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. ~ David Jeffries