His co-conspirator Switch may have moved on, but with producer Diplo's bag of tricks and his hipper-than-hip selection of guests (including major help from producers Jillionaire and Walshy Fire), the Major Lazer mythos -- he's a DJ by night and a Jamaican zombie killer by other nights -- is alive and twitching on this sophomore release.
This welcome return begins deceptively with the slow-burning kiss-off "You're No Good" starting the show, but the combination of marquee vocalists Santigold and Vybz Kartel couldn't illustrate the left-field-dance-meets-Jamaican-dancehall style of the project any better.
Once the credits roll on the cinematic track, it's straight-up bonkers time with "Jet Blue Jet," a bleeping, furious, trap music cut where dancehall don Leftside leads the pack and offers a Baauer-challenging version of the "Kingston Shake." Since naughty ragga lady Lady Saw didn't show up, Peaches and Timberlee face off on "Scare Me," a punany power meets synth pop cut with some amazing video game chase scene music providing the bridge.
Power puncher "Wind Up" is raw enough to be a hit back home for Elephant Man, the great "Watch Out for This (Bumaye)" finds Busy Signal macking over moombahton beats with a fantastic air horn and disco break in the middle, and fat track "Bubble Butt" is like Bruno Mars, Tyga, and Mystic formed the Ying Yang Triplets just to prove that crunk ain't dead.
Those who blew their minds and/or speakers pumping the project's 2009 debut will find it familiar ground, but how Free the Universe arguably tops Guns Don't Kill People..
Lazers Do is with the meatier, more subdued cuts, as Dirty Projectors vocalist Amber Coffman explores the connections between King Tubby and Alicia Keys with the elegant R&B dub of "Get Free." Later it's the imagining of Vampire Weekend holding a session at Kingston's classic Studio One as VW's Ezra Koenig's croons over the scratchy reggae groove of "Jessica," and while the Flux Pavilion feature "Jah No Partial" has the bass drops to get the mall kids rolling, it's still a weighty, soul-filling number that could have easily fallen off a Damian Marley album.
All that, and there are still great performances from Wyclef, Shaggy, and Laidback Luke to go, so think of Free the Universe as Major Lazer's second great modern ragga meltdown.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You're No GoodThomas Wesley Pentz, S. White | Major Lazer | Play | 04:04 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 2 | Jet Blue JetGTA, Thomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 03:19 | 7 MB | 26 MB |
| 3 | Get FreeThomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 04:50 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 4 | Jah No PartialThomas Wesley Pentz, J. Steele | Major Lazer | Play | 04:12 | 9 MB | 36 MB |
| 5 | Wind UpThomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 04:27 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 6 | Scare MeThomas Wesley Pentz, Timberlee | Major Lazer | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 21 MB |
| 7 | JessicaThomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 8 | Watch Out for This (Bumaye)T. Goethals, Thomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 35 MB |
| 9 | SweatThomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 10 | Reach for the StarsThomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 04:06 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 11 | Bubble ButtMystic, Thomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 12 | Mashup the DanceThomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 03:49 | 8 MB | 29 MB |
| 13 | PlaygroundThomas Wesley Pentz | Major Lazer | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 14 | Keep Cool (Life Is What) | Major Lazer, Shaggy, Wynter Gordon | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 35 MB |
| 57 mins | 131 MB | |||||
| 57 mins | 418 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arama | Featured Artist |
| 2 | Biggy | Featured Artist |
| 3 | Bugle | Featured Artist |
| 4 | Busy Signal | Featured Artist |
| 5 | Chris Carmouche | Mixing |
| 6 | Chippy Nonstop | Vocals |
| 7 | Amber Coffman | Featured Artist |
| 8 | Rich Costey | Mixing |
| 9 | Jarina De Marco | Vocals |
| 10 | Elephant Man | Featured Artist |
| 11 | The Flexican | Featured Artist, Producer |
| 12 | Flux Pavilion | Featured Artist, Producer |
| 13 | Dan Gerbarg | Mastering |
| 14 | T. Goethals | Composer |
| 15 | Wynter Gordon | Featured Artist |
| 16 | FS Green | Featured Artist, Producer |
| 17 | GTA | Composer, Featured Artist, Producer |
| 18 | Danielle Haim | Featured Artist |
| 19 | Wyclef Jean | Featured Artist |
| 20 | Willy Joy | Additional Production |
| 21 | Valentino Khan | Producer |
| 22 | Ezra Koenig | Featured Artist |
| 23 | Laidback Luke | Featured Artist, Producer |
| 24 | Leftside | Featured Artist |
| 25 | Major Lazer | Primary Artist, Producer |
| 26 | Gianni Marino | Additional Production |
| 27 | Manny Marroquin | Mixing |
| 28 | Bruno Mars | Featured Artist |
| 29 | Ms. Dynamite | Featured Artist |
| 30 | Mystic | Featured Artist |
| 31 | Mystic | Composer, Featured Artist |
| 32 | The Partysquad | Featured Artist, Producer |
| 33 | Donato Paternostro | Engineer |
| 34 | Peaches | Featured Artist |
| 35 | Thomas Wesley Pentz | Composer |
| 36 | Luca Pretolesi | Mixing |
| 37 | Ariel Rechtshaid | Producer |
| 38 | Raff Riley | Additional Production |
| 39 | Frank Rodríguez "El Médico" | Mixing |
| 40 | Santigold | Featured Artist |
| 41 | Schlachthofbronx | Additional Production |
| 42 | Shaggy | Featured Artist |
| 43 | J. Steele | Composer |
| 44 | Timberlee | Composer, Featured Artist |
| 45 | Tyga | Featured Artist |
| 46 | Mahesa Utara | Additional Production |
| 47 | Vybz Kartel | Featured Artist |
| 48 | Ward 21 | Featured Artist |
| 49 | Howie Weinberg | Mastering |
| 50 | S. White | Composer |
| 51 | Yasmin | Featured Artist |
Danielle Haim
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |