In this episode, John links up with Thomas Wesley Pentz, aka Wes aka Diplo, to talk about his work under various guises with Major Lazer, Sia and as Thomas Wesley. With on-going exploration of far reaching and cross-cultural mashups at the centre of his approach, Wes reflects on how working with so many specialists from across the globe has helped him forge a diverse sound and career. Breaking apart three songs, Wes shares his thoughts on the considerations and care that have to be taken when sampling a ‘classic’ South African song, the gatekeeping in Country music and why new sounds are emerging around the genre, and the weird and wild things that Sia often gravitates towards in a song. Listen to find out the specific rules of Amapiano, some of the elements that are essential to any pop song, and why it’s important to fail a lot. Tracks discussed: Mamgobhozi (Major Lazer), Wasted (Thomas Wesley), Elastic Heart (Sia) LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES   linktr.ee/tapenotes  Listen to ‘Piano Republik’ here. Because Music Listen to ‘Wasted’ here. Mad Decent, Columbia, Sony Listen to ‘Elastic Heart’ here. RCA Records, Sony Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective GEAR MENTIONS Fab Filter Plugins Serum Synth Synplant Celemony Melodyne Serato Sampler Native Instruments Massive Algoriddim Neural Mix Output Arcade Shure Mics Teenage Engineering OP1 Operator Synth Roland TB-303 Akai MPC3000 Whurlitzer Ableton Mellotron Preset Ableton Sampler Ableton Magix Sound Forge  Cool Edit Pro Logic Pro Splice OUR GEAR https://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear HELP SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to help support the show you can donate as little or as much as you'd like here, (we really appreciate your contributions :)  Donate Or you can join us on Patreon, where among many things you can access full length videos of most new episodes, ad-free episodes and detailed gear list breakdowns. KEEP UP TO DATE For behind the scenes photos and the latest updates, make sure to follow us on:  Instagram: @tapenotes  Twitter: @tapenotes  Facebook: @tapenotespodcast   YouTube: Tape Notes Podcast Discord: Tape Notes Patreon: Tape Notes  To let us know the artists you’d like to hear, Tweet us, slide into our DMs, send us an email or even a letter. We’d love to hear!  Visit our website to join our mailing list: www.tapenotes.co.uk HELP SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to help support the show you can donate as little or as much as you'd like here, (we really appreciate your contributions :)  Donate TAPE NOTES TEAM Will Brown - Executive Producer, Engineer & Editor Tim Adam-Smith - Executive Producer Will Lyons - Editor Guy Nicholls - Production Assistant Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices