Hometown: Los Angeles.

The lineup: Sam Sparro (vocals, keytar, guitar, synths, programming).

The background: Fire and ice: it’s been one of the standard juxtaposing techniques of pop musicians for years, ever since Yazoo combined the cool synthtronics of Vince Clarke with the passionate vocals of Alison “Alf” Moyet, or Adamski and Seal joined forces to do the same in the 90s. Sam Sparro’s Black & Gold is a killer - or rather Killer, the title of the aforementioned Adamski/Seal team-up - of a track. It features a burbling synthesised bassline over which Sparro, a 25-year-old musician from LA via Sydney who writes, performs, produces and arranges all his own material, croons like a slightly raspier Stevie Wonder. In fact, Black & Gold sounds like Stevie’s Higher Ground produced by DFA, so skilfully does it dovetail the darkly digital with the deeply soulful. This is possibly why praise has been fulsome from the likes of Mark Ronson, Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Jo Whiley and Zane Lowe, as well as bazillions of electro-funk fans out there in the blogosphere. Good taste travels far and wide.