Sean Tillmann, aka Har Mar Superstar, is a veteran musician who should be more famous than he is, given that he’s a stellar singer/songwriter with a sublime set of pipes. On Bye Bye 17, his fifth album under the Har Mar moniker, Tillmann takes a detour from 2009’s disco-infused Dark Touches and delves into full-on classic R&B, Sam Cooke-style soul, and early ’70s-era Al Green-inspired tunes. On the opener, “Lady, You Shot ... Read More

Actual pyramids are bottom-heavy, just like Brightest Darkest Day, the debut from a duo made up of vocalist Drea Smith and OK Go’s Tim Nordwind. The two concoct a range of sonic textures which sometimes captivate and other times get lost in the fray. Album closer “Nothing I Can Say” staggers under a feedback loop as dreary as a rainy day in Manchester. About half the album is bogged down in these kinds of post-punk ... Read More

  I had a professor in college once tell me that John Milton was the most humorless poet he knew of. He could be warm and ironic, but he never joked-- he was up to something too serious for that. You could say the same of James Blake, whose new album Overgrown was released this week. It's the second LP from the 24-year-old British musician who has more than twice that many EPs to his name. Blake seems to have backed into music ... Read More

Upon listening to Go Find Your Own, you would never guess that garage-rockers Pony Time are a two-piece. The Seattle duo, made up of bassist/guitarist/vocalist Luke Beetham and drummer Stacey Peck, seem to magically fill out their '80s-inspired sound to perfection and find themselves in a league of their own with this record. At first you might be bobbing your head, thinking, "Yeah okay, I can dig this. I'm into grunge-y shit." You're ... Read More

Muchacho (out now on Dead Oceans) is the kind of album you can lose yourself in. Whether you’re on a crowded train or alone in your bedroom, this album will make you feel like you’re a Zen master, at one with the world. That is the effect of talented musician Matthew Houck, who performs under the moniker Phosphorescent. This is the singer-songwriter’s sixth album (seventh if you count 2004’s EP The Weight ... Read More