Ken Tucker reviews the new Richard Thompson album on the show today. Above, Thompson’s Tiny Desk performance.

Kevin Whitehead on Rudresh Mahanthappa’s new album Gamak:

On his new album Gamak, Mahanthappa takes off from Indian rhythms, but also the gamakas: the specific ways classical virtuosos tailor individual notes or move between them. They might attack a pitch from just above or below, or sweep upward as it trails off, or oscillate between notes. In these original tunes, as in traditional Indian music, those deviations are essential to the feeling and not mere decoration. Mahanthappa, who’s worked with Indian classical saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, can get inside that authentic South Indian sound while turning it to his own ends.

Above, Mahanthappa’s Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music

Rufus Wainwright: Tiny Desk Concert

There’s more….

brandicarlile:

Awesome to have just done Tiny Desk! Thanks again NPR.

Ah! My tiny message to the NPR Arts Desk — “Thanks for everything. I would take you all as my ice-wives if I could” — Mel — is now on the Internet forever!

janmarika:

I visited the Tiny Desk!

Some Music For Your Morning:The Avett Brothers Tiny Desk Concert

(Source: youtube.com)

nprmusic:

One of the best party bands around, Red Baarat plays rollicking funk music steeped in Northern India’s wedding celebrations, with a dash of D.C. go-go beats and hip-hop. The dance-friendly group performs a loud, high-energy set at the NPR Music offices.

some music for your morning

Adele: Tiny Desk Concert

keithwj:

Le Butcherettes - NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Some music for your morning.

nprmusic:

Yo-Yo Ma heads a dream team of string players featuring double-bass master Edgar Meyer, mandolinist Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers) and veteran bluegrass fiddler Stuart Duncan in this performance at the NPR Music office.

Hear a lot of jokes and laughs, a broken mandolin string, a little retuning, and some terrific music that’s fun, intricately built and — thankfully — impossible to pigeonhole.

some music for your afternoon.

thedailywilco:

Click here to watch Wilco’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert!

To the tumbleton who asked…

…”where can i find the recording from the tiny desk concert” for Foster The People, it will be a while. We have A LOT of Tiny Desk concerts (sometimes two, three in a day!) so there are about 12 videos to post before that goes up on NPR.org.

But in the interim you can spend some time exploring NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts on our website.

Happy listening!

“I was sort of always under the impression that these things were done while everybody was just trying to work,” The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy says a little ways into this Tiny Desk Concert in the NPR Music offices. “I kind of like the romance of that.”

TdoubleB note: Some people DO try to work through Tiny desk concerts, but I don’t think that was the case when these folks came by recently. For at least a couple of Tiny Desks (Chuck Brown, Moby and Adele come to mind), the building almost tipped over so many folks were smashed into the workspace on the West side of NPR headquarters.

One more from the Tiny Desk Concert with Beirut (by alykat)