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 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."

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