Lazerproof

Fourteen La Roux songs mixed by Major Lazer! Lazerproof takes instrumental and vocal tracks from La Roux's heavily 80s-indebted album and brazenly mashes them up with beats and rhymes that are almost wholly up-to-the-minute hip, encompassing rap, R&B, dancehall, and dubstep. Surprisingly, it often works, thanks to singer Elly Jackson. She's a dramatic, expressive vocalist, and it seems likely the real reason Major Lazer thought a mindmeld with La Roux sounded like a good idea was because Diplo and Switch knew her voice could still sound great even outside synth-pop strictures. The blend of La Roux's "Fascination" with "Keep It Goin' Louder," a standout from Major Lazer's own 2009 debut, Guns Don't Kill People - Lazers Do, is a seamless success, as is the recasting of formerly plinky "Quicksand" as a slice of squelchy, steel drum-blessed dance bliss.