giving us the elaborate exploration that this should’ve been.
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CelebMix
It’s an extremely easy album to listen to perfect for having on a nice warm day while you relax and take it easy. What Diplo has done is create an album that pays homage to the genre, while not being a traditional country album.
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The Guardian
It’s a perfectly serviceable album, as one might expect, given the pedigree of those involved. But it’s hard to imagine it being met with anything but bemusement at the Grand Ole Opry.
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All Music
The idea behind the project is to expand his horizons while nodding at his roots, but Snake Oil also feels like a canny way to ride the streaming-core wave, where seemingly contradictory styles exist in harmony on a variety of play lists.
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The Line of Best Fit
Diplo fails to capitalise on any of country music’s fusion momentum on his new conceptual outing.
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Pitchfork
Trickled down from the success of “Old Town Road” and the meme-level pervasiveness of the yeehaw agenda, the ubiquitous producer’s purported country album suffocates in treacly kitsch.
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musicOMH
That’s the problem with Snake Oil, though: the highest bar the music reaches is being decent, and the loftiest ambition of these songs is to be simply tolerated, packed in amongst other unremarkable tunes on an Apple Music playlist called ‘Tuesday Vibes’ or something similar.
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The Arts Desk
EDM megastar teases a change of direction but doesn’t deliver.
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Your EDM
At long last, Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil— the producer’s highly anticipated country album that proves he can truly do it all.
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Tinnitist
Diplo jumps on the hick-hop bandwagon, with predictably disappointing results.
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BeatRoute
Regardless of the extent of your affinity for cowboy hats, chaps, and harmonica breakdowns, there’s definitely something here for you to enjoy.
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DIY
Rven Thomas Wesley himself must know that his latest is little more than a classic Diplo offering dressed up to try and fool the masses.
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Clash Magazine
A record that aims for a triumphant shoot out but only fires blanks, it just goes to show that you can stick a saddle on any old mustang, but that doesn’t make it a racehorse.
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Riff Magazine
But as it stands? With two groups of disparate songs and a track that seems to mock the country genre? It’s a bit of a confused mess. Which is a shame, because the parts are far superior to their sum.
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Glasgow Standard
In the few moments when the album aspires for authenticity, it settles on offensively bland.
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Picky Bastards
There’s glimpses of some really great genre melding music here, I’d like to hear a lot more from Cam and Orville Peck on Pt 2, and for the most part my initial intrigue of ‘Diplo does country’ was met with a small nod of approval. Just ditch the ‘Do Si Do’ bollocks next time please?
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EW
Diplo's take on country music, is a bummer
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Dance Music NW
As of recent years Diplo has assembled two more supergroups, LSD and Silk City, and solidified himself as one of the most versatile artists of our time.
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Bubble Days
The album has been in the works for awhile, and it’s well worth the wait. It’s an ecliptic mix of songs with some of the biggest arts in the charts at the moment.
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