The Best Music You’ve Never Heard
July 27th, 2006 by Erica
“The Best Music You’ve Never Heard” was the catchphrase for the B. Sharp Indie Showcase at The Living Room this past July 18th 2006. One of my favorite things about New York City is the variety of live music you can come across on a daily basis at different interesting and eclectic venues around the city. For this particular showcase, six artists/bands from across the country were chosen to perform, melding together a good variety of sounds and genres, at the intimate (and, well, living room-sized) Living Room at 154 Ludlow in the Lower East Side. The bands that made the cut were the Derren Raser Band, Under Shade, Christopher Dallman, Michael Logen, Sam & Ruby, and my favorite, Granian.
Admittedly, I found out about the showcase because I have been a fan of Granian for a few years, who actually played his last concert as Granian at the showcase. The artist formerly known as Granian, now known as Kill the Alarm (still trying to get used to it myself), is fronted by singer/songwriter/guitarist/bongo-player/multifaceted (read: extremely talented) Garen Gueyikian. They are a sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric rock band with a unique sound that simply cannot be classified. In one night at their packed concert you can hear anything from an in-your-face, screw-you anthem like “On My Own,” the title track off of his latest album, to a mellow, soul-infused ballad like “Collide,” one of his newest mp3 releases. If you are lucky enough to witness (or, more importantly, hear) Garen play live, you will understand why SPIN Magazine once named him the best unsigned band and why fans take road trips to see him play (and no, I’ve never done that before…but mainly because I don’t drive).
I arrived on Delancey a bit early and waited by the subway for my friends, who were scheduled to arrive shortly. The F-ing F train decided to go on hiatus for a while, so after waiting outside in the sunshine for a half-hour, the sky opened up in a torrential downpour like no other just as my friends were arriving—that kind of rain that makes umbrellas almost pointless, which is lucky because I didn’t have one anyway. By the time I arrived at the Living Room (5 minute walk from the subway), I was a drowned rat. I’m not kidding; the bouncer literally had to wipe my hand with a napkin so that he could stamp it. Yea. Of course everyone inside had been sitting there for several hours already and didn’t know that a monsoon was taking place outside, so we got strange stares as we waltzed up to three empty seats in the front. Needless to say I gladly ordered my one-drink minimum (definitely not my maximum) as soon as I sat down.
At the showcase, Garen played an acoustic mix of older favorites (like “My Voice,” “On My Own,” and “Collide”) and new songs (the incredibly catchy “Never Come Around” and “No More Excuses), backed by singer/guitarist Kyle Paas. Though he still sounded great, Garen suffered tuning problems throughout his set, assumed to be due to the humidity. We soon discovered that this was not the case—at least not the whole story. Seemingly to mark the end of Granian and the beginning of Kill the Alarm, the neck of Garen’s guitar decided to pop off right before his final song. After which Garen set his Taylor on the floor, started to walk away, and then decided to step on it instead. What a way to ring in the new name! See the video on Youtube.
Kill the Alarm kicks off their new name with an end of summer tour with the Samples in various cities, including a stop in New York City today, Thursday, July 27 th at the Canal Room (285 W. Broadway at Canal). You can bet I’ll be there.