Denis Malloy & Stanley “Z” Ng – Surprise Five
The Lucky So And Sos – Costa E Sol
The Greatest Hoax – Bound Nature
Sound of the City – Waiting (Sumthin 2 Ride 2)
Redline Graffiti – Two Face
Sam Hesh – Tightrope
Ken & Brad Kolodner – Grub Springs
Dammit Eugene – Said My God
Matt Rippetoe – Revisiting
Judah – Liv’s Theme Music
Sri Rama – Beastles
Pan American Symphony Orchestra – A Tiempo
Diggs Duke – A Private Island
American Television – Sorry Sara
Suzanne Brindamour – Barnstormers Approach
Jon Miller – Toll Booth Blues
Anchor 3 – False Start
Jeff Cosgrove, Frank Kimbrough, and Martin Wind – The Owls
Sara Curtin – A Little Again
The_Acorns – X-Country Skier

Chopteeth – Weigh Your Blessings
Koshari – Into Shreds
Sligo Creek Stompers – Cuckoo’s Nest
Brian Whitmer – Kelly’s Lament
Peals – Belle Air
Young Rapids – Ugly
Five State Drive – Dry Clean Express
Teen Mom – Kitchen
Diamond District – Streets Won’t Let Me Chill
M.H. & His Orchestra – Cobblestone
Hailu Mergia and the Walias – Muziqawi Silt
The Caribbean – Echopraxia
Sara Curtin – A Little Again
Louis Weeks – Calder
GroundScore – Here We Are
Drop Electric – What Now, of Paradise?
Jonathan Parker – Sundown
Domingues & Kane – No. 5
Lo Fang – Invention No. 11
AXB – Quantum Chill
Wale – Love Hate Thing (Tone P Instrumental)
Elikeh – The Conversation
The Sweater Set – Lost At Sea
Warren Wolf – 427 Mass Ave

“Garden of Ghosts,” a soulful, country-tinged track from Curtin’s Michigan Lilium — out July 24 — is about a lot of things: death, rebirth and a certain Midwestern city that’s seen better days. The indie-folk artist derived the idea from a Detroit-focused episode of Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, in which the celebrity chef visits the former boom town and takes a tour of its urban decay, also known as ruin porn.

As a University of Michigan alum, Curtin paid close attention to the episode, and she perked up when Bourdain’s host pointed out a bright spot amid the abandoned buildings: gardens that bloomed despite having no caretaker. They were called ghost gardens.

One flower in particular thrived in these gardens: the Michigan Lily.

“Even when no one’s in the house, no one’s at home tending to the garden, these lilies [sprout back up],” Curtin says. “When I looked up photos of these houses, the Michigan Lily is the one that comes back every year super orange, very tall, very bright.”

“Garden of Ghosts” is both an ode to these resilient gardens without a master and a rumination on rebirth and creativity. Curtin says that’s why she chose backing vocals that felt choral and appropriate for a funeral or memorial. The effect is the opposite of a downer, though. The tune feels spiritual and meditative until it picks up at the 1:50 mark with a swinging beat.

Curtin, who also plays with folky D.C. duo The Sweater Set, recorded “Garden of Ghosts” soon after writing it, laying down the vocals and guitars in her D.C. home and adding bass and drums in Brooklyn with local musicians there.

Michigan Lilium is primarily named after that hearty Midwestern flower, but it also suits the record itself.

“[It’s] relating to that feeling of dormancy and that feeling of the seed that’s inside you,” Curtin says. “It’s going to come out, even if you’re not tending to it.”

Sara Curtin performs Aug. 6 at Rock & Roll Hotel with The North Country and Stranger in the Alps.

NPR received more than 5,000 eligible submissions to the national competition, which gives musicians a shot at performing a live concert at the radio network’s headquarters in D.C. But fewer than 60 submissions came from inside D.C.’s borders.

NPR’s data shows that more than half of entrants from this region identified as Marylanders or Virginians, many of them far outside the beltway in places like Bluemont and Clarksburg. And if you watch all 130 local submissions like I did, you’ll find that many went the coffee-shop route: a solo performance, usually involving an acoustic guitar and a tender song.

But those who took another path made a big impression. That’s why — if you asked me to judge a regional Tiny Desk competition — I’d hand the prize to D.C. hip-hop artist Kokayi.

The established producer, vocalist and rapper from Deanwood has been nominated for a Grammy. He was a member of ’90s-’00s hip-hop ensemble Opus Akoben, who had a short stint on a major label. He’s prolific — last year he challenged himself to release a new track every day — and he’s taken hip-hop to Senegal with the grant-funded DC2DK project. So it’s no surprise that Kokayi brought his A game to his Tiny Desk submission.

On a song called “The Lick,” Kokayi sings, speed-rhymes, plays the keys, chair-dances and punctuates his verses with goofy faces. NPR’s official Tiny Desk Contest rules say that stage presence and charisma make up 20 percent of the judges’ criteria. Kokayi nailed that category, all while sitting down.

As for the rest of the field, I’m finding it tough to pick a clear runner-up, so how about I just name a bunch? D.C.’s M.H. & His Orchestra, Stranger in the Alps and Virginia’s The Plank Stompers turned in dynamic performances — and brand-new local band The El-Mansouris made a strong impression for a group that hasn’t even played its first show yet (see their debut Feb. 26 at Transformer).

I also enjoyed the videos from Reston’s Space Waste (they start the song by chanting “Yoko! Ono!”), Takoma Park guitarist Angie Head, Silver Spring smooth-pop trio The Walking Sticks and D.C.’s Be Steadwell, Sara Curtin, The Sea Life, Boon and The Highballers.

Watch Kokayi’s video plus 12 handpicked runner-ups in this playlist, below. NPR announces the national Tiny Desk contest winner on Feb. 12.

Want to share this playlist? Find an embed code on YouTube.

Not that “Summer” is Curtin’s first outing with an electric guitar—she plugged in on her debut solo EP, Fly Her and Keep Her—but the stylistic shift is remarkable. To craft the slow and steady rhythms in this song, she called in help from drummer Ian Chang (of Son Lux and Landlady) and bassist Spencer Zahn (of Empress Of), then threw tambourine and synthesized drum beats to the mix.

Curtin’s velvety croon is unmistakable, but she chose a different way to exercise that instrument on this song. “With singers on the radio constantly trying to sing higher and higher and out-belt each other, I decided to take it in the opposite direction,” the musician says. “It was kind of like, ‘Hey…how low can I sing?'”

Her foray into darker and deeper melodies seemed like an opportunity to explore a moody vibe in the song’s video: She teamed up with hip-hop fusion belly dancer Ebony Qualls (who also shows up in a new video from Nu:Tone) and shot the visual amid the shadows and bare walls of director Paul Abowd’s Columbia Heights apartment. The close-ups of both Curtin’s guitar and Qualls’ smooth movements recall the “Untitled” video from D’Angelo—whom Curtin also cites as an influence for this song.

“D’Angelo has a beautiful way of continuously building an arrangement without giving the listener that moment of complete satisfaction,” Curtin says. “That’s how I wanted to build this song.”

The only thing typically summery in the “Summer” music video are the sparklers that Qualls and Curtin hold. They’re shot in slow motion, suggesting a love that’s bright and exciting, but ultimately short-lived.

Sara Curtin performs Nov. 5 at “You, Me, Them, Everybody Live” at Wonderland Ballroom.