Har Mar Superstar's Dark Touches

I hate pure pop music 98% of the time. The drek that American Idol cranks out on an assembly line week after week is soulless, technology created junk that simply exists to sell records and make Simon Cowell a rich man. There are times though, that pure pop music is fantastic and that's when it's done with tongue firmly in cheek and with an arch sense of humor. It's like the anti-thesis of everything that American Idol stands for and no one on the planet knows how to do that sort of thing better than the one known as Har Mar Superstar.

Utilizing the funk of Justin Timberlake and taking it hilariously over the top, Har Mar Superstar was doing Saturday Night Live parody songs for real long before they even knew what to do with a box. Har Mar's latest album, Dark Touches is the pop music your mom warned you about. As seductive as Top 40 Radio and as hilarious as a Weird Al album, Dark Touchesturns the humor up to ten and the production up to eleven. This is serious pop music that would make some artists blush because it's far more clever than any of today's "top" artists. Har Mar clearly knows how to take a pop music cliche and wring it for all it's worth and then poke fun of it, all the while making you run to the dancefloor or turn up the radio without a second thought. The boy clearly has the knack and if he didn't look like a young Ron Jeremy he could have been the next Justin Timberlake.

Pervy, dirty, and most definitely edgy, Dark Touchesturns mainstream pop culture on it's head and spins it around like a top. It's a fun ride that tries hard to keep a straight face but has a hard time and that's what makes listening to Har Mar awesome. There aren't many artists on the planet that can not only write a darn good tune but can do it with a smile on his face and that's what Har Mar as done thirteen times over on Dark Touches. From "Sunshine," to "Creative Juices," Dark Touchesplays like a non-stop party that you have to experience to believe. If all pop music was like this, the Top 40 would actually be tolerable...until that far fetched dream becomes a reality, Har Mar Superstar will remain the most dangerous man on the fringe of pop music.