NPR Tiny Desk Concerts: Season 2013
Season 6 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of NPR Tiny Desk Concerts Season 5.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 6 Progress Shield
Lucius
Jan 7, 2013
One minute, Lucius sounds like a '60s girl group; the next might conjure images of Emmylou Harris.
Black Prairie
Jan 14, 2013
With members of The Decemberists, the band lends a snappy, lilting quality to songs of alienation.
Of Montreal
Jan 28, 2013
Frontman Kevin Barnes uses the intimacy of the NPR Music offices to try out some quiet new material.
Cantus
Feb 4, 2013
The a cappella ensemble sings widely divergent songs from American, European and Sufi traditions.
The xx
Feb 11, 2013
In The xx's songs, all the calm chilliness in the world can't quite contain an exposed heart.
Night Beds
Feb 18, 2013
Winston Yellen's arresting voice propels a lighthearted but deeply affecting set at the NPR office.
Mary Halvorson Quintet
Feb 25, 2013
The guitarist brings a decidedly non-standard approach to jazz's standard practices.
The Lone Bellow
Mar 4, 2013
The fast-rising Brooklyn trio sings beautiful, heartfelt, impeccably harmonized folk-pop songs.
Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
Mar 11, 2013
Watch one of the best fiddlers on the planet and a subtle guitar master work their magic.
Efterklang
Apr 8, 2013
The Danish band ransacks the NPR Music offices looking for sound-making material and new ideas.
Yo La Tengo
Apr 15, 2013
To coincide with the release of the band's 13th album, Fade, Yo La Tengo performs an acoustic set.
Omar Sosa & Paolo Fresu
Apr 22, 2013
The duo's quietly energetic performance hangs over the the NPR Music offices like a soft mist.
Father Figures
Apr 29, 2013
Zany, brainy and danceable, these guys' music mixes rock and jazz like King Crimson at its fiercest.
Nicola Benedetti
May 6, 2013
Watch the violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet, soulful tendrils of sound.
Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale
May 13, 2013
The veteran country players mix corny humor, musical merrymaking and timeless vocal harmonies.
Mohammad Reza Shajarian
May 20, 2013
The 73-year-old Iranian icon unleashes torrents of swooping, soaring sound that elicit goosebumps.
Imani Winds
May 29, 2013
Imani Winds' members shrink Igor Stravinsky down to size in a quintet take on The Rite of Spring.
OK Go
Jun 3, 2013
OK Go helps us transport the Tiny Desk from NPR Music's old headquarters to our new facility.
The National
Jun 10, 2013
Watch the band perform acoustic arrangements of four songs from its new album, Trouble Will Find Me.
NO BS! Brass Band
Jun 15, 2013
An 11-piece brass band turns up the funk and flies the flag high for its native Richmond, Va.
Billy Bragg
Jun 17, 2013
One of the world's finest folksingers channels the spirit of Woody Guthrie at the NPR Music offices.
Patty Griffin
Jun 24, 2013
Watch the singer-songwriter and her band perform three songs from her fine new album, American Kid.
Maya Beiser
Jun 29, 2013
A brilliant cellist with a stunning command of her instrument, Beiser performs at the NPR offices.
Laura Mvula
Jul 1, 2013
The U.K. singer performs some of her most intimate material in a short set at the NPR Music offices.
Cheick Hamala Diabate
Jul 6, 2013
The Malian musician and his band craft melodies and rhythms that cut across age and ethnicity.
Skinny Lister
Jul 8, 2013
The rowdy English folk-punk band brings its barely controlled mayhem to the NPR Music offices.
Frank Turner
Jul 13, 2013
Two men with unplugged instruments convey the bawdy rowdiness of a full band.
Alice Russell
Jul 15, 2013
When the British singer performs, her emotionally fiery music just gets hotter and grittier.
Cheyenne Mize
Jul 20, 2013
The singer, instrumentalist and music therapist plays slinky, forceful songs at NPR Music.
Guards
Jul 22, 2013
Hear three sturdy pop songs from In Guards We Trust, performed live at the NPR Music offices.
Time For Three
Jul 27, 2013
Hear the "classically trained garage band" perform with staggering technique and contagious energy.
Dana Falconberry
Jul 29, 2013
Watch Falconberry and five bandmates perform three delicate songs from her recent album Leelanau.
Keaton Henson
Aug 3, 2013 · 14 min
Henson's voice is so fragile and hushed, if you were 10 feet away from him you'd barely hear a peep.
Jim Guthrie
Aug 10, 2013
Guthrie and his band drove 18 hours round-trip from Ontario to perform three songs for NPR Music.
Alpine
Aug 12, 2013
The Australian sextet crafts busily impeccable, harmony-intensive pop music with a danceable sway.
Mother Falcon
Aug 17, 2013
The 17-member chamber-rock collective uses its size in the service of great, snappy, stirring songs.
The Front Bottoms
Aug 19, 2013
The community that's formed around The Front Bottoms speaks to the band's passion and compassion.
Buika
Aug 26, 2013
Concha Buika's voice comes from Africa and the past. Watch her perform in the NPR Music offices.
Steve Gunn
Aug 31, 2013
Watch Gunn's trio perform a set of hypnotic long-form jams that are perfect for taking it easy.
Baths
Sep 4, 2013
Watch Baths' Will Wiesenfeld perform mysterious, textured electronic music in the NPR offices.
Bombino
Sep 7, 2013
For our 300th Tiny Desk Concert, we showcase a Tuareg guitarist's fierce, hypnotic, alluring jams.
The 1975
Sep 10, 2013
Performing solo, singer Matthew Healy doesn't hesitate to transform both his songs and himself.
Arturo O'Farrill
Sep 14, 2013
With an eye on both the past and the future, O'Farrill has jazz and Afro-Cuban music in his DNA.
Shovels & Rope
Sep 16, 2013
The husband-and-wife duo mixes rowdy folk-rock and rootsy ballads, with the help of a canine friend.
The Cristina Pato Trio
Sep 21, 2013
A Galician bagpiper and her trio take Celtic sounds in an entirely wild and wonderful direction.
Hem
Sep 28, 2013
Hem makes a homey, fireside kind of music, with songs that feel as if they've always been there.
Oliver 'Tuku' Mtukudzi
Sep 30, 2013
The Zimbabwean legend performs songs from the mournful but celebratory Sarawoga for NPR Music.
Lawrence Brownlee
Oct 5, 2013
The operatic tenor, acclaimed for his Rossini, circles back to his roots as a singer of spirituals.
Superchunk
Oct 7, 2013
Watch the venerable band translate its electric sound to acoustic instruments in an intimate way.
Valerie June
Oct 12, 2013
Short of seeing her live and in person, this is the best way to encounter June's heartfelt sound.
Okkervil River
Oct 15, 2013
The band performs three songs from a record inspired by the childhood of singer Will Sheff.
Matt Ulery's Loom
Oct 19, 2013
The bassist composes beautiful, unpretentious music for an unusual jazz band with accordion.
Daughter
Oct 21, 2013
Pretty and melancholy, the Londoners' music conjures a perfect mix of gloom, desire and hostility.
Typhoon
Oct 26, 2013
The dozen members of this Portland, Ore. band crammed behind the Tiny Desk for a transcendent set.
San Fermin
Oct 28, 2013
The orchestral folk-pop band's little song-worlds burst with ambition, talent and extreme joy.
Neko Case
Oct 31, 2013
Watch a Halloween Tiny Desk Concert in which Case performs with Kelly Hogan and Eric Bachmann.
Ashley Monroe
Nov 3, 2013
This three-song set in the NPR Music offices captures a nice cross-section of Monroe's appeal.
Gary Burton
Nov 9, 2013
The jazz vibraphone pioneer is 70 now, but that hasn't slowed his flying four-mallet technique.
Debashish Bhattacharya
Nov 12, 2013
Bhattacharya draws on North Indian classical music, but blues also pours out of his stunning work.
John Legend
Nov 16, 2013
The soul singer retains the easygoing grace of a performer fit for any stage — even a tiny one.
Waxahatchee
Nov 23, 2013
This is Katie Crutchfield as Waxahatchee, playing intimate music for an intimate setting.
Kronos Quartet
Nov 25, 2013
The intrepid champions of new music bring a lullaby, rare blues and a work by Bryce Dessner to NPR.
The Dismemberment Plan
Dec 2, 2013
The band exudes playfulness and wry charm throughout these three songs from Uncanney Valley.
Sarah Jarosz
Dec 7, 2013
Jarosz and her small backing band craft a careful mix of technical proficiency and poppy warmth.
Dessa
Dec 9, 2013
The whip-smart rapper, singer, poet and songwriter performs three tracks from Parts of Speech.
Christine Salem
Dec 14, 2013
Salem sings work songs and chants from the maloya tradition on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
La Santa Cecilia
Dec 16, 2013
The video here provides just a hint of the L.A. band's dynamic live shows, albeit a spectacular one.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Dec 21, 2013
The hot and historic New Orleans band brings a tuba-wielding Santa and some original holiday cheer.