When Phili’s Diplo and London’s Switch get together, they don’t form like Voltron a la Wu Tang Clan; rather, they become an ass-kicking, one-armed, crime-fighting Rasta cartoon action hero decked out in mirrored shades and armed with a cannon that fires frickin’ laser beams. It’s a loose, playful concept for the two dance producers, sure. But if you’re gonna call yourself Major Lazer, you might as well have a cool mascot. Their debut disc, Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do!, is a mash-up of dancehall, reggaeton and hip-hop spiked with techno and smeared with digitized SFX. Single “Hold the Line,” featuring Santigold and Mr. Lex, rides a surf-boogie guitar into periodic bursts of random cell phone rings and other noises. And “Anything Goes,” featuring Turbulence, gives a full-frontal assault of Auto-Tuned vocals and epic violins punctured by, but of course, laser squirts. It’s conceptual in the best possible sense. Or, as Major Lazer likes to say, “mad decent.” With With DJ Ayres, Tigerbeat.

Thu., June 25, 8 p.m., 2009