Comments on: To be fair, the desk is pretty small.

To be fair, the desk is pretty small.

1f2frfbf — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 08:27:28 -0800

Since 2008, NPR's All Songs Considered has been doing the Tiny Desk Concert series in which they invite a musician or band or very large group to come and play a song behind the desk of the show's host, Bob Bollen, with the video camera running. The result can be intimate, absurd, raucous and just plain enjoyable. A browseable archive of all 150+ shows is here.

Nota Bene: links reflect my own very biased tastes in music, your favorite NPR show sucks, etc.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 08:33:20 -0800

What's this blue thing doing here?

By: knile

knile — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 08:38:27 -0800

Bob Boilen, host of All Songs Considered, was in a band 30 years ago called Tiny Desk Unit. I'm a fan of ASC & TDC, but if I'd heard the explanation before about the name, I'd totally forgotten it. Every time I hear one of these concert, I'm jealous of my friends who work at NPR (oooh that's right, I name-dropped nobody in particular!) who have access to this up close & personal. I'm partial to those of the bands that I've seen live, but the Adele one is, for me, beyond all others.

By: empath

empath — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 08:40:21 -0800

How did you not link Adele?

By: Wrick

Wrick — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 08:59:12 -0800

Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch: 2nd song in, "Ruby". Such an absence of vanity in their performance, and what a beautiful, spine-tingling song.

By: 1f2frfbf

1f2frfbf — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 08:59:51 -0800

How did you not link Adele? Because I'm a bad person who hates all that is goodness and light. Also: I figured I'd have many enlightened individuals, such as yourself, chiming on their favorites, so I have to leave a few of the gems out there, for others to find and mention.

By: storybored

storybored — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:01:49 -0800

Whoa, that Fleck/Meyer/Hussain trio on banjo, bass fiddle and tabla is amazing! Thanks for sharing this 1f2frfbf. Best music i've heard this week.

By: MonkeyToes

MonkeyToes — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:03:15 -0800

Gogol Bordello: Tiny Desk Concert. "If you watch this video and don't get to the part where Eugene Hutz is dancing on the desks, then you've missed the most rollicking and insane Tiny Desk Concert of all time."

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:16:43 -0800

The Avett Brothers one is fantastic.

By: wheelieman

wheelieman — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:18:43 -0800

The thing that blows my mind is they got Weird Al to do one

By: knile

knile — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:19:14 -0800

How did you not link Adele? Because I, too, am a bad person who hates all that is goodness and light?

By: FelliniBlank

FelliniBlank — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:28:09 -0800

I love these. I've watched the Bill Callahan one about 10 times.

By: fungible

fungible — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:28:30 -0800

How did you not link Adele? My daughter listens to pop radio and they play her at least 100,000 times a day. Amazing how a radio station can actually make you not like a song you normally would.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:29:24 -0800

Needs MOAR METAL. OTOH, yay Nels Cline!

By: brennen

brennen — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:38:40 -0800

Ralph Stanley.

By: Catbunny

Catbunny — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:50:35 -0800

Thanks for this!

By: kethonna

kethonna — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 10:08:25 -0800

Jackie Evancho is... impressive.

By: showbiz_liz

showbiz_liz — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 10:17:15 -0800

Oh man, Lost in the Trees is in there! Weirdly atmospheric kind of orchestral band from my college town. They seem to be getting big and I'm super jazzed about it...

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 10:56:54 -0800

Oh, woah. Sam Phillips. That's awesome. An artist I've loved for decades and have lost track of. This performance is inspiring me to track down what she's done across the years. Thanks so much!

By: Linda_Holmes

Linda_Holmes — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:02:31 -0800

The Tiny Desks are AWESOME. I'm so glad you put this here so more folks can find them. I was about six feet from the Avett Brothers when they did theirs, and I almost passed out from the greatness. Other favorites of mine: Jimmy Cliff, The Swell Season, Bettye LaVette (famous for saying of playing in an office, "Doing this isn't difficult ... it's just stupid"), Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars, Chris Otepka (a/k/a The Heligoats), Nick Lowe, Booker T, and the David Wax Museum. Seriously, if you don't watch the David Wax Museum one, you're only hurting yourself. And, yes, Adele, who was wonderful. They are fantastic. (My desk is in that room, too, but nobody ever performs at it.)

By: Popular Ethics

Popular Ethics — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:46:46 -0800

This is amazing. I love this format - All of the energy and life of a live recording, but with studio sound quality. Fantastic, thanks for introducing me to this! There are so many good concerts in here: K'Naan 11 year old Jackie Evancho but so far my favourite has been David Rawlings and Gillian Welch (linked in the OP under "enjoyable")

By: schmod

schmod — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:54:17 -0800

More compelling proof that NPR is one of America's most valuable cultural institutions.

By: Linda_Holmes

Linda_Holmes — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:54:27 -0800

ACK! K'naan! Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I knew I was forgetting one of the best ones.

By: telstar

telstar — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:00:27 -0800

When I was a little kid, I thought that all music coming out of the radio was played live at the station. Why did I think this? Because DJ's would say "we've got so and so coming up, right here at KXYZ!" I pictured musicians hurrying in and out of the station, setting up and playing just in time, several acts lined up when they would play several songs in a row...it was fun to think about.

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:06:58 -0800

The Avett Brothers on Tiny Desk. "Did you swallow an amplifier??"

By: Arbac

Arbac — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 12:58:37 -0800

I love the tiny desk concert series! I first learned of The Tallest Man on Earth by watching the tiny desk archive. So good. This is gonna waste the rest of my weekend.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:13:04 -0800

Holy hell, Rawlings and Welch's cover of Cortez the Killer gave me chills. Fantastic stuff.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:26:25 -0800

By: p3t3

p3t3 — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:09:59 -0800

I've had plenty of quality procrastination sessions just watching Tiny Desk Concert videos over and over. A couple favorites of mine were Rodrigo y Gabriela because their guitar chops are amazing to watch, and Raphael Saadiq because I'm a sucker for soul music and his guitar versions give a really different feel from the album versions (but equally great of course).

By: jaruwaan

jaruwaan — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:52:48 -0800

This is a treasure trove! And the perfect post to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon. Here's one that really caught my fancy: Ben Solee.

By: storybored

storybored — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 17:42:18 -0800

Lazaruslong thanks for the pointer to the Avett Bros. Never heard of them but that little performance of theirs is mighty fine.

By: storybored

storybored — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:35:11 -0800

Memorable moments from the Tiny Desk. Listen to the podcast overview or scroll down for video links.

By: outfieldrambler

outfieldrambler — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:02:31 -0800

Don't miss Edmar Castaneda on the Colombian harp--He at least appears to be the youngest musician too. Also, the duet between Ballake Sissoko And Vincent Segal is gorgeous. If you haven't heard the kora, once you hear it, you'll need more in your life. If you become addicted, also check out Toumani Diabate. Most recent was a duet with the late Ali Farka Toure.

By: DigDoug

DigDoug — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:39:39 -0800

This is one of 2 podcasts I *always* make time for.

By: that's candlepin

that's candlepin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:58:16 -0800

Josh Ritter. Boom. I LOVE the first song he plays, "Temptation of Adam." This performance of that tune doesn't hold up to the album version I don't think (I do like the little laugh when he screws up the lyrics), but it's great enough to shine through anyway. Anyway. He's a really fun performer. Clearly loves to perform and his smile is totally infectious.

By: penduluum

penduluum — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:15:20 -0800

In a just world the Avett Brothers would be Mumford & Sons, and vice versa.

By: Knappster

Knappster — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:39:17 -0800

When I was a little kid, I thought that all music coming out of the radio was played live at the station. I thought that old radios would only play old music. I was a stupid kid.

By: dancestoblue

dancestoblue — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:42:31 -0800

telstar: "When I was a little kid, I thought that all music coming out of the radio was played live at the station. " I thought the same thing, just was how I could see it, maybe because of television -- you saw the musicians playing on tv. (though of course we know now that it's all canned, or most of it was then, for sure) This is the first I've seen of Adele -- I'm one of these people who just lets music come as it will, I don't and won't listen to top forty, blah blah blah. Stubborn, foolish, whatever. Anyways, that's how I missed her, and missing her was missing a lot -- she is sure great. What a singer, what great songs, too. Whoa. And goddamn, she's darling, she is just so, so darling -- she's just one of the most kissable woman that there is, aren't you just dying to kiss her, and kiss on her? I damn sure am. Fuck. Jesus christ. What a babe! Fun to watch her as she moves in and out of her songs; when she's singing it seems that she is inhabiting her songs or maybe they are inhabiting her, she just changes is all, then the song is over and she's just a kid who talks funny -- her eyes are different, everything, it's just like she moves in and out of those damn songs, they take her over. Very, very cool. Sure looks like art to me, or, rather, capital A Art. What a woman! btw, for whatever reason the stream KEPT ON slipping and sliding, buffering, totally annoying, happens sometimes for whatever reason, and when it does I just download the vid using the downloadhelper Firefox add-on and then play it locally on my puter. But since it's on stinkin' NPR the .FLV files are totally hidden out somehow -- and I sure did look everywhere I know to look, both in firefox and opera; I guess I'm not geeky enough to figure out what they're doing. Anyways, the reason I'm writing this is to let anyone/everyone know that these Tiny Desk concerts are also on youtube, and they surely did stream one heck of a lot better there, and if they hadn't I'd have downloaded and played locally, etc and etc. Just an fyi

By: hippybear

hippybear — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:52:33 -0800

This is the first I've seen of Adele -- I'm one of these people who just lets music come as it will, I don't and won't listen to top forty, blah blah blah. Stubborn, foolish, whatever. Anyways, that's how I missed her, and missing her was missing a lot -- she is sure great. What a singer, what great songs, too. Whoa. And goddamn, she's darling, she is just so, so darling -- she's just one of the most kissable woman that there is, aren't you just dying to kiss her, and kiss on her? I damn sure am. Fuck. Jesus christ. What a babe! Well, here, then. All three parts of her appearance on Graham Norton, or if you prefer, just her performance of Set Fire To The Rain. You're welcome. Mr hippybear is usually unwilling to watch the musical performances on Graham Norton, but he not only tolerated all of Adele's song, he had good things to say about it when it was done and said he'd like to hear more from her. That's HUGE praise from Mr hippybear.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:00:02 -0800

btw, for whatever reason the stream KEPT ON slipping and sliding, buffering, totally annoying, happens sometimes for whatever reason, and when it does I just download the vid using the downloadhelper Firefox add-on and then play it locally on my puter. But since it's on stinkin' NPR the .FLV files are totally hidden out somehow Seriously? It's totally easy to download individual episodes of this video podcast. All you have to do is click the link at the top of the page which says "Watch The Video Below Or Download By Subscribing To The Tiny Desk Concerts Podcast" [which is on every artist's TDC page], and then on the next page you click on the orange rectangular POD link which takes you to the RSS page for the entire series. There you have a full list of all the .m4v files at your fingertips, awaiting your right-click and "Download File...". You don't have to hunt for anything. It's all right there in the open.

By: empath

empath — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:24:42 -0800

Well, here, then. All three parts of her appearance on Graham Norton, or if you prefer, just her performance of Set Fire To The Rain . You're welcome. After watching her sing Set Fire to the Rain, I suddenly want to hear her cover Black.

By: showbiz_liz

showbiz_liz — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:27:51 -0800

Adele seems pretty rad and I wish I could enjoy her but I have been programmed, Clockwork Orange-like, to fly into a blind rage every time I hear her voice. I worked at a coffee shop where, for many months (until we wore management down with our constant bitching), we were forced to listen to the exact same corporately-mandated playlist of quirky pop, in the same order, EVERY SINGLE DAY. Some of the songs weren't bad, but it didn't matter in the end. Many songs were ruined for me because of that job, and Chasing Pavements by Adele is one of them. Actually, all of Adele is ruined for me. I can't stand the sound of her voice anymore. I am literally getting angry just thinking about it. It's a shame, because I can tell she's good, but... rage.

By: empath

empath — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 06:20:45 -0800

Yeah, I've been a fan of Adele since High Contrast remixed Hometown Glory like 3 years ago, and have been recommending her to anybody in the US that would listen for years, but that was before she turned into a big star here (I have no idea how famous she was in the UK before that). Adele is also one of the few artists I recommended to my Mom that she actually liked, and now she thinks she's some kind of hipster because she was listening to her before she was famous.