Dance music gets a frontman in '80s dress and with a deep, soul voice
As a rising red velvet curtain reveals the stage at club Bordello downtown, 24-year-old Sam Sparro is oozing sweat and quivering with excitement. Sporting tight, metallic gold pants, a black hardhat wrapped with a miner's flashlight, '80s-era louvered pink sunglasses, and Flock of Seagulls bangs, he could easily be taken for the Ali G of dance-rock. But behind Sparro's cool-kid posturing is a solid-gold talent who quickly grabs the mike and whips the crowd into a communal fury. Beyond the Reagan-era looks is an amazing, soul-crazed vocalist blending elements of Justin Timberlake, Jamiroquai, and Prince with electronic dance music. This may sound derivative, but he lays his hazy voice and lyrical high jinks over some truly far out electro-funk. His style and sound bring a fresh wave in a sea of followers.
"I think it's a huge element that's missing from electronic music - the personality, the frontman, if you will," Sparro says.
His Modus Vivendi Music debut EP, Black & Gold, hit the streets last week with a range of up-tempo bounce, digitized soul, and break-dancing elements that show remarkable range for a six-track release. The single "Black & Gold" is the centerpiece for good reason: It pogos dizzily on analog bubbles, tinny hi-hats, and ethereal synths, recalling the work of Goldfrapp. But then Sparro adds his own lyrical music, deep and raspy, yet vulnerable: "Cause you're not really here/Then I don't want to be either/I want to be next to you/Black and gold, black and gold, black and gold." It's anthemic. On "Sick," Sparro bellows like an '80s new wave star and reveals his Australian accent: "It's a sick, sick world/I'll be your medicine ... I'll make you feel better." His most down-tempo jam, "Cottonmouth," feels a little like a reprise to the Saturday Night Live skit-song "Dick in a Box" ("I need some H20/Down my throat," he sings). At other points in the EP, he steals pages from Parliament and, yes, Color Me Badd: "Girl I want to fatten you up/Get you up to a C-cup," he coos on "Miss Rexi," (you know, Ana).
"Ana listen to me/Put that in your mouth and start chewing." Uh-huh. Racy talk for a young man who grew up singing in Baptist choirs after moving to L.A. from Sydney at the age of 10. Both of his parents were musicians and avid fans of many black artists, so he got an earful of good stuff. His father even gigged with Frank
Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. "My dad was very blues and gospel, and that definitely influenced me," Sparro says.
As a teenager he went back to Australia and then moved to London to join the club-kid circuit there before coming back to Los Angeles a few years ago to work out his sound. Label head Jesse Rogg discovered Sparro performing at the What Club? and signed him. Rogg also produced the Black & Gold EP and backs up Sparro with computer-based sequencing when he performs. (Sparro himself likes to rawk out on a retro "keytar" keyboard.) The pair has already put together an album's worth of material, even previewing some of it during the recent show at Bordello. But for now, you'll have to live with the EP.
"The way the industry works, it didn't make sense for us to go full throttle with a full-length," Sparro says. "These days, people buy songs at a time."
His debut album will probably drop sometime in early '08. The sound, Sparro promises, is "pulling from the past and turning it into future music." We'll be waiting and anticipating, with parachute pants on.
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