Major Lazer & Major League DJz Drop 'Piano Republik' Album

There’s only one word we can use to describe this joint band project and it is of course MAJOR! The new collaborative album Piano Republik on Mad Decent was announced earlier in the month along with the current single “Designer” featuring Joeboy but there’s plenty more activity to come including plays in Miami and today the album dropped on all platforms. On March 25^th, there is a special party in Miami with Major League DJs, but in the meantime, we are enjoying key tracks from the album, including the opening cut featuring Ty Dolla $ign (“Smoking & Drinking,” who also features on “Oh Yeah” later in the LP) and the smooth and epic Amapiano outro “Higher Ground” which may actually be the strongest track in the nine-track pack.

But let’s rewind for a moment for anyone who wants the back story. The music on the album all falls under the amapiano umbrella and that’s a South African style of house music that properly emerged back in 2012: it’s descended from the S.A. house genres kwaito and Afrobeats. This sound is a proper hybrid of deep house, jazz and lounge music and Major League DJz are brothers Bandile and Banele Mbere. And in 2023, Major Lazer may no longer have Switch as they did at the beginning but Diplo’s Lazer-guided melodies come courtesy of Wes, Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. This is their 4th album: their very first with Switch (Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do) dropped all the way back in 2009. Times flies when you’re Thomas Wesley Pence!