Major Lazer

Having both worked as producers for M.I.A., Diplo and Switch combined forces under the Major Lazer moniker, a name inspired by a fictional Jamaican commando who fought in a secret zombie war of 1984 and lost his arm, replacing it with a futuristic weapon that became his namesake. The act's 2009 album, Guns Don't Kill People...Lasers Do, was recorded at Kingston, Jamaica's Tuff Gong studio. And that's fitting, considering that the resulting songs reflect the pair's interest in dancehall and the culture of Jamaica's club scene. With humorously surrealistic music videos and an enviable guest-vocalist roster, including Amanda Blank and Santigold, Major Lazer creates a world where playful, heroic mythologizing serves as the backdrop, and zombies and vampires figure prominently as cartoonish villains, creating infectious fun that even the bad guys revel in.