Know No Better

Major Lazer

Recommended for:

• Fans of electro-pop 

• Those of you who crave features 

Pros:

• Lots of features

• Fun, upbeat attitude 

Cons:

• Generally lacking depth 

• Boring structure 

• “Same old thing”

The new Major Lazer is here. The electronic threesome is back with 19 minutes of new stuff. Though in a different context the previous statement might call for excitement, nothing too crazy is here.

Major Lazer can be fun. We’ve all heard “Light It Up” serving as backing to an intoxicated rager . Here, I made the mistake of listening to them sober. If you pump anyone up with enough substance, thunderous base and a looping hook will do just fine. Other than that, it gets old. Mediocre EDM, hip-hop, and ultra-pop music is suffering from a grave illness- beat sampling. 

The way many of these genres function is through artists making or purchasing a beat, looping the shit out of it, then slapping a vocal track on top. If that makes you a little bummed out, it should. Sampling and beat-driven music offer many merits. But the cheat is that you don't have to work very hard to complete a song. Do you have a hook, transitions, verse beat, and chorus beat? That is virtually a formula. Music should not be a formula. Major Lazer is not the poster child of abusing beats, but they are somewhat guilty of it. Much of this EP does not progress. Incorporating similar melodic patterns is necessary, but there is a line when things get boring and repetitive. This record crosses it. 

OK ok ok ok ok, I’ll give it to ‘em. There are some fun beats here. You pick up a heavy dosage of latin influence in many of the beats used. The overall production is pretty neat too. They even throw in a fair amount of Spanish, which gives the music some needed, tasteful flair. Also, the diverse assortment of vocal features keeps the music fresh. Now let’s zoom out. Would I recommend dropping what you are doing right now to spin this? No. If you are drunk with 8+ friends, and have nothing to put on, this’ll do the trick. Use it for what it is-

Favorite track: “Particula” 

4.7/10