LISTEN
Har Mar Superstar The Handler
The advent of fake music in pop culture was inevitable. Foreshadowed by Weird
Al Yankovic and other parodists (though some would say Journey's Infinity was the first fake album, intentioned or otherwise) fake music has now firmly embedded itself in the modern pop experience. Along the way, though.
something happened that pop culture did not intend: fake music became superior to its "modern" genre colleagues. Fake music has superimposed itself above its counterparts in two ways: a) pretending it's a different year, therefore being uninhibited and b) singing a lot about sex. The Darkness act like 2004 is in fact a hybrid of 1974 and 1984, while overtly seeking permission to land in your pants. For those of you still reading this, yes there is a point
and it is Har Mar Superstar, faux R&B superman. On The Handler, this portly, balding sex god from Minneapolis wraps Parliament, Prince and Michael Jackson into a funky tortilla, which he then eats and expels in a dichotomic cloud.
The majority of songs on The Handler are traditional Har Mar: fun-loving and sexual, dropping innumerable wet panty boasts and nude sunbathing encouragement. "Transit" and "Body Request" are
infectious "70s R&B throwbacks, opening the album with hedonistic provocation. Karen Orzolek (O., to admirers) guests on "Cut Me Up," moaning a woozy, (presumably) sexually fatigued intro. Even "DUI," an ode to the now-tired topic of drunk-dialing, is
fresh with lines like "Lookin' out in the club, I see a lotta hotties/Tell me which of you will be my mom."
Unfortunately for Har Mar and partygors everywhere, the latter half of The Handier is bogged down by discomfiture and one too many basketball metaphors (the Northern State aided "Bird In The Hand").
"O" sounds like a coped Dobie Gray song, something to stroll along the beach
to. On the album's closer, "Alone Again (Naturally,)” a sad, reflective Har Mar brings God into the mix (never a topic to get the party started) asking "If he really does exist/Why did he desert me in my hour of need."
At his best, Har Mar is a cheeky party instigator, doling out funk and innuendo like nobody else. There are more great tracks on The Handler than not, but the serious and unimaginative songs lessen its appeal. The first half of the album is pure stimulant, just scratch off the depressants.
Dave Ruigh
Grade: B
Josh Zuckerman A Totally New Sensation
The debut album from Josh Zuckerman, a singer/songwriter originally from St. Louis, is just frustrating to listen to. He has the talent, at least as far as instrumentation, but his voice simply does not match up well with his music. Zuckerman has a voice you could hate or just be indifferent
to — it's sort of a nasally growl at times, and other times it's a flat attempt to impersonate the Gin Blossoms...oh, and nasally. The music combines roots-rock, folk, and blues and is begging for someone like John Mayer to add melody to it.
but not Josh Zuckerman. Zuckerman's voice is a m bit i o u s enough, but it just seems to clash with most of the music on the album. I might also mention that
some of the music gets very cheesy. The darker Zuckerman gets, the better, though, like on the acoustic-based "A Place That I Call Home." Other than that, I'm afraid this album brought a "totally new sensation" I could have done without.
Grade: D
Matt Beat