Concerts – Bandwidth

RDGLDGRN: Tiny Desk Concert

Suraya Mohamed — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 09:00:00 +0000

How do you pronounce RDGLDGRN? Easy, it’s just Red Gold Green. Clean and simple, no vowels, no fluff — just like the band’s music. Listen and you’ll hear a striking mix of rock, hip-hop, funk, go-go and international sounds, fused with energy and humor.

RDGLDGRN is based in the D.C. suburb of Reston, Va. Local music fans know the band well, and have enjoyed watching it win fans across the country and around the world. A few years ago, I heard its first album (Red, Gold, Green) and fell in love with RDGLDGRN’s style. It’s not only because Dave Grohl played drums in most of the songs, while Pharrell Williams cowrote and co-produced “Doing The Most.” I loved the group’s fresh sound, and how its members rapped over the top of real drums. Their catchy hooks and harmonies quickly grabbed my attention.

When planning for RDGLDGRN’s Tiny Desk show, many details were up for consideration: time, date, technical arrangements, and so on. Of biggest concern, though, was how the group would fit into the scaled-down setting of our space. If you go to a RDGLDGRN show, you’ll see a traditional stage set-up with a full complement of instruments. In the venue, you can hear and feel the excitement of a full-blown band and a full drum set; heads bob, hands wave, bodies move, and you don’t find a single person in the audience standing still. It wouldn’t be easy to contain the energy in such a small space.

The colors in the band’s name represent RDGLDGRN’s members: Red (Marcus Parham), Green (Pierre Desrosiers) and Gold (Andrei Busuioceanu), who wear their respective colors all the time, even when offstage or away from the camera. In light of their recent experimentation with Brazilian-style percussion over acoustic versions of their songs, they decided that an all-acoustic set infused with Brazilian vibes would make for the perfect Tiny Desk concert. After performing “Karnival,” the group’s latest single, RDGLDGRN treated us to unplugged versions of a handful of its best-known songs.

“Karnival” is available now (iTunes) (Amazon).

Set List

“Karnival”
“Chop U Down”
“Doing The Most”
“No Pixar” (Freestyle)

Credits

Producers: Suraya Mohamed, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Morgan McCloy; Production Assistant: Anna Marketti; Photo: NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

First Listen Live: Drive-By Truckers, ‘American Band’

Jerad Walker — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 15:04:00 +0000

In this concert, filmed at OPB in Portland, Ore., the long-running rock band Drive-By Truckers performs its timely and politically charged new record, American Band, in its entirety.

Over the course of a set that includes all 11 of the record’s songs, the group tackles social and political issues with firebrand zeal. Racism, immigration, gun violence, hate symbols and censorship all get their turn in the crosshairs of the band, fronted by Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. But the record isn’t driven by unfocused anger: It’s a poignant take on what it means to be an American in a time when uncertainty and fear are omnipresent. As Hood says, he hopes to “turn on that light in the basement and see what’s scampering so we can figure out what we’re dealing with.”

Watch the full concert via VuHaus and listen to an interview with Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley at opbmusic.

Drive-By Truckers is on tour now.

Set List

“Ramon Casiano”
“Darkened Flags On The Cusp Of Dawn”
“Surrender Under Protest”
“Guns Of Umpqua”
“Filthy And Fried”
“Sun Don’t Shine”
“Kinky Hypocrite”
“Ever South”
“What It Means”
“Once They Banned Imagine”
“Baggage”

Credits

Audio Recording & Mix: Steven Kray, David Barbe; Lighting Design: Matt Rosvold; Scenery: Joseph Paulekas; Editor: Jarratt Taylor; Videographers: Sam Smith, Nate Sjol, Jarratt Taylor, Andrew Barrick; Executive Producer: David Christensen; Senior Vice-President/Content: Morgan Holm.

Common: Tiny Desk Concert At The White House

Bob Boilen — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 11:58:00 +0000

We’ve never done a Tiny Desk Concert that wasn’t behind my desk at NPR. But when the White House called and said they were putting on an event called South by South Lawn, a day-long festival filled with innovators and creators from the worlds of technology and art, including music, we jumped at the chance to get involved. We chose Common as the performer and the White House library as the space.

This Tiny Desk Concert was a convergence of art and soul, mixing politics with heart. Common’s choice of songs dealt with incarceration as the new slavery, imagined a time where women rule the world and honored the man he looked up to all his life, his father. For this occasion Common put together a special six-piece band of close friends that includes the great Robert Glasper, with his eloquent and delicate touch, on keyboards and Derrick Hodge, whose music spans from hip-hop to folk and has made a big imprint on the world of jazz, on bass. Common also asked his longtime friend and collaborator Bilal to sing on two songs. The performance includes three brand new songs, along with one classic, “I Used To Love H.E.R.”

Common was born on Chicago’s South Side and grew up in President Obama’s city. His rap career began in the early 1990s, back when he was known as Common Sense, and he’s always taken on big ideas without easy answers in his songs, from abortion to social justice to the legacy of hip-hop itself. 25 years later, morality and responsibility continue to play significant roles in his songs. In 2015, he won an Academy Award alongside the singer John Legend for their song “Glory” from the movie Selma.

Common told us that he’d been invited to the White House many times before, including by Michelle Obama for a poetry reading back in 2011, but he was thrilled by the prospect of performing his music during Barack Obama’s final months as president. One look at this Tiny Desk Concert and you’ll see that thrill on his face and hear it throughout this magnificent performance on this very special day.

Common will release his 11th studio album, Black America Again, in November.

Set List

“I Used To Love H.E.R.”
“Letter To The Free”
“The Day The Women Took Over”
“Little Chicago Boy”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Abby O’Neill, Niki Walker; Directors: Mito Habe-Evans, Niki Walker; Audio Engineers: Josh Rogosin, Kevin Wait; Videographers: Niki Walker, Mito Habe-Evans, Nick Michael, Cameron Robert, Nikki Boliaux; Animator: CJ Riculan; Supervising Producer: Jessica Goldstein; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann; Photo: Becky Harlan/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Palehound: Tiny Desk Concert

Stephen Thompson — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Last fall in New York City, NPR Music recorded a blistering concert by Palehound, in which singer, songwriter and guitarist Ellen Kempner presided over a string of tense and evocative songs about overcoming doubt and, when necessary, spitting venom. A few months ago, we jumped at the opportunity to capture Kempner’s band in a quieter and more contained setting, in which Palehound could perform amid the pin-drop silence of a rapt and brightly daylit crowd.

The results — three spare, nervy renditions of songs from 2015’s Dry Food — are, naturally, a bit rawer and more exposed than Palehound’s earlier show in New York. But, with the aid of drummer Jesse Weiss and bassist Davood Khoshtinat, Kempner uses that intimacy to her advantage. She may have paused to show off a bit of glittery flair on her guitar (courtesy of her former tourmates in PWR BTTM), but her set felt unadorned in every other way.

Dry Food is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

“Pet Carrot”
“Dry Food”
“Dixie”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineers: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Wilco: Tiny Desk Concert

Bob Boilen — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Thousands of bands have made strong debuts, and many of those have made good second and third records — it’s harder, but not unusual. It’s truly rare to make your 10th album exciting and relevant more than 20 years on. For all that, I’d say Wilco is an American legend.

Though Wilco is basically a conventional rock band in form — guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, one lead songwriter — it defies expectations in so many other ways. In 2001, the group put an entire new album (the instant classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) online for all to hear; it’s one thing to do that in 2015, as Wilco did with Star Wars, but it was virtually unheard-of in 2001.

This is a deeply imaginative band, with evocative imagery and relatable storytelling; drummer Glenn Kotche is one of the best around, while Nels Cline‘s crazy, textured guitar layers add adventure to everything he touches. I could go on, but let’s just say that breaking my rule of never bringing a band back to the Tiny Desk — Wilco performed here back in 2011 — was easy once I heard Star Wars.

Wilco opened this set with “The Joke Explained” from that album, but then dug deep into its catalog, performing 1996’s “Misunderstood” and two songs from the 1999 pop masterpiece Summerteeth. I’m thinking we make a date: When Wilco turns 25 in a few years, let’s break more rules and bring back their magic once more.

Star Wars is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

“The Joke Explained”
“Misunderstood”
“I’m Always In Love”
“Shot In The Arm”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame, Becky Lettenberger; Production Assistant: Ben de la Cruz; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Chelsea Wolfe: Tiny Desk Concert

Lars Gotrich — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:00:00 +0000

On last year’s Abyss, Chelsea Wolfe explicitly rendered the metallic tendencies that have always existed just below the surface of her music. Wolfe’s soulful howl found its bite in gigantic riffs and devastating volume that suited some of her most significant songwriting yet. But at the Tiny Desk, Wolfe took her songs back to their primal form with just her voice, a muffled electric guitar and a loop pedal.

Removed from thunderous distortion, the ghostly “Maw” becomes a nightmare in broad daylight, as Wolfe details “shattered teeth under a dripping tongue” just waiting “in this silence while you’re sleeping.” “Crazy Love,” a love song that’s dangerous in its desperation, sounds no less chilling. But it’s “Iron Moon,” inspired by the poetry of a Chinese factory worker who took his own life, that’s the most stripped of its metal. Wolfe’s guitar sounds muddy and dank as she sings, “My heart is an empty tomb / My heart is an empty room,” recalling the lonesome wail of Kitty Wells shot through the darkness.

Abyss is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

“Maw”
“Crazy Love”
“Iron Moon”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Walker, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Ariel Zambelich; Production Assistant: Rachel Horn; Photo: Ariel Zambelich/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Shakey Graves: Tiny Desk Concert

Bob Boilen — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 14:57:00 +0000

When Alejandro Rose-Garcia, aka Shakey Graves, breaks out his guitar and suitcase kick drum/hi-hat, a palpable rush of swooning adrenaline hits the room. I felt that at the Americana Festival in Nashville, at the Newport Folk Festival and here at the Tiny Desk.

The Texas singer’s charisma is matched by his warm, sometimes frenetic music — he attempted a stage dive at the Tiny Desk — which mixes country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll. If you don’t know Shakey Graves’ music, the best way to fall in love with him is in a live setting like this one.

And the War Came is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

“To Cure What Ails”
“The Perfect Parts”
“Only Son”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Julia Reihs; Production Assistant: Kate Drozynski; Photo by Julia Reihs/NPR

For more Tiny Desk Concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Oh Pep!: Tiny Desk Concert

Bob Boilen — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:13:47 +0000

I’ve seen Oh Pep! four times in three cities in the past month, and needless to say, the Melbourne band’s music is infectious. Oh Pep gets its Oh from Olivia Hally (vocals, guitar) and its Pep! from Pepita Emmerichs (violin, mandolin). These Australians fit well in Nashville during an Americana music festival, as they played fiddles and mandolins alongside guitars, bass and drums. Their harmonies are sweet, with lyrics that are thoughtful, deep, funny and poetic.

Hally and Emmerichs told me they used to sit in their bedrooms back home watching Tiny Desk Concerts, so this day at NPR was a bit surreal for them, as they’d already traveled thousands of miles. Thankfully, Oh Pep!’s performance harnessed that surreality for a performance filled with magic.

Living is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

“The Race”
“Doctor Doctor”
“Tea, Milk & Honey”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Julia Reihs; Production Assistant: Kate Drozynski; photo by Jun Tsuboike/NPR

For more Tiny Desk Concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

Kacey Musgraves: Tiny Desk Concert

Stephen Thompson — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 10:11:00 +0000

Given the timing of Kacey Musgraves‘ appearance in the NPR offices — the Supreme Court had legalized gay marriage across America mere hours earlier — it was inevitable that the singer would trot out “Follow Your Arrow,” the most anthemic go-your-own-way jam on Musgraves’ 2013 debut album, Same Trailer Different Park. In fact, NPR Music has already published her performance of that song, which closes this Tiny Desk Concert.

But Musgraves also kicked off her set by showcasing four songs from the new Pageant Material. That album, her second, has its own share of anthemic odes to individuality — including the title track, which Musgraves performed at the Tiny Desk. But she also took the time to showcase some of Pageant Material‘s subtler material: “High Time” and the gorgeous ballad “Late for the Party” both sway sweetly in the hands of the singer and her impeccably dressed band.

At the end of it all, of course, comes “Follow Your Arrow,” punctuated by all the crowd participation you’d expect from a song with “Make lots of noise” in its chorus. Musgraves made a point of showcasing her gentler side in this Tiny Desk Concert, but as it so often does, rowdiness prevailed in the end.

Set List

“High Time”
“Family Is Family”
“Late To The Party”
“Pageant Material”
“Follow Your Arrow”

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Walker; Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Colin Marshall, Lani Milton; Assistant Producer: Elena Saavedra Buckley; photo by Lydia Thompson/NPR

Terence Blanchard Feat. The E-Collective: Tiny Desk Concert

Patrick Jarenwattananon — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:40:00 +0000

When he started to make the music that appears on his new album, trumpeter Terence Blanchard wasn’t thinking of Eric Garner, Michael Brown or any of the other recent high-profile police killings of African-Americans. He was thinking of desired collaborators: Donald Ramsey, a bassist and high-school classmate; Oscar Seaton, a drummer with whom he’d worked on film projects; Fabian Almazan, the pianist of his other band; and Charles Altura, a guitarist he’d encountered online. And he was thinking about a sound different from the left-center jazz quintet he leads: something overtly funky, with electric bass and guitar and processing and human voices and dance grooves.

As the E-Collective came together — both as a band and in terms of its repertoire — it took on another guiding light. Blanchard, no stranger to political statements, saw the music as an opportunity to speak out on current events he was unable to ignore, especially as a black man. The eventual recording came to be a commentary on the treatment of minorities by American law enforcement, in the vein of the #blacklivesmatter movement. The album’s title references Eric Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe”; it’s called Breathless.

The heavy and the party recently came together for a week-long run at a jazz club in D.C., though the mood was much more on the party side when the E-Collective stopped at NPR headquarters. The mood was relaxed and jovial from the time the group stepped into the lobby, with Englishman Chris Bailey supplying plenty of backbeats on our house drum set — though there was a moment toward the end of the set when Blanchard casually explained the project, setting up a lyrical, almost elegiac solo. This music was a modern update on jazz fusion, sure, but also one where we dance to ward off despair.

Set List

“Soldiers”
“Confident Selflessness”
“Breathless”

Credits

Producers: Patrick Jarenwattananon, Morgan Walker; Audio Engineer: Brian Jarboe; Videographers: Morgan Walker, Adam Wolffbrandt, Lani Milton; Assistant Producer: Elena Saavedra Buckley; photo by Lani Milton/NPR