NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts

  • : 2008
  • : 1573
  • : 1
  • YouTube
  • 5
  • Musical

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2013
2013x1
Lucius
Episode overview
07, 2013
One minute, Lucius sounds like a '60s girl group; the next might conjure images of Emmylou Harris.
2013x2
Black Prairie
Episode overview
14, 2013
With members of The Decemberists, the band lends a snappy, lilting quality to songs of alienation.
2013x3
Of Montreal
Episode overview
28, 2013
Frontman Kevin Barnes uses the intimacy of the NPR Music offices to try out some quiet new material.
2013x4
Cantus
Episode overview
04, 2013
The a cappella ensemble sings widely divergent songs from American, European and Sufi traditions.
2013x5
The xx
Episode overview
11, 2013
In The xx's songs, all the calm chilliness in the world can't quite contain an exposed heart.
2013x6
Night Beds
Episode overview
18, 2013
Winston Yellen's arresting voice propels a lighthearted but deeply affecting set at the NPR office.
2013x7
Mary Halvorson Quintet
Episode overview
25, 2013
The guitarist brings a decidedly non-standard approach to jazz's standard practices.
2013x8
The Lone Bellow
Episode overview
04, 2013
The fast-rising Brooklyn trio sings beautiful, heartfelt, impeccably harmonized folk-pop songs.
2013x9
Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
Episode overview
11, 2013
Watch one of the best fiddlers on the planet and a subtle guitar master work their magic.
2013x10
Efterklang
Episode overview
08, 2013
The Danish band ransacks the NPR Music offices looking for sound-making material and new ideas.
2013x11
Yo La Tengo
Episode overview
15, 2013
To coincide with the release of the band's 13th album, Fade, Yo La Tengo performs an acoustic set.
2013x12
Omar Sosa & Paolo Fresu
Episode overview
22, 2013
The duo's quietly energetic performance hangs over the the NPR Music offices like a soft mist.
2013x13
Father Figures
Episode overview
29, 2013
Zany, brainy and danceable, these guys' music mixes rock and jazz like King Crimson at its fiercest.
2013x14
Nicola Benedetti
Episode overview
06, 2013
Watch the violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet, soulful tendrils of sound.
2013x15
Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale
Episode overview
13, 2013
The veteran country players mix corny humor, musical merrymaking and timeless vocal harmonies.
2013x16
Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Episode overview
20, 2013
The 73-year-old Iranian icon unleashes torrents of swooping, soaring sound that elicit goosebumps.
2013x17
Imani Winds
Episode overview
29, 2013
Imani Winds' members shrink Igor Stravinsky down to size in a quintet take on The Rite of Spring.
2013x18
OK Go
Episode overview
03, 2013
OK Go helps us transport the Tiny Desk from NPR Music's old headquarters to our new facility.
2013x19
The National
Episode overview
10, 2013
Watch the band perform acoustic arrangements of four songs from its new album, Trouble Will Find Me.
2013x20
NO BS! Brass Band
Episode overview
15, 2013
An 11-piece brass band turns up the funk and flies the flag high for its native Richmond, Va.
2013x21
Billy Bragg
Episode overview
17, 2013
One of the world's finest folksingers channels the spirit of Woody Guthrie at the NPR Music offices.
2013x22
Patty Griffin
Episode overview
24, 2013
Watch the singer-songwriter and her band perform three songs from her fine new album, American Kid.
2013x23
Maya Beiser
Episode overview
29, 2013
A brilliant cellist with a stunning command of her instrument, Beiser performs at the NPR offices.
2013x24
Laura Mvula
Episode overview
01, 2013
The U.K. singer performs some of her most intimate material in a short set at the NPR Music offices.
2013x25
Cheick Hamala Diabate
Episode overview
06, 2013
The Malian musician and his band craft melodies and rhythms that cut across age and ethnicity.
2013x26
Skinny Lister
Episode overview
08, 2013
The rowdy English folk-punk band brings its barely controlled mayhem to the NPR Music offices.
2013x27
Frank Turner
Episode overview
13, 2013
Two men with unplugged instruments convey the bawdy rowdiness of a full band.
2013x28
Alice Russell
Episode overview
15, 2013
When the British singer performs, her emotionally fiery music just gets hotter and grittier.
2013x29
Cheyenne Mize
Episode overview
20, 2013
The singer, instrumentalist and music therapist plays slinky, forceful songs at NPR Music.
2013x30
Guards
Episode overview
22, 2013
Hear three sturdy pop songs from In Guards We Trust, performed live at the NPR Music offices.
2013x31
Time For Three
Episode overview
27, 2013
Hear the "classically trained garage band" perform with staggering technique and contagious energy.
2013x32
Dana Falconberry
Episode overview
29, 2013
Watch Falconberry and five bandmates perform three delicate songs from her recent album Leelanau.
2013x33
Keaton Henson
Episode overview
03, 2013
Henson's voice is so fragile and hushed, if you were 10 feet away from him you'd barely hear a peep.
2013x34
Jim Guthrie
Episode overview
10, 2013
Guthrie and his band drove 18 hours round-trip from Ontario to perform three songs for NPR Music.
2013x35
Alpine
Episode overview
12, 2013
The Australian sextet crafts busily impeccable, harmony-intensive pop music with a danceable sway.
2013x36
Mother Falcon
Episode overview
17, 2013
The 17-member chamber-rock collective uses its size in the service of great, snappy, stirring songs.
2013x37
The Front Bottoms
Episode overview
19, 2013
The community that's formed around The Front Bottoms speaks to the band's passion and compassion.
2013x38
Buika
Episode overview
26, 2013
Concha Buika's voice comes from Africa and the past. Watch her perform in the NPR Music offices.
2013x39
Steve Gunn
Episode overview
31, 2013
Watch Gunn's trio perform a set of hypnotic long-form jams that are perfect for taking it easy.
2013x40
Baths
Episode overview
04, 2013
Watch Baths' Will Wiesenfeld perform mysterious, textured electronic music in the NPR offices.
2013x41
Bombino
Episode overview
07, 2013
For our 300th Tiny Desk Concert, we showcase a Tuareg guitarist's fierce, hypnotic, alluring jams.
2013x42
The 1975
Episode overview
10, 2013
Performing solo, singer Matthew Healy doesn't hesitate to transform both his songs and himself.
2013x43
Arturo O'Farrill
Episode overview
14, 2013
With an eye on both the past and the future, O'Farrill has jazz and Afro-Cuban music in his DNA.
2013x44
Shovels & Rope
Episode overview
16, 2013
The husband-and-wife duo mixes rowdy folk-rock and rootsy ballads, with the help of a canine friend.
2013x45
The Cristina Pato Trio
Episode overview
21, 2013
A Galician bagpiper and her trio take Celtic sounds in an entirely wild and wonderful direction.
2013x46
Hem
Episode overview
28, 2013
Hem makes a homey, fireside kind of music, with songs that feel as if they've always been there.
2013x47
Oliver 'Tuku' Mtukudzi
Episode overview
30, 2013
The Zimbabwean legend performs songs from the mournful but celebratory Sarawoga for NPR Music.
2013x48
Lawrence Brownlee
Episode overview
05, 2013
The operatic tenor, acclaimed for his Rossini, circles back to his roots as a singer of spirituals.
2013x49
Superchunk
Episode overview
07, 2013
Watch the venerable band translate its electric sound to acoustic instruments in an intimate way.
2013x50
Valerie June
Episode overview
12, 2013
Short of seeing her live and in person, this is the best way to encounter June's heartfelt sound.
2013x51
Okkervil River
Episode overview
15, 2013
The band performs three songs from a record inspired by the childhood of singer Will Sheff.
2013x52
Matt Ulery's Loom
Episode overview
19, 2013
The bassist composes beautiful, unpretentious music for an unusual jazz band with accordion.
2013x53
Daughter
Episode overview
21, 2013
Pretty and melancholy, the Londoners' music conjures a perfect mix of gloom, desire and hostility.
2013x54
Typhoon
Episode overview
26, 2013
The dozen members of this Portland, Ore. band crammed behind the Tiny Desk for a transcendent set.
2013x55
San Fermin
Episode overview
28, 2013
The orchestral folk-pop band's little song-worlds burst with ambition, talent and extreme joy.
2013x56
Neko Case
Episode overview
31, 2013
Watch a Halloween Tiny Desk Concert in which Case performs with Kelly Hogan and Eric Bachmann.
2013x57
Ashley Monroe
Episode overview
03, 2013
This three-song set in the NPR Music offices captures a nice cross-section of Monroe's appeal.
2013x58
Gary Burton
Episode overview
09, 2013
The jazz vibraphone pioneer is 70 now, but that hasn't slowed his flying four-mallet technique.
2013x59
Debashish Bhattacharya
Episode overview
12, 2013
Bhattacharya draws on North Indian classical music, but blues also pours out of his stunning work.
2013x60
John Legend
Episode overview
16, 2013
The soul singer retains the easygoing grace of a performer fit for any stage — even a tiny one.
2013x61
Waxahatchee
Episode overview
23, 2013
This is Katie Crutchfield as Waxahatchee, playing intimate music for an intimate setting.
2013x62
Kronos Quartet
Episode overview
25, 2013
The intrepid champions of new music bring a lullaby, rare blues and a work by Bryce Dessner to NPR.
2013x63
The Dismemberment Plan
Episode overview
02, 2013
The band exudes playfulness and wry charm throughout these three songs from Uncanney Valley.
2013x64
Sarah Jarosz
Episode overview
07, 2013
Jarosz and her small backing band craft a careful mix of technical proficiency and poppy warmth.
2013x65
Dessa
Episode overview
09, 2013
The whip-smart rapper, singer, poet and songwriter performs three tracks from Parts of Speech.
2013x66
Christine Salem
Episode overview
14, 2013
Salem sings work songs and chants from the maloya tradition on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
2013x67
La Santa Cecilia
Episode overview
16, 2013
The video here provides just a hint of the L.A. band's dynamic live shows, albeit a spectacular one.
2013x68
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Episode overview
21, 2013
The hot and historic New Orleans band brings a tuba-wielding Santa and some original holiday cheer.