Armen At The Bazaar

Here’s something new and different. Armen is an unsigned Montreal-based one-man pop music machine who’s plying his wares as Armen At The Bazaar. Details beyond that are a little hard to come by, but we’ve cherry picked Drive With Me from his newly-available Noor EP (get it free, right here). Drive With Me is admittedly quite a bit different than its neighbors on Noor, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t catchy as toiletseat TB. - My Old Kentucky Blog

Montreal one-man band Armen Bazarian lets us in on the delicate details on this five-song EP. Full of looping, cut-and-paste outbursts and more, each of the 22 minutes is a discovery. "Fire" begins the experience, with sweet, soulful hooks and a confident chorus. "Drive with Me" is easily the EP's strangest piece of work ? Bazarian basically makes monkey noises for the rhythm and overtop sings about being high on speed. But try getting it out of your head after. "The Static White" and "Anna's Song" are softer, yet just as contagious expeditions. At this point, you've made your mind up about Bazarian. And then the last song kicks in: a cover of "Over the Rainbow." Your original reaction might be, "oh, come on," but honestly, it's fun and trippy, giving new essence to that memory, leaving you wanting more. - Exclaim! Magazine

This chiming resonant song [Fire] from Montreal one-man band Armen Bazarian is permeated with the sound of new expectations and guiltless second chances. A perfect song for those sunny warm days that, please God, must be coming soon. - The Globe & Mail

Hard-working singer/songwriter and guitarist Armen Bazarian returns with his second self-released EP in as many years. Fantastic production complements Bazarian’s playful take on indie, folk and psych. Virtually drumless until Anna’s Song bursts into epic electro breakbeats, Armen instead uses guitar, sound engineering and overlapping phasing and echoing of his own voice. Drive With Me especially captures the studio wizardry that allows Armen’s harmonies to blissfully hypnotize the listener in a style reminiscent of Animal Collective’s Avey Tare. Two EPs show a ripening artist with character and verve – keep an eye on this guy (myspace.com/armenatthebazaar). - The Hour - Steve Lalla

“Extra vocal layers here, swirling noises there, a nice dollop of dancefloor-ready beats in various places-- add those things together, and you've got the ingredients for an outstanding EP. It's an impressive evolution, and it shows that Armen at the Bazaar is definitely an artist worth watching.” - i heart music

Montreal-based artist Armen At The Bazaar makes the kind of big, bright, multicoloured, polysided indie-pop his city has been known to foster, especially in the last couple years (Plants and Animals, Miracle Fortress). His latest EP, Noor, is a five-song masterpiece bursting with killer hooks and inventive arrangements. - Gold Soundz

very now and again a cover appears in our inbox that knocks us sideways. Often such recordings showcase performances of under-covered gems or culturally relevant songs (current hits, artist just died, etc). “Over the Rainbow” falls about as far outside those guidelines as you can get. Hell, it was the second most covered song of 2010! But of the 4,241 versions for sale on Amazon, I guarantee none sound like this.

Armen at the Bazaar reinvented a song I would have thought beyond reinvention. It’s droney and trippy, like a psychedelic journey through the outer reaches of the universe. Imagine if instead of waking up in her bed at the end of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy awoke, dazed and confused, in the middle of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Armen told us how it came together:

When I was much younger, my mother introduced me to a breathtaking performance of Keith Jarett playing this song in Japan. Since then I’ve always wanted to record a cover. One evening I had a bunch of samples playing, filling the room with a real dense texture. I just started messing around with the “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” melody and it came together by accident.

I wanted to create an airy, ambient, atmospheric mix. I pictured myself floating in the sky, lost in a beautiful secret world, away from the “noises” of everyday life. Near the end of the song, we’re asked, “If pretty little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why can’t I?” Sadly, with this question the listener is left in a state of limbo. We are stuck here, looking up at the endless sky, imagining what beautiful things lie beyond.

That explains the “If pretty little bluebirds fly / Why can’t I?” mashup loop that kicks in around minute three. Even if you’re sick to death of this song, you should check this out. Actually, especially if you’re sick to death of the song, you should check this out . - Cover Me

A while ago I had the pleasure of finding a review request come across my desk (it was actually my email inbox, and I likely got it through my phone, but let’s pretend it was a desk) and I was first introduced to armen at the Bazaar.

The self-titled debut release of this one-man band was an interesting piece of music making. Now “armen at the Bazaar” is back with his follow us entitled “Noor” (available here for FREE!)

When I saw that Armen had another collection coming out I jumped on the chance to review it.

“Noor” doesn’t disappoint. While it contains some similar song writing motifs as the self-titled release, “Noor” explores a lot of new avenues to create songs which would best be described as complex sound-scapes. The debut track on “Noor” (Fire) is reminiscent of “in the mirror” from his debut, while songs like “Anna’s Song” and “The Static White” use vocal layering and sound effect to tastefully create an interesting piece of music. Armen’s cover of “Over the Rainbow” is definitely the most interesting variation I’ve ever heard, and that isn’t a bad thing at all.

While Armen explores instrumentation in “Noor”, “Drive With Me” uses layered vocal sound effects to create the groove.

A lot of the music is smoothly delivered. While it is not “in your face” rock it remains consistently interesting and I always find something new in the mix when I give it a listen. Definitely check it out.

On a final note for any musicians out there who use a phase looper (I personally use a BOSS RC-20XL) “armen at the Bazaar” is DEFINITELY something you’ll want to check out, see his live performance of “Fire” from “Noor” as a testament to the creativity and skill that go into the these tracks. - North by East West

A highlight of the evening was the one-man act Armen at the Bazaar, the second performer of the night, who wooed everybody with his voice and music. This 23-year-old Toronto native had people singing along with his more mellow songs such as "ZED" and dancing to faster numbers like "Fire." Stylistically similar to Imogen Heap and self-professed to be inspired by tUnE-YarDs, Armen uses looping to create his desired effect. The true attraction is his strong and melodious voice; Armen began training at the Toronto Children's Chorus at the age of four. - The Concordian

Armen Bazarian is the man behind this melody, Expected to be Telepathic. Listening to Armen perform Expected to be Telepathic there was a depth of sound, spirit, and enthusiasm. His debut EP is a mix of folk sounds and melodic vocals, sewn together by delicate songwriting.Such as the soft-spoken Hearts&Thoughts,"through the power of the sun, and the fire behind our eyes, you and me will be free". If you have it in you to give one more singer/songwriter a chance you should check out Armen at the Bazaar. - Midnight Poutine

Montreal's Armen Bazarian's debut EP is a soft and short, breezy little folk/pop package that easily captures the heart. While built firmly on the foundation of Armen's clean tone guitar playing and beautiful voice, excellent studio work subtly introduces harmonic vocal layers, distorted guitar, echoes and violin into the mix - like a pretty carousel of pastel sounds blissfully rotating by in the kaleidoscopic background. Brian Wilson would be proud. Only the minute-long Animal Collective-ish Tribal Interlude has any percussion and this, combined with the EP's intelligent songwriting, carefree spirit, originality and painful brevity, leaves one itching for a stronger dose from this promising newcomer.
4/5
- The Hour - Steve Lalla