meet megamixer sonny j

It’s familiar, it’s way old-school, it’s totally new. What IS it?

It’s a grab bag of kitschy samples stitched together with power chords over a funky big beat by one Sonny J. Who? Not 100% sure, but we do know that he was born Sonnington James III and raised in Liverpool (yes, where the Beatles came from).

We also know that this DJ/sonic archaeologist now lives in Kent, where he scours thrift shops for early-’70s soul, TV, foreign-language, and cartoon soundtrack LPs that he ransacks for danceable, comical samples. If you like Fatboy Slim and Gnarls Barkley, it’s a fair bet you’ll dig Sonny J.

His sound may be inspired by the past, but Sonny J’s success story is totally 2009. Somehow, the UK’s BBC Radio 1 found an early version of his track “Can’t Stop Moving” on his MySpace page. It blew up on the air, and record labels went wild for him. His debut album, “Disastro,” came out last year.

And don’t miss the hi-larious video for “Can’t Stop Moving,” featuring cut-up clips from the Jackson 5’s old Saturday-morning cartoon show.

You can hear his song “Handsfree (If You Hold My Hand)” during the gymnastics montage at the end of the first round on this week’s episode of “Make It or Break It.”

Who does Sonny J’s mix-errific sound make you think of?