Major Lazer

Major Lazer is the digital reggae/dancehall project of Diplo (Philadelphia's Wes Pentz) and Switch (London's Dave Taylor), two globetrotting, tastemaking DJ/producers whose previous collaborations notably included production work for M.I.A. and Santigold. Recorded at Jamaica's Tuff Gong studios, the debut album Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do featured vocal contributions from noted dancehall stars including Vybz Cartel, Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas, and Turbulence as well as Santigold, Nina Sky, and rapper Amanda Blank. Following much anticipation and online chatter fueled in part by the novelty video/song "Zumbi" featuring the comedian Andy Milonakis, the frenetic legitimate lead single "Hold the Line," and a goofy invented back-story about a renegade Jamaican commando with prosthetic lazer arms who was allegedly a Zombie War veteran and vampire-fighting C.I.A. operative (but was demonstrably a rampant Twitter user) — and, impressively, the absence of an illicit pre-release leak — the album was released in June of 2009 as a joint venture between Downtown Records and Diplo's Mad Decent label.