Ability to read crowd a DJ asset

Sometimes you do, in fact, have to forget those things that you learned in kindergarten.

To wit: Never judge a book by its cover.

For Zach Loczi (aka DJ Loczi), ignoring that golden rule is one of the ways in which he makes his living.

"I love to people watch," Loczi says of his pre-show ritual of assessing the crowd before him in a given club. "I spend a lot of time looking at how people are dressed, everything down to the little tiny details: How do they have their hair done? Is everyone wearing Prada, Gucci and couture-type fashion, or are people wearing tight Wranglers and cowboy hats? How are they holding their drink?"

Being able to quickly gauge the room is essential when DJing in Vegas, because unlike other cities, it's impossible to predict who's going to be there on a given night, and so every time out, a DJ has to be ready for anything.

"There are times where I've been in Vegas and the majority of the people there are from Europe and I end up playing house music the whole night," says Loczi, a resident DJ at Studio 54 and Tabu. "But then at the same time, there's a whole group of people there who want to hear rock or hip-hop. So it's made me really, really hone in on my skills of reading crowds and really connecting with the people who are in front of me."

As such, Loczi has developed a pretty broad, free-ranging sound to appeal to such a wide array of clubgoers. This is readily apparent on his latest CD, "Soul of Our City," the release of which he'll celebrate Friday at Studio 54.

The disc begins heavy on funk and soul, gradually building momentum and becoming increasingly more electronica-oriented until climaxing in an all out dance floor sweat bath.

"This album is something that's reminiscent of my live show performances," Loczi explains. "You've got samples from really iconic music, but remixed in ways that are brand new. The CDs that I've released before this have been really focused on connecting with a very broad audience; this album is now taking that broad audience and saying, 'Hey, let me introduce you to some sounds that you haven't really been exposed to.' "

For Loczi -- who got his first turntables when he was 18, and early on in his career was a schoolteacher by day and a DJ by night -- a dogged sense of determination is the key to this "City."

"It's a culmination," he says of the CD and its corresponding release party. "I'll probably take a moment, the night of, just to kind of be quiet and soak it in, take one of those mental images and let it be what it is," he continues. "But it can't be anything but good."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.