Tag: Performance

Ann Powers | November 17, 2023 Polly Harvey has inhabited many characters throughout her 30-year career and always dressed the part: catsuit-rocking glam queen, high-collared Victorian wraith, mini-skirted libertine, feather-adorned warrior. Bringing the story told in her latest album, I Inside the Old Year Dying to the Tiny Desk, she stands at the microphone in a draped dress the wintry color of a gray alder tree, designed by her longtime costumier Todd Lynn. Its torn elegance perfectly suits the dual role she plays in these gently ferocious songs, which originated in her novel-in-verse, Orlam. As she lets loose her inimitable [See More…]

Ashley Pointer | November 10, 2023 Out of the thousand and some Tiny Desk concerts to date, it’s seldom an artist returns to the Desk. But when they do, there are a couple requirements: come in a new iteration or present something completely different. In this case, the Chicago-bred, emcee-activist Noname does both when she performs some revolutionary raps from her third album, Sundial, and premieres an unreleased single from hip-hop trio Ghetto Sage, made up of her and frequent collaborators, Smino and Saba. A lot has changed since Fatimah Warner dropped her classic debut, Telefone, in 2016 and made [See More…]

Felix Contreras | October 30, 2023 It’s hard to get past the significance of this performance by the Indian jazz fusion band, Shakti. Initially formed in 1973 by jazz guitarist John McLaughlin with virtuoso traditional Indian musicians, the band opened the doors for others to expand their musical appreciation beyond Western music. 50 years later, as guitarist McLaughlin reunites with tabla player Zakir Hussain to take Shakti on another world tour, the group stopped by for a magically inspiring performance behind the Tiny Desk. “Shrini’s Dream” sets the stage with both melodic and rhythm instruments, before vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist [See More…]

Sheldon Pearce | October 25, 2023 Before Nile Rodgers & CHIC set the Tiny Desk off, the icon established a sort of mission statement for the group’s sound: “If we can funk in this, you know we can funk.” They surely can. In stints since 1972, CHIC has assured its position as funk ambassadors — a position its members clearly relish — and no space is resistant to their grooves. When Rodgers asks singer Kimberly Davis to show the audience “how we do it in the CHIC organization,” she launches into high-powered vocals that vaporize every note. And when he [See More…]

Anamaria Sayre | October 20, 2023 Maluma, baby. Literally. The Colombian superestrella’s debonair smile and mesmerizing vocals were as captivating as ever during his El Tiny performance, yet nothing could draw the spotlight away from the three little words proclaimed boldly across his chest: “Papa de Paris.” Of all the titles Maluma has donned — Don Juan, Papi Juancho — none have ever been worn with more pride. Maluma on becoming a new dad and using music to defy stereotypes about Colombia “Esa cancion … se la compuse a alguien y es bien bonito tenerlas aquí,” the singer said in [See More…]

This Latinx Heritage Month Tiny Desk is celebrating with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover, featuring a wide array of artists from all corners of Latinidad. Felix Contreras | October 13, 2023 The Tiny Desk had a considerable pop sheen when vocalist Becky G took her place alongside a backing band featuring a string quartet. The stripped down sound of some of her biggest hits offered a rare view of her artistry. “BAILÉ CON MI EX” is the perfect example of an unforgettable hook. It had the NPR staff audience bopping in place for what she described as a “warm up” for [See More…]

This Latinx Heritage Month Tiny Desk is celebrating with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover, featuring a wide array of artists from all corners of Latinidad. Stefanie Fernández | October 11, 2023 “La gente tiene la patita del conejo / y yo tengo a Benito completo,” Ivy Queen quips, lighting a candle featuring Bad Bunny at an El Tiny altar to reggaeton (“People have the rabbit’s foot / I have all of Benito.”) Even her jokes flow. Thanks to far more than luck, “La Caballota” has carried and passed the torch since the ’90s with an ironclad sense of self and unwavering [See More…]

Marissa Lorusso | October 10, 2023 Any good singer who gives half a thought to the health of her instrument knows that hydration is crucial for functioning vocal cords. But when Caroline Polachek — whose left-of-center pop music makes great use of her mellifluous voice — stops for a water break in the middle of her Tiny Desk concert, she doesn’t pull out some crappy plastic bottle. No, she drinks from a chalice. That seems like precisely the right vibe for a performance by Polachek. Her songs are filled with vivid, extravagant imagery — headless angels, smoke floating over volcanoes, [See More…]

This Latinx Heritage Month Tiny Desk is celebrating with an ‘El Tiny’ takeover, featuring a wide array of artists from all corners of Latinidad. October 6, 2023 | Isabella Gomez Sarmiento Villano Antillano kicked off her Tiny Desk Concert with a Britney Spears-approved message: Dump. Him. “Yo Tengo un Novio,” off the Puerto Rican rapper’s debut LP, La Sustancia X, called out the toxic, controlling expectations of one of her ex-jevos. Through her sharp Caribbean flow, Antillano broke down the confines of monogamy in her first song before casting light on drug use and escapism as a means of queer [See More…]