The Handler:Har Mar Superstar

Title: the Handler

Label: Record Collection

Genre: sex-driven white boy soul

Rating: 5.9 of 7

Who would have thought that some of the best sex-driven, funky R&B music would come from a balding, out-of-shape white boy? The Handler is Sean Tillman’s (Har Mar Superstar) third full length to date, and it displays his soulful crooning along with his lady-swooning songwriting skills (he has penned songs for Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Osbourne). Every song is chock-full of sexual innuendos, bouncy keyboard hooks and funkalicious bass lines. Mostly backed by a drum machine, bass, guitar, and female background singers, Har Mar rarely looses his upbeat tempo, except for the soul ballad “As.” His vocals amazingly lie somewhere between Stevie Wonder and 80s power ballads though his appearance may not reflect that. To enhance his sound, Har Mar enlists Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitar player Nick Zinner on tracks 6, 9, and 10; he duets with Karen O (also of the YYYs) on track 4; and he battles Northern State on track 10 (though I like the track he collaborated on the N.S. album better). Overall a pretty damn good record, just be happy that with the album you only have to listen, not watch Mr. Superstar gyrate his ass and strip down to his tighty whities as he usually does during his live shows.

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