BUZZ BANDS

Sam Sparro is a child of the ‘80s who’s lived on three continents, who’s partied hearty on each of them and who, musically, had never made it out of his bedroom. Until now.

Last month, the 24-year-old native of Australia released his debut EP, “Black & Gold,” and proceeded to wow a crowd at the downtown club Bordello with vintage crooning -- you didn’t doubt for a second that he used to do Curtis Mayfield covers -- over sexed-up electro-beats that couldn’t hide the fact that, as he says, “Yeah, I grew up as a club kid.”

Sparro’s DIY recordings came with the help of producer Jesse Rogg of the Modus Vivendi Music imprint, who signed him (and signed on as DJ) after seeing him perform at the What Club. “Even in the final mixes you can hear the air conditioner,” Sparro says, noting that Rogg helped him achieve the place where “classic soul and classic funk . . . combine with the music I listen to now.

The soul of a club kid

“It’s kind of somewhere between the church and the club.”

With his full-length recording in the works -- “It’ll have a more futuristic sound,” he promises -- the singer hopes to induce his L.A. club crowds to move their bodies. “People here are really jaded,” says Sparro. “They stand around most of the time with their hands in their pockets.”

Sparro performs tonight at the Echo on a bill that includes up-and-coming Orange County quartet Voxhaul Broadcast.

Way back with the body rock

Tucked away near the bottom of the bill for Saturday’s Neighborhood Festival -- the indie dance party at Exposition Park mounted by DJ Steve Aoki and his Dim Mak label -- is Brother Reade, an L.A. duo that makes old-school hip-hop which, at a glance, might seem out of place at an event featuring such electro hotshots as the Faint, Spank Rock and Chromeo.

“We’re thrilled that we’re attached to the L.A. club scene,” says rapper Jamz (born James Joliff), who, with DJ Bobby Evans (born Erin Garcia), released their Brother Reade debut, “Rap Music,” this summer. “It’s one community that’s latched on to our music in a wonderful way. Then again, in the beginning hip-hop was four-on-the-floor disco songs with guys rapping over it.”

Jamz and Evans are boyhood pals from Winston-Salem, N.C., who reconnected in L.A. after moving west. Originally drawn to rock, Jamz expanded his diet quickly. “Kids in small towns are kinda music omnivores,” he says. “We were into anything that wasn’t being sold to us.”

In Los Angeles, the pair’s skills became quite the attraction at loft parties, and they signed a deal with the Warner-affiliated Record Collection. Unlike a lot of modern hip-hop, the album was made without any guest turns.

It’s a throwback “to an era when things weren’t as industrialized,” Jamz says. “Our intention is to take a classicist approach to rap, but not to ignore the last 20 years of the movement.”

Fast forward

* Touts: The dueling dance events -- the indie-leaning Neighborhood and the downtown electronic massive, Nocturnal -- aren’t the only festival fare. The Swerve Festival, based at Barnsdall Art Park, has a formidable music lineup, including Foreign Born, the Black Angels and Bonde Do Role on Saturday and DeVotchka and We Are Scientists on Sunday. . . . The Broken West plays tonight at the Echoplex; at Hollywood & Highland, it’s Great Northern and Ladytron. . . . Shows by artists with new albums: Sylvie Lewis (“Translations”) on Friday at the Hotel Cafe; Dirty Harry (“Songs From the Edge”) on Friday at the Knitting Factory; El Ten Eleven (“Every Direction Is North”) on Friday at El Cid; Sacha Sacket (“Lovers and Leaders”) on Saturday at Tangier; Service Group (“Principals of Electronic Circuitry”) on Saturday at the Scene Bar in Glendale; and Dusty Rhodes and the River Band (“First You Live”) on Tuesday at the Key Club. . . . Oh, and Division Day celebrates the long-delayed re-release of “Beartrap Island” (remastered, with additional songs) on Tuesday at the Echo.

--

--

More on the blog:

latimes.com/buzzbands