The Witzard

While well-groomed "heart-throb" types like Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke are busy concocting smooth baby-making Future R&B , lone scantily-clad showman Sean "Har Mar Superstar" Tillman 's bringing the Ron Jeremy to old school-sounding Soul-Funk/R&B . Har Mar Superstar 's been doing his thing for the past 10-15 years now and has toured or worked with a wide variety of underground/mainstream talent: Ben Lee , Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes), Father John Misty , Britney Spears , Neon Neon , Beth Ditto, Jennifer Lopez , and Drew Barrymore. "Lady, You Shot Me" were supposedly crooner Sam Cooke 's last words, which now effectively doubles as Bye Bye 17 's lead single, of sorts. Julian Casablancas' newly-formed Cult Records quietly unleashed the 10-track album a little while back on April 23rd. Bye Bye 17 feels like Har Mar Superstar's first honest attempt @ some tried-and-true LEGIT R&B music and while I...

Hanni el Khatib is the first natural-born American from a family of Palestinian and Filipino immigrants, who bravely heads up his own one-man band on a mission to revive 1950-60's era Rock "N" Roll , classic cars, Greaser chic, and straight razors. Khatib is a talented multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter/producer who's equally influenced by the stylings of Johnny Cash , Sam Cooke, Iggy & The Stooges , Black Sabbath, Johnny Burnette , etc. as well as Blues , Garage Rock, Soul , Folk, and Doo-Wop . Hanni el Khatib linked up with similarly-minded Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach to record his second album, Head In The Dirt , which Innovative Leisure's putting out on April 30th. The pair recorded 11 tracks down in Nashville , soon after Khatib opted to "erase everything he'd become comfortable with and to make an album out of only raw instinct and inspiration." Head In The Dirt 's lead-off single, "Family" now has...

Guess what? Eddie Vender 's got a "NEW" solo album out! No, not really; Just a cassette tape that's [been] unearthed from someone's Seattle basement of the Pearl Jam frontman doing originals and covers sometime in the late 80's, pre- Pearl Jam existence. Believed to have been recorded for a co-worker, this-13 track tape includes covers of the Kenny Rogers ballad, "Something Inside So Strong" and "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke . It's not the first time early recordings from Vedder have surfaced that included some of these tracks (I've personally heard around 50 versions of "Betterman" prior to this collection), but the sound quality for this tape beats out most on the market. How is it? Well, let's take into account the fact that at the time, Eddie Vedder and his previous band, Bad Radio , were doing live covers of the Red Hot Chili Peppers . Yes, Eddie Vedder covering the Chili Peppers , I'm talking a...

Frequent Gorillaz collaborator and 1970's Soulman , Bobby Womack is fixing to make a triumphant comeback with the release of his first album in nearly 20 years, The Bravest Man In The Universe (June 11-12th). Womack's music career was kick-started back in the early 60's with family band, The Valentinos and later as Sam Cooke 's backing guitarist. Recorded over the past few years along with friends Damon Albarn and XL Recordings head honcho Richard Russell , "Please Forgive My Heart" is our initial taste of the album; Man, it's a bubbling, piano-driven synth -heavy affair that's slightly reminiscent of Albarn & Russell's Electro -leaning collective outputs... But have no fear, Bobby Womack 's passionate, heart-felt vocal delivery first heard on revealing original hits [and covers] like "Fly Me to The Moon," "California Dreaming," "Across 110th Street," "Sweet Caroline," and "It's All...