Tiny Desk Concerts from NPR Music feature your favorite musicians performing at All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen's desk in the NPR office. Hear Wilco, Adele, Passion Pit, Tinariwen, Miguel, The xx and many more. This is the audio version of the podcast. A video version is also available.
From Margo Price to Nathaniel Rateliff, watch five artists perform their favorite John Prine tunes from their homes (and bathtubs) in honor of one of the greatest songwriters of any generation.
One of Nashville's most talented couples took to their attic for a three-song set, including an unrecorded song that speaks to what so many of us our feeling right now.
One of Nashville's most talented couples took to their attic for a three-song set, including an unrecorded song that speaks to what so many of us our feeling right now.
The New Normal includes some Tiny Desk concerts without the Tiny Desk. Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, performed a short set while quarantining in her Nashville home during the coronavirus crisis.
Alexandra Sauser-Monnig returns to the Tiny Desk with her band Daughter of Swords, showcasing new music as well as songs from 2019's gorgeous Dawnbreaker album.
The harpsichord is alive and well. Watch Mahan Esfahani give the first solo harpsichord recital at the Tiny Desk, playing music that spans over 250 years.
Within the first moments of Taimane's magical set, we hear her play fiery flamenco, a famous phrase from the opera Carmen, a touch of Bach and more than a nod to her Hawaiian homeland.
The veteran jazz drummer is joined by special guests that include producer and percussionist Kassa Overall and actor Malcolm Jamal Warner, for a potent and deeply moving set.
Robby Grant, Pat Sansone (Wilco), Jonathan Kirkscey and John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood) give an all-Mellotron performance, making music of magic and mystery.
Robby Grant, Pat Sansone (Wilco), Jonathan Kirkscey and John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood) give an all-Mellotron performance, making music of magic and mystery.
Chris Dave, your favorite musician's favorite drummer, takes listeners on a journey through a virtual record store, picking up different genres along the way and putting them in your bag.
The Iranian-Swedish singer draws her musical cues from Brandy and Sade while racking up a list of collaborators such as Vince Staples, James Fauntleroy and, most recently, Pharrell Williams.
Backed by a small string section, Stevenson performed three songs that sounded so gorgeous, an actual marriage proposal broke out shortly after her set ended.
At 25, she mixes the bluesy melisma of Nina Simone and the deep register of Sarah Vaughan — two of her influences — with songwriting as devastating as her delivery.
Here's a first: Steelpans at the Tiny Desk. It's true. Nearly a thousand performances into the series and the instrument has never been featured, until now.
The R&B singer from Inglewood, CA made his performance a family affair, dedicating it to his late godson, with his mother and older brother on backup vocals.
The Atlanta-based band came to NPR in a van packed with a bodhrán (Irish drum), an ngoni (West African harp) a huge gourd, a cello, a baritone guitar and more.
Jimmy Eat World showed up to the NPR Music office all smiles and no guitars. They borrowed a couple acoustics, a gong and a tambourine for a heartfelt set that included "The Middle."
The fast-rising teenager from Jamaica just won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album, making her the first woman and youngest artist to ever win in the category.
After first trying to win our annual Tiny Desk Contest, the singer-songwriter from Nairobi decided to put out a record, got nominated for a Grammy and wound up here anyway.
The irrepressible harpist proves that the instrument can be as tempestuous as a tango, as complex as a Bach fugue and sing as serenely as a church choir.
The New Orleans artist, known for his work on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, brought a whole new band to the Tiny Desk, performing together for the first time.
The Swedish singer sways and writhes as he and his band create a dream state calming enough to slow the day's hectic pace to a crawl. Take a seat on a comfy couch and have a listen.
Spanglish Fly is one of the pioneers of the boogaloo revival scene happening on the East Coast. For about sixteen minutes, they turned the NPR Music offices into the hottest Latin dance club in D.C.
It's impossible to not be drawn in by the visual specter of Balún as the band mixes traditional instruments and electronics, set against a rich tapestry of voices.
When Los Lobos gathered behind the Tiny Desk, it felt like they were cramped in the back room of a family Christmas party, calling up tunes from the Latin holiday song book.
The LA-based trio makes an intricate blend of jazz, R&B and hip-hop. For their Tiny Desk set, they pulled out all the stops: flutes, flugelhorns, saxophones, keyboards, ukuleles and more.
The Comet is Coming is a force of nature. The British trio makes the kind of instrumental jazz that takes music lovers out of their comfort zone and into a musical realm they may never have explored.
The insightful pianist offers a Beethoven bonanza, ranging from the mesmerizing pulse of the popular "Moonlight" Sonata to flashes of wry humor and tender beauty.
Sunny War has been homeless, busked on city streets and Venice Beach, left home feeling she was a burden to her mother, battled addiction and still found a way to bring joy to others thru her music.
The 34-year old R&B mainstay used his moment at the desk to fit in as many of his most cherished songs as possible — Nine songs in 17 minutes to be exact.
Rio Mira's music celebrates life along the river that separates Ecuador and Colombia: soft breezes, loving friends, the embrace of Africa and lots of festejando!
The group from Japan is on a mission to expand the conventional meaning of "cute." Their performance included synchronized dancing, pom-poms and matching pink uniforms, with a heavy, angular sound.
As she settled in for this stripped-down set, Taylor Swift looked out over the office. "I just decided to take this as an opportunity to show you guys how the songs sounded when I first wrote them."
The vibrancy of the band can feel childlike and candy-coated. But the group's songs are more about the pain of entering adulthood and leaving some of that sweetness behind.
The vibrancy of the band can feel childlike and candy-coated. But the group's songs are more about the pain of entering adulthood and leaving some of that sweetness behind.
The vibrancy of the band can feel childlike and candy-coated. But the group's songs are more about the pain of entering adulthood and leaving some of that sweetness behind.
Sixteen performers from the Broadway cast crammed behind the Tiny Desk to sing songs and share stories about thousands of airline passengers who were stranded in Newfoundland after 9/11.
The Tallest Man On Earth's second appearance at the Tiny Desk comes almost 10 years to the day after his first. He returns with a touch of grey and a beard, but no less intense or moving.
The singer and mega-hit songwriter showcases three of his own tracks, including "I Luv Your Girl" and two songs from Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3.
47SOUL's message of equality is meant for the world. It's music without borders, mixing old and new, acoustic and electronic from a band formed in Amman Jordan, singing in Arabic and English.
Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz made everything seem so easy, with just a few acoustic instruments and a single microphone behind the Tiny Desk, performing songs full of joy and thoughtfulness.
The Houston-based rapper's mindful words are like a life hack for anyone seeking guidance, with pleas to look past inherent hardships and evil and to stay focused on life's ultimate prizes.
The two bands just released Years to Burn, their first album together since 2005. Now, they've performed three songs — two new, one old — for Calexico's Tiny Desk debut.
The spirit of Cab Calloway lives on in Masego, the singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who surprised NPR's Tiny Desk audience with a zany sense of showmanship.
As the NPR staff gathered to watch his performance, Jacob Collier sprinted full bore down the hallway for his set, hardly able to contain his creative energy or enthusiasm.
Who would've thought that American Football's fruitful reunion would not only include some of the emo band's best songs, but also a children's choir at the Tiny Desk?
On Broadway, Be More Chill is a playful burst of frenetic energy and silly, stealthy sweetness. At the Tiny Desk, it holds onto that rowdy, generous spirit while stripping down the arrangements.
Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Elmo, Grover, Rosita, Count von Count, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster and other surprise guests gather at NPR's headquarters to celebrate 50 years of love, learning and joy.
Tasha Cobbs Leonard is widely regarded as one of the best gospel singers performing today. Her set at the Tiny Desk moved many at the NPR offices to tears.
Imogen Heap takes us through her many musical talents, from her Frou Frou musical partner, Guy Sigsworth — and their first new song in 17 years — to an extraordinary performance with musical gloves.
Tomberlin is the daughter of a Baptist pastor, grew up singing in the church and, since her teens, has questioned her own beliefs in God and faith. Her songs are delicate and vulnerable.
Quinn and his musical partner, guitarist and singer Nick Carpenter, arrived from the cool of Anchorage to the swelter of D.C. and performed with remarkable confidence and grace.
Hailing from New Orleans with a love of sticky, bass-bumping funk, Lucky brought along a 10-person band, including a quartet of horns, to capture the full flavor of his debut album Painted.
Watch members of the New York-based group give the world premiere video performances of two recent pieces by Radiohead guitarist and composer Jonny Greenwood.
Watch what happens when the smoky-voiced jazz singer from Mexico conspires with an adventuresome string quartet for songs steeped in Latin American traditions.
Laraaji is best known to some for his ambient work with Brian Eno in the late '70s. He brings his meditative calm to the Tiny Desk in this hypnotic performance.
Tiny Desk alums Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers surprised us all with their stunning collaboration this year as Better Oblivion Community Center. Together they radiate joy at the desk.
Scottish singer, songwriter and essayist Karine Polwart seldom comes stateside, eschewing air travel to reduce her carbon footprint. But on a rare, recent visit, she stopped in D.C. for a Tiny Desk.
The singer from Puerto Rico is part of a movement on the island that emphasizes largely acoustic instruments and a folk-based approach to interpreting life before and after the hurricane of 2017.
Philadelphia Rapper Chill Moody and singer Donn T, along with their crew known as &More, were one of the standout entrants in last year's Tiny Desk Contest. They bring a message of hope and love.
The veteran rocker and a backup band from Italy play songs from their album The Crossing, chronicling an American Dream of rock and roll and Beat poetry.
Multi-hyphenate artist Kaia Kater uses the architecture of roots music, which she studied in West Virginia, to establish a simultaneous dialogue with both the present moment and her own past.
Myers replaces her album's roaring electric guitars and electronics with a pulsing string quartet, piano and brushed drums — and uncorks a cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."
Scott Mulvahill has been trying to win the Tiny Desk Contest for each of its four years. And while he's never won, we all loved him so much we had to invite him to play.
The voices of Amelia Meath, Molly Erin Sarlé and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig come together behind the Tiny Desk, with songs that conjure a simpler life: dogs, friends, moonlight or skinny dipping.
This Blood Orange Tiny Desk is a beautifully conceived concert showing off the craft and care that has made Devonté Hynes a groundbreaking producer and songwriter.
The multi-instrumentalist says he only wishes he had more limbs; but Wood still manages to simultaneously play a bass guitar, keys and drums, all while singing into a wearable microphone.
Aaron Lee Tasjan arrived in an ascot and mustard-colored shirt, sporting red, round sunglasses and mutton chops. It was a fashionable nod to the psych-pop and rock sound he brought to the Tiny Desk.
Carolina Eyck, the first artist to bring a theremin to the Tiny Desk, plays the air with the kind of lyrical phrasing and "fingered" articulation that takes a special kind of virtuosity.
The saxophonist is a big thinker whose mesmerizing compositions chronicle the music of his native Puerto Rico with the help of an adventurous jazz quartet.
Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa, along with his brother Ruy on drums and bassist Gaston Joya, deliver a set of danceable jazz explorations rooted in Afro-Cuban musical traditions to the Tiny Desk.
Amy Grant maps her fabulous, four-decade career with some of her coziest and heartfelt Christmas songs, not to mention a delightful version of "Jingle Bells."
The singer stuns in her second appearance at the Tiny Desk, showcasing not only her vocal mastery, but her skills as a captivating multi-instrumentalist.
The Innocence Mission, ever the most careful cultivators of quiet, encouraged us to come closer, to discover the "thing beautiful enough" in the moment it's delivered.
Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers are all Tiny Desk alumae, but here they play together at NPR for the first time as boygenius, one of this year's best surprises.
The story of Bernie and the Believers is the story of Bernie Dalton's diagnosis of Lou Gehrig's disease and compassionate friends making his dream come true and his songs come to life.
No matter how dark or disastrous, there's always been an undercurrent of grace to the music of David Bazan. He returns to his Pedro the Lion moniker for this memorable Tiny Desk performance.
After back-to-back performances in South Africa, Argentina, Chile and New York, Payton hit the Tiny Desk, where he dazzled the audience, simultaneously playing his trumpet and a Fender Rhodes.
Liniker e os Caramelows are from Brazil but steeped in the tradition of soul from here in the U.S. Watching this performance is to witness a spell being cast, note-by-note.
"I'm sorry I'm shy," Florence Welch told the crowd of NPR family and friends gathered for her Tiny Desk performance. "If this was a big gig, I'd probably be climbing all over here and running around."
The OutKast star performs "So Fresh, So Clean," "The Way You Move" and his solo single "All Night" with the help of singer Sleepy Brown and an eight-member backing band.
Henry and his band would have sounded right at home on Stax Records in the '70s — no small accomplishment. Watch them perform three funky, soulful jams.
Before embarking on a tour of Australia and Asia, the Chicago native brought the squad that helped make Care For Me one of 2018's best — along with a very special guest.
Watch the ambitious countertenor sing music that spans more than 250 years, connecting the dots between David Byrne, George Frideric Handel and Philip Glass.
Brooklyn-bred hip-hop duo Smif-N-Wessun – consisting of partners in rhyme, Steele and Tek – illuminated the Tiny Desk with their signature, 80-proof poetry: straight, no chaser.
This trio has become a reference point of their own for new school instrumentalists, a coveted achievement for any jazz group, though their appeal stretches far outside the jazz ecosystem.
While this Sacramento, Calif. band didn't win this year's Tiny Desk contest, their video entry, for the song "Peach Scones," was among the more memorable we've ever seen.
Jupiter Bokondji and his band Okwess play music that feels both African and American, with Jupiter's early musical tastes inspired by The Jackson 5, James Brown and the sounds of Motown.
In the fifteen years since he released Trap Muzik, Tip Harris has reinvented himself a thousand times over. But the stories he recounts from that era make his Tiny Desk a memorable one.
Backed for the first time ever by members of the Howard Gospel Choir, the Irish singer-songwriter shows off a voice built to fill stadiums in more ways than one.
The Australian band uses tiny moments of introspection to illuminate life's bewildering, terrifying, isolating aspects — especially as they apply to women.
The Australian band uses tiny moments of introspection to illuminate life's bewildering, terrifying, isolating aspects — especially as they apply to women.
Watch the 19-time Grammy winner return to his lifelong passion for J.S. Bach, playing music from the Cello Suites and offering advice on the art of incremental learning.
Even from its beginnings in late-60s Oakland, the band has always stood out. Fifty years later, its devotion to classic horn-driven soul remains unmatched, its passion and precision unchanged.
DAWN has a breathless enthusiasm for shape-shifting pop music. She strips three songs to just the essentials, illuminating the impeccable songwriting behind her wild combination of sounds.
Mac Miller reflects on his journey's peaks and valleys in a boisterous set of songs from Swimming, featuring special guest Thundercat on "What's the Use?"
Del McCoury has been performing, and updating, his take on bluegrass for some 60 years. At the Tiny Desk, he brought three traveling songs and some good yarns to share from his ample time on the road.
The precise serrations of Washington, D.C. band Flasher get softened for a visit to the Tiny Desk — their vocals, normally side-by-side rushing electric instruments, get the center stage treatment.
New Orleans' native son brought his musical Gumbo — and a 10-piece orchestra — to the Tiny Desk for some well-seasoned soul and a lesson in creative freedom.
A handful of teenagers, and a 12-year-old violinist, from the radio show From the Top, give sparkling performances, proving there's a bright future for classical music.
The bassist and drummer from D.C.'s pioneering punk band Fugazi join guitarist Anthony Pirog for a set of thrilling, sometimes loud and frenetic instrumentals.
Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn are two American musical treasures. This husband-and-wife banjo duo write original tunes steeped in the roots of folk music.
In three songs from Reservoir, Gordi keeps her voice both unadorned and centered within warm, cool arrangements that include piano, guitar, pedal steel, a harmonium named Barbara, and more.
Even if the world came to an end, there's still beauty and hope in all of us and in song. That about sums up the wistful mystery that is the music of Darlingside.
Bedouine is Azniv Korkejian, a singer and guitarist who echoes sounds from the 1960's North American folk songwriters, but with vocal inflections closer to Leonard Cohen than to Joni Mitchell.
ÌFÉ isn't playing anything new. In fact, the band takes on something quite old: ritual Afro-Caribbean music that takes a lifetime to absorb and master.
Hear a triumphant fusion of jazz, rock and blues that moves with momentum and fresh anticipation. Logan Richardson plays with a lyrical intensity that is both focused and free.
When you hear John Moreland's sweet voice, it's hard to believe he spent years singing in punk, metal-core and hardcore bands. He plays acoustic guitar now, but his songs are still full of passion.
The Breeders' dreamy scuzz sounds more wizened and frazzled at the Tiny Desk, featuring the same lineup behind the band's breakout, 1993 album Last Splash.
The guitarist and singer for The Black Keys and The Arcs brings his Easy Eye Sound Revue to the Tiny Desk, recalling a time and sound from the '60s when southern R&B, including Nashville, was a force.
Sometimes frenetic, sometimes slow and luxurious, the grooves the band creates are the perfect cushion for Jenny Ball's impassioned singing and engaging stage presence.
The Swedish trio brought a 30-string sonic blast to the Tiny Desk, performing on 12-string guitar, vioala and the nyckelharpa (a fiddle with keys — think 15th century keytar).
Cornelius' Keigo Oyamada deconstructs and reassembles music like it's a neon cubist-pop sculpture. On a rare U.S. tour, the Japanese band brought its complex cool to the Tiny Desk.
For more than 45 years, the legendary John Prine has written some of the most powerful lyrics in the American music canon. He brings some of his best to this unforgettable Tiny Desk performance.
Each year we get thousands of submissions for our annual Tiny Desk contest. Seattle's Kuinka was one of last year's entrants. While they didn't win, we loved them so much we invited them to come play.
Clare's songs ask listeners to probe their own emotions through the lens of life's bigger pictures. His visit to Bob Boilen's desk is the perfect setting to bask in the power of his voice.
Marlon Williams has a heart-stopping voice, is in love with a good, traditional blues or country tune, and writes songs about vampires and horror films.
The music of Hurray For The Riff Raff builds bridges, unites people and forms communities. It's a spirit singer Alynda Segarra and the rest of the band bring to this memorable Tiny Desk performance.
In three songs celebrating black ancestry and self-love, Woods demonstrated just how adept she is at creating songs rich with philosophical meaning that also move and groove.
Eavesdrop on a beautiful recital of German songs from fin de siècle Vienna, when music was transitioning from the swells of romanticism to the uncharted waters of modernism.
The singer performed at the Tiny Desk without a warmup or soundcheck, with just her acoustic guitar and un-amplified voice, letting the wordplay in her songs shine through.
The Malian musicians, who've been playing together for nearly 40 years, bring some of the most lyrical melodies and joyful sounds we've ever had at the Tiny Desk.
Julien Baker's Turn Out The Lights brought her much-deserved critical acclaim and wider attention in 2017. Before its release, we asked her to make a rare return to the Tiny Desk for something special.
One of the joys of listening to The Weather station is the tension and release in the group's enchanting music. It's what made the band's most recent album one of Bob Boilen's favorite of 2017.
The LA band's signature sound is intimate and demonstrative, haunting yet uplifting, an old-fashioned rock beat under glimmering guitar and keys. And at the Tiny Desk, it was at ease.
Frantic time-lapse set decoration. An intrusive snow machine. Ugly holiday sweaters. It's time to hunker down and soak up a raucous and reverent Christmas party, courtesy of Hanson.
Effortless storytelling is at the heart of This Is The Kit. And the stories the band's only permanent member, Kate Stables, weaves are profound but sweet with a tone that quietly reels you in.
This comes close to the quietest Tiny Desk Concert we've ever had. The music Cigarettes After Sex makes is incredibly hushed. It's a sound so minimal it barely exists.
Leo's work has, more often than not through the decades, addressed an anxious world, growing and shifting with it and with its listeners. Seven years after his last solo album, he's turned inwards.
Best known for his role with The Walkmen, as a solo artist he makes unabashedly joyful, sweetly innocent and playful music. And only he would arrive with a barbershop quartet.
Her songs come laden with finely detailed observations about hypnotherapy, Jeffrey Dahmer and everything in between. They receive a languid, impeccably-phrased performance at the Tiny Desk.
In person, the master R&B vocalist impresses not just with her exquisite artistry, but with her radiant spirit of contentment and grace. Just ask her makeup artist.
With a knack for cunning juxtapositions, the adventurous pianist stitches together a baroque sonata, a slice of French serenity and a quirky portrait of a mysterious barn owl.
Billy Corgan, complicated frontman of The Smashing Pumpkins, has had a tumultuous decade-and-a-half. His visit to the Tiny Desk, with a string quartet backing him, was anything but.
The band has new tools in its arsenal, but even in a stripped-down Tiny Desk performance, its focus on tiny moments between people just outside of love is as sharp as ever.
With the help of a backing band that includes Ivan Neville and Jenny Scheinman, the iconic singer-songwriter plays three songs from across her tough and uncompromising career.
The hip-hop statesman walked through our doors greeting and charming anyone within arm's reach. Once in front of an audience, he was in attack mode, including a unique rendition of his signature hit.
Gracie And Rachel mix piano pop with darker, classic violin arrangements to make songs full of mystery and tension. They're joined in this Tiny Desk performance by percussionist Richard Watts.
Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson just celebrated their 25th anniversary as a band. To celebrate, watch them perform three of their post-"MMMBop" career highlights.
Landlady's music is more than sonic exploration, it's an adventure. The songs can feel a bit drugged-out – a bit high and full of curiosity – but never overly intoxicated or out-of-touch.
Welcome the world of Dawg Yawp, the musical concoction of Rob Keenan and Tyler Randall, where drones and toy pianos are likely to collide with heavy metal electronics and a well-placed melody.
Bomba Estereo is not known as a hushed band. Member Simon Mejia said this Tiny Desk performance was the group's quietest, a stripped-down treatment that illustrates the inherent quality of the music.
Snail Mail's sleepy songs have a way of waking you up. Watch the band perform music from its quietly stunning Habit EP, plus a new song played solo by Lindsey Jordan.
Intensity in songs often expresses itself as volume – a loud guitar, a scream, a piercing synth line. But in the case of Aldous Harding it's in the spaces, the pauses, and her unique delivery.
James Mercer, the emotional and creative heart of The Shins, gives a moving performance at the Tiny Desk, with two new songs and a classic from the band's 2003 album Chutes Too Narrow.
Rare Essence has been bringing go-go to the world since 1976 — the group brought that pedigree, and the genre's massive meld of funk, rhythm and blues and soul, to this raucous hometown Tiny Desk.
Tuxedo, the unlikely-on-paper funk-soul duo of Mayer Hawthorne and Jake One, brought a left-of-center sonic approach and a sharp sense of style to their Tiny Desk Concert.
Fragile Rock is a band that relies on the boogie of The B-52s, the melancholy of The Smiths and the humor of Kermit the Frog. Oh, and they're all puppets.
Melina Duterte may have played all the instruments on Jay Som's newest record, Everybody Works, but her touring band brought a rougher edge to those silky recordings.
Helado Negro ditches his bank of electronics for alto and tenor saxophones, bringing his utterly unique style to a intense, perfectly balanced Tiny Desk Concert.
Backed by a suitably low-key band, Macve would sound subtly radiant just about anywhere, from your nearest country bar to the most dreamily lit stage in Twin Peaks.
The band's long-awaited performance at the Tiny Desk was both beautiful and, at times, intense, featuring three deeply personal songs by frontman Mike Hadreas.
While her band was on hiatus, Monica Martin joined Jeremy Larson's project Violents, yielding a lush record of electronic pop, translated into a quieted set at the Tiny Desk.
Gabriel Garzón-Montano spent three years writing and recording his beautiful, dense album Jardin -- but for his Tiny Desk visit, he stripped it all down to two elements, the piano and his voice.
A restrained, whisper-soft Tiny Desk concert from Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin with songs taken from her debut album Don't Let The Kids Win.
Tim Darcy of Montreal band Ought brings his mysterious solo work, from the album Saturday Night, to the Tiny Desk. The record he says, was his chance to "get back to my roots, in my own voice."
Danilo Brito and his band brought their dextrous expression of choro music to the Tiny Desk, a long-established musical style that has its roots in the streets and backyards of Brito's native Brazil.
"This song is called 'You Never Loved Me' — it's another cheery, optimistic number," says Aimee Mann, introducing the second of four songs in this Tiny Desk Concert.
The traditions of flamenco and jazz are disparate, but in the hands of a few Spanish jazz musicians, these two worlds commingle and find common ground.
I have a self-imposed rule for Tiny Desk Concerts: No artist can visit twice unless there's something wholly different about what they're doing. alt-J was happy to oblige.
Composer, arranger and viola player Ljova lead his Kontraband to the Tiny Desk for an eclectic swirl of Western classical, jazz, tango and Eastern European and Balkan folk music.
You can hear a great New York jazz band in the rhythms of Sinkane, but you can also hear the influence of Bob Marley and the hypnotic repetition of Sudanese desert sounds.
It's astonishing to watch Sultana's fluidity on her instrument, like a natural extension of her body. She also plays bass, saxophone, trumpet, flute and more, but kept it "simple" for the Tiny Desk.
The power of language to penetrate a difficult subject, and the power of performance to share that language, are the gifts Noname brought to the Tiny Desk.
This fierce and lyrical guitar player writes playful instrumental music led by hooky vocals — but there is no voice, just the human-like twang of a glass slide on a guitar.
A Tiny Desk Concert as intimate as it gets (that's saying something). Just Sampha, a piano and three heart-wrenching songs that seem to double as coping mechanisms.
Tank and the Bangas' victory lap around the Tiny Desk was momentous, celebratory and deeply touching, with a flair and alchemy of styles that could come from New Orleans.
Little Simz has been compared to Lauryn Hill for her self-reflective wordplay. And though the British lyricist is a relative new-comer, her Tiny Desk performance was poised and confident.
Esmé Patterson has dropped the banjos and folk from her previous project Paper Bird — in their place, electric guitars and a backing band worth getting behind.
Killer Mike and El-P continue to out-muse each other in a supergroup that somehow seems to get better, louder, and more pertinent since their start in 2013.
The rapper/singer storms the NPR Music offices, activating his signature smile and bouncing through five highlights from his catalog — including the smash single "Broccoli."
The rising R&B star performs three falsetto-drenched highlights from his 2016 debut, Ology — including "Bourbon," which features a guest rap from Chance The Rapper collaborator Saba.
Cobb's words shimmer like a tall glass of sweet tea in the late-morning sun. Watch the country singer-songwriter perform four songs from his debut album.
With a voice that borrows heavily from opera, Downs performs the kind of full-throated mariachi singing that would fit right in at Mexico City's Garibaldi Square — ground zero for mariachi.
Hear McCaslin, the saxophonist and bandleader whose group backed David Bowie on Blackstar, near the anniversary of that album's release. Selections include an instrumental take on Bowie's "Lazarus."
The rapper has spent the year on an extended victory tour. Here are the spoils, recorded in a stripped-down set with a minimal backing track and longtime producer Zaytoven on keys.