Mark Ronson

When you are better known for the people who attend your party than for your music, you might be facing a credibility problem. Such is the case with the New York-based “celebrity DJ” Mark Ronson, who has played at the White House Correspondents’ dinner and P. Diddy’s 29th birthday party (at the request of former paramour J.Lo), and regularly appears at the city’s trendy Centro Fly nightclub. But he has also used his years of music training on drums, saxophone, and piano to complete tracks for albums by Nikka Costa (Everybody Got Their Something) and Jimmy Fallon (The Bathroom Wall) as well as remixes for Nelly Furtado, Moby, Outkast, and Jay-Z. Now with Here Comes the Fuzz, the cred-seeking DJ may finally get his just due. Or maybe he won’t.

Here Comes the Fuzz is similar to Ronson’s DJing style, a mishmash of genres with a hip-hop foundation. Further confirming his celebrity-friendly status, his collaborator guest list reads like a who’s who of popular music: the White Stripes’ Jack White, Ghostface Killah, Nate Dogg, and Ronson’s own protégée, Debbie Nova. There are obvious hip-hop moments on Here Comes the Fuzz, such as the rock/rap number “On the Run” with M.O.P. and Mos Def. He explores dirty R&B and swampy blues alongside Nappy Roots on “Bluegrass Stain’d,” while Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo decorates the loose indie-rock riffs on “I Suck” with his moans. These are rounded out by Seventies-style funky grooves and naughty samples (most noticeably of Lenny Kravitz and Boney M), making Here Comes the Fuzz something of an eclectic mixtape.