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Chucho Valdés delivered a captivating solo performance at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, where he showcased his profound mastery and improvisational skills on the piano. He kicked off with the classic 1978 “Mambo Influenciado,” in which he juxtaposed traditional Cuban piano rhythms on one hand with more progressive melodies in the other in six unpredictable minutes.
“This work that I’m going to perform, it doesn’t exist,” he told the crowd in attendance at NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. “I am going to improvise something and when I finish, it will be a [new] song. I want to do it like that, spontaneous, natural, I don’t want to plan.” He appropriately called the song “Impromptu Desk.” This rare appearance by the virtuoso offered an intimate glimpse into his expansive musical journey and ongoing influence.
His 20-minute performance also included “Ponle la Clave,” translating to “add the clave,” a traditional percussion instrument that’s popular in his native country. “Generally, Cuban music — four by four, six by eight, the measures — are not simple ones. Many years ago, it occurred to me to make a symmetrical theme, to see how to put the clave in a seven … I composed this song when I was very young, in the ’60s,” he added.
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At 82 years old, Valdés, whose career spans six decades, continues to blend jazz, classical and Cuban musical traditions into breathtaking improvisations. On Aug. 30, he will release a new album called Cuba & Beyond.
Throughout his prolific career, the Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning artist has landed on multiple Billboard charts, including 2010’s El Último Trago at No. 8 on Latin Pop Albums and No. 40 on Top Latin Albums, and earned a total of eight entries on the Jazz Albums chart.
He is scheduled to headline the 20th annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival on Sept. 7.
Watch Valdés’ “Tiny Desk” performance below:
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Spuds of the world unite! Everyone’s favorite devolution merchants, Devo, popped in to NPR’s Tiny Desk studio recently for a raucous four-song set for the public radio series that featured one obscure track they hadn’t performed live in more than four decades.
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With founding singer/keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh leading the charge alongside brother and longtime guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh and original bassist Gerald Casale, the group bounded out of the gate with the bluesy, bouncing rarity “It Takes a Worried Man.” The song — inspired by the folk/roots classic “Worried Man Blues” — was originally recorded for the little-seen 1982 nuclear panic comedy Human Highway, which was directed by Neil Young, who also co-starred alongside Dean Stockwell, co-writer Dennis Hopper and Devo, who played radioactive waste garbage men in orange outfits and hard hats accented by plastic tubes that snaked down into the band member’s noses.
In addition to Mothersbaugh’s sermon-like breakdown about how everyone is just going for that “big ice cream cone in the sky,” the song featured a wiggy keyboard solo from the frontman, who ,alas, was not wearing the band’s signature yellow flower bucket hat.
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“Wasn’t that uplifting?” said Casale. “See? De-evolution isn’t depressing.” The band then dipped into 1979’s twitchy “Blockhead” from their second studio album, Duty Now For the Future. “Never tips over/ Stands up on his own/ He is a blockhead/ Thinking man full grown/ He comes well-prepared,” Mothersbaugh bellowed in the song about the titular, boring character who he also describes as a “Cube top/ Squared off/ Eight corners/ 90 degree angles/ Flat top” kind of guy.
Joking that he was looking to get spiritual, Casale then set up the buzzing, frenetic surf punk burner “Praying Hands,” which appeared on Devo’s iconic 1978 debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Shouting the lyrics through a megaphone, Mothersbaugh yelped, “You got your left hand/ You got your right hand/ You got your left hand/ You got your right hand/ While the left hand diddling/ While the right hand goes to work.”
Mothersbaugh, 74, wasn’t content to just blast his hand jive from behind the desk, so he went into the audience to ask NPR staffers what their hands were doing at that very moment before dropping to his knees and putting on a sailor’s cap he’d found in the NPR closet earlier. After rummaging around in the Tiny Desk closet to find some alternate headgear for the 17-minute show, Devo ended the set with another song from their debut, the galloping, herky jerky “Come Back Jonee.” During that one, Mothersbaugh swiped through a series of other hats he pilfered from the public radio storeroom, but, alas, none of them in the shape of the band’s iconic yellow bucket chapeaus.
Devo, who celebrated 50 years of devolution last year, will play the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, CA on Sept. 24.
Watch Devo’s NPR Tiny Desk show below.
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Kehlani‘s been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. After easing the audience in with the smooth R&B of “Nights Like This” from their 2019 mixtape While We Wait, the Oakland-bred vocalist — backed by a full live band and three back-up singers — told the public radio audience crammed in around her […]
In the midst of promoting her sophomore set GRASA, Nathy Peluso visited the NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. for an intimate Tiny Desk performance.
“We’re fulfilling another dream today with these wonderful people by my side,” Peluso, wearing an oversized black tee and rocking her long, straight hair, said. “Thank you everyone for coming. We’re going to start with a magical song that’s been with me since I wrote it. Enjoy, have fun!”
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The nearly 19-minute set kicked off with “Buenos Aires,” the 2020 R&B-tinged tune that ultimately put Peluso on the map and was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Joined by eight musicians and two vocalists, Peluso delivered a powerful performance that captured her hard-hitting rap bars and effortless vocals, all while sending messages of self-love and empowerment as heard in the following tracks “Aprender a Amar” and “Legendario.”
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“My new album has gems from the heart, from deep within, from love, for you that I made with that desire to make you emotional,” she expressed. “In the end, that’s what it’s all about.”
One of those gems is “Envidia,” a song that she performed accompanied only by a piano, and that narrates the story of a woman who hustles, follows her dreams, and ignores all negative comments. It’s a song for those who know how to win in life. Peluso then wrapped her set with the funk-jazzy “Remedio.” “Thank you, we feel blessed. May you be happy, listen to ‘Grasa,’ and long live music!” she signed off.
Earlier this year, the Argentine-born, Spanish-raised singer-songwriter opened up to Billboard about her new album, which can easily be reflected in her Tiny Desk performance.
“There is a very important message in the album which is ‘Aprender a Amarse’ (learn to love yourself), which is something we all deserve, because at the end of the day, you have to be your best friend and best companion,” she noted. “For that, you have to be brave and face things that are very difficult. [I wanted to] shed a little light and energy so that people who maybe don’t find that strength in their daily lives, maybe they can put on some music on and feel encouraged. Because music has saved me many times.”
Watch Peluso’s “Tiny Desk” performance below:
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Justin Timberlake has been rocking a series of small club and theater stages in the run-up to Friday’s (March 15) release of his sixth solo studio album, Everything I Thought It Was. But on release day, Timberlake and his Tennessee Kids backing band really went micro for a (pre-taped) visit to NPR’s “Tiny Desk” studios for a 25-minute, 7-song set that was heavy on fan favorites while also sneaking in one recent new single.
And though NPR said JT’s expansive live band was not the biggest collection of musicians to squeeze into the Tiny Desk cubicle performance space, the Kids’ 15 members were definitely cheek-to-jowl as they blasted off with the swinging “Señorita,” the first of two songs from the singer’s 2002 debut solo album, Justified.
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With Justin posted up at a keyboard playing conductor, he led the Kids through the song’s Latin-pop groove, complete with soulful backing vocals, a four-part horn section and an equal compliment of back-up singers. They crew seamlessly rolled into the roller boogie jam “Rock Your Body,” briefly turning the public radio office into a daytime disco.
The set list then pivoted to the slinky “Pusher Love Girl” from 2013’s The 20/20 Experience, before bringing things down to a low R&B rumble for the wah-wah-fied “Until the End of Time” from the singer’s second studio album, 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds. With hardly any time to chat the NPR staffer audience up due to the packed nature of the set, JT kept things moving along after a sip of tea, a big “whoo! it’s early” exhale and a thank you to the assembled crowd.
“We’ve been out on the road a little bit,” Timberlake said while strapping on a guitar. “I forget how many of us there are… y’all really lived up to the name ‘Tiny Desk,’” likening the logistics of cramming in the crew to a game of Tetris, while suggesting NPR might want to upgrade to larger, or more, desks.
The band broke into a hushed, acoustic version of the only track they played from EITIW, the previously released single “Selfish” and keeping things on the mellow tip for a meditative, flute-forward version of Timberlake’s 2006 single “What Goes Around… Comes Around.” The set ended with another FutureSex smash, the body movin’ “SexyBack,” which immediately bumped up the energy in the room 10 notches as Justin busted out a mini-bullhorn that gave his typically smooth vocals a staticky edge.
The Tiny Desk drop came just days after JT thrilled an L.A. audience with a surprise *NSYNC reunion that found the beloved boy band running through a few of their most beloved hits.
Watch Timberlake’s Tiny Desk show below.
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It’s probably safe to say that the NPR Tiny Desk series hasn’t seen this much pop joy and pain mixed with so many four-letter words before. Olivia Rodrigo stopped by public radio’s most famous cubicle recently and after ripping through “Love is Embarrassing” from the her sophomore album, GUTS, Rodrigo recalled that her first visit […]
Lewis Capaldi took over NPR for his very own Tiny Desk Concert on Wednesday (May 17) ahead of his upcoming album release. After opening with a special version of “Before You Go” with a full band (“That was OK! It went well!” he opined), the Scottish singer-songwriter joked that he “thought the desk was gonna […]
Karol G stopped by NPR’s headquarters for her second “Tiny Desk Concert,” which premiered Monday (May 15). The 17-minute acoustic performance, where she was accompanied by an all-girl music ensemble, included new versions of four tracks from her Billboard history-making album Mañana Será Bonito. She kicked it off the mini-set with the ultra-personal “Carolina.” “I […]
NPR’s eternally delightful Tiny Desk Concert rarely hosts electronic artists, but Fred again.. has become an exception to the rule with his new performance from behind the Desk.
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Translating his hits including “Kyle (I Found You)” and “Delilah (Pull Me Out of This)” to the format, Fred delivered a tight, often very pretty, characteristically emotive performance for which he taught himself to play the marimba, made a few live loops and generally tweaked his typical performance style to make it all work.
“I spent weeks practicing this and learning instruments I hadn’t played for years to try and make this as special as I possibly could,” the artist born Fred Gibson said in a press release. “EVVERRRYYYY thing you hear in this I play totally live. And there are some sounds I really couldn’t believe we were able to make like this.”
Fred does some singing himself, also teleporting collaborators into the room via a smaller version of the iPhone shaped screen used in his live shows.
“When Fred again.. first proposed a Tiny Desk concert, it wasn’t immediately clear how he was going to make it work — not because he lacked creativity, but because translating purely electronic music at the Desk is a daunting task for anyone,” Tiny Desk staffer Teresa Xie writes in the video’s caption. “How would an artist, whose performances take the form of DJ sets in front of massive audiences, curate an intimate and unique experience?
“But what the British songwriter and producer came up with is a reminder of what a Tiny Desk is at its best: an opportunity for artists to challenge themselves in such a way that it almost feels like they’re making new music, all while sticking to what feels true to them,” Xie continues. “For Fred again.. that meant re-learning the marimba, playing the vibraphone, singing at the piano and looping sounds and beats — all at the same time.”
Watch Fred again..’s Tiny Desk concert below:
Friday is going to be a big day for BTS ARMY. RM‘s debut solo album, Indigo, is dropping at midnight, but that’s not all: The BTS rapper also has an NPR Tiny Desk concert in support of the album coming out just hours after its release.
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NPR announced the news via Twitter on Thursday (Dec. 1), sharing all the details that ARMY needs to tune in. “RM at the Tiny Desk Tomorrow. 12/2 7 p.m. KST | 5 a.m. ET #RM #Indigo #RMatNPRTinyDesk #tinydesk @bts_bighit,” NPR captioned a photo of the famous desk space, with shelves featuring ARMY purple letters that read “BTS NPR RM.”
In addition to the album’s release, the video for Indigo’s lead single “Wild Flower” — which features South Korean rock singer youjeen — is also scheduled to arrive first thing Friday. Though RM revealed the album’s track list late last month, the sonic vibe of the project has been kept mostly under wraps. On Nov. 22, RM teased the album’s themes in a preview video that read, “Record of RM: Indigo. From the colors of nature, human, etc. Documentation of my youth in the moment of independent phase. Sun-bleached record faded like old jeans. The last archive of my twenties.”
Indigo will be RM’s first full-length solo album. The rapper was the first of the BTS members to share solo material, dropping a self-titled mixtape in 2015, which contained the singles “Do You,” “Awakening” and “Joke.” RM then released a second mixtape in 2018 titled Mono. “Forever Rain” was released as the only single from the latter body of work; the set debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200.
See NPR’s announcement below.
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