Sam Sparro: 'Between the church and the club'

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.

"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."

||| See Sparro perform tonight as part of the Hell Ya promotion at the Echo. Also: Up-and-coming Orange County quartet Voxhaul Broadcast, among others.

||| Stream Sam Sparro here.

Touts for Thursday, Sept. 27

Downstairs at the Echoplex, it should be a fine homecoming show for the Broken West, who've been touring hard most of the year behind their early-'07 release on Merge, "I Can't Go On, I'll Go On." The Parson Redheads and Bodies of Water also join in. ... Hot Hot Heat rock the House of Blues Anaheim ... The Ruse ends its Viper Room residency. ... And Sarabeth Tucek plays at the Hotel Cafe.