La Roux and Major Lazer join forces on mixtape

La Roux has followed in the footsteps of MIA and Santigold, releasing a mixtape team-up with dancehall producer Diplo. Lazerproof, a collaboration between the British duo and Diplo's current project, Major Lazer, is released today as a free download. With just one album to their name so far, a new 14-track record essentially doubles La Roux's output. While this is "just" a remix album, it offers the same musical reinvention that marked MIA's hype-building Piracy Funds Terrorism EP, co-produced by Diplo in 2004, and his 2008 remix of Santigold's debut album. With Lazerproof, it isn't just Diplo at the helm – he was joined by his Major Lazer partner, Switch. Rappers including Amanda Blank and Rusko recorded verses for the songs, which were produced in Jamaica. Drake and Gucci Mane also appear on the album, in the form of samples. These cameos, however, aren't quite so high-profile as the ones Major Lazer have secured for their forthcoming EP, which features guest spots from MIA and Radiohead's Thom Yorke. Meanwhile, La Roux's Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid are currently touring, with plans to begin work on a new album later this year. "I want it to have a more human feel," Jackson told Bang Showbiz. "I want it to have elements of the first record so we don't have to find a whole new group of fans, but it has to move on, I want a new theme and a new concept, new visuals, a whole new thing."