Loaded with guest artists and packed with danceable beats, DJ
Mark Ronson's first record,
Here Comes the Fuzz, is less a showcase for the New York-based artist's turntable skills and more of a radio-friendly pop-rap party album. A rising star on the NYC club scene since the late '90s, the occasional Tommy Hilfiger model previously produced tracks for other hip downtown scenesters, including Saturday Night Live regular
Jimmy Fallon as well as singer
Nikka Costa and rapper
Sean Paul -- both of whom return the favor here. Much in the same way as
DJ Shadow's
Endtroducing... or
the Avalanches'
Since I Left You used
the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique as their template to display an eclectic and voracious record-collecting habit,
Ronson's
Here Comes the Fuzz mixes funk, hip-hop, soul, and rock into an "everything goes when you're having fun" cocktail. While never displaying the innovative vision or giddy melody-mixing heights of either of those albums,
Here Comes the Fuzz does still resonate with the pulse of youthful ego driven by libido and hot wax. To these ends, rappers
Ghostface Killah and
Nate Dogg take the mic over a funky cowbell and the string section of
Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio" on "Ooh Wee." Similarly,
Mos Def and
M.O.P. add Brooklyn street cred to
Ronson's catchy if a bit obvious co-opting of
Lenny Kravitz's hit "On the Run." Perhaps most interesting though, are
Ronson's attempts at actual songwriting such as on the cosmopolitan disco plea "High," featuring vocalist
Aya, and the punk à gogo of "I Suck" with
Rivers Cuomo, which finds the
Weezer frontman doing his best "Let's Go to Bed"-era
Robert Smith warble against a sample from
Labi Siffre's "Too Late." ~ Matt Collar