DJ-producer Audrey Napoleon beginning new residency

Look at Mozart. His father had him composing songs at 5. Picasso was formally taught painting and drawing by 7.

Now listen to the memories of Audrey Napoleon, 25, a rising DJ-producer who begins a new Wynn Las Vegas-Encore club residency on Saturday at Encore Beach Club.

"I loved the whole grunge movement," she says. "I mean, I was a baby, but I remember wondering what this noise was coming out of the speakers."

She still listens to the "amazing" music her father played around the house: Depeche Mode, the Cure, Kraftwerk, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Pink Floyd, the Police.

As a girl, she also gravitated to pop music, in particular the Spice Girls.

Meanwhile, she would also start diving into serious music-critic vibes: Sonic Youth, Autolux, Joy Division.

"I’m obsessed with PJ Harvey," Napoleon says. "I love good music."

She’s not kidding. With the exception of the Spice Girls, those are some of my favorite artists. (I didn’t like the Spice Girls as an adult man, as that would have red-flagged me as a perv.)

Anyway, her dad bought her a guitar when she was 13. He also played trumpet and drums at home.

"It’s just always been very musical around my house," she says.

Napoleon (not her real name, which seems difficult to attain) became a DJ a few years ago, performing in Vegas, and at festivals and other electronic-friendly territory.

In July, she released an excellent EP, "Ornamental Egos," which shows good taste in tones, textures and pacing, while lacking falsities of mainstream manipulations.

She earned the respect of fellow Wynn Las Vegas-Encore resident performer Deadmau5, who is listed, at least one place online, as her official booking agent.

She’s been writing songs a bit on tour. She goes back into a studio this fall. Her goal is to craft songs that impact her physically.

"I just try and go with whatever feeling makes me happy. When I get goose bumps, I know the song is almost finished," she says.

"When I was younger and listened to music, I would get goose bumps and I thought it was strange. I thought maybe eventually it would go away.

"And now I know the reason it happens. I look for it. I search for it to happen."

She has a distinct visual style.

"Somebody told me, ‘If Gaga and Marilyn Manson had a love child, you would be it.’ "

Because of that, she’s already working with a designer to put out her own clothing line for London’s Fashion Week.

"It’s basically pop art on clothes, and we’ll do male, female and unisex pieces as well as accessories," she says.

But if you ask me, it’s thanks to that positive parental brainwashing (my term for it, not hers) that landed her in this true-believer position she is in: She loves that which allows her to thrive.

"All I know is that I have to do this. I have to make art. There’s no other choice for me. That’s the bottom line. There’s nothing else that goes through my head, or through my veins, than, ‘I have to make music.’ "

Doug Elfman’s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.