Favourite Tiny Desk Concert ?

windsock · 09-15-2018, 10:59 PM

Dying thread maybe but here's a bit of a resurrection.

btw seeing as this encapsulates so many artists shouldn't it be in general music?

Neapolitan · 09-16-2018, 12:26 AM

Real Estate: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

First Aid Kit: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Lisnaholic · 09-16-2018, 08:18 AM

^ Thanks to Neapolitan, I've started my Sunday morning with the gentle sound of First Aid Kit; some talented songwriting and sweet singing. Thanks. The tall girl who plays the zither looks about 12 years old - I wonder if she had permission from her parents to skip her seventh-grade class that day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by windsock

Dying thread maybe but here's a bit of a resurrection.
btw seeing as this encapsulates so many artists shouldn't it be in general music?

^ Personally, I'm always happy to see a thread resurrected, bumped, cross-referenced etc. I like the idea that topics are ruminated over and fully explored - in fact I was planning to resurrect the thread myself with some facts and figures about Tiny Desk Concerts for anyone who is interested:-

Quote:

The first Tiny Desk Concert came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson left a bar show frustrated that they couldn't hear the music over the crowd noise. Thompson joked that the musician, folk singer Laura Gibson, should just perform at Boilen's desk. A month later Boilen arranged for her to do just that, making an impromptu recording and posting it online.

As of August 2018, the series has included more than 400 concerts viewed a collective 2 billion times on YouTube. The series has sometimes drawn criticism for narrowness in the musical genres it includes—described as focused on "hipster-infused indie rock" by Zachary Crockett at Vox—to the exclusion of genres like country and hip-hop. However reviewers also say the series' musical focus has broadened in scope over time. Performer Anderson Paak's appearance on the series is Tiny Desk Concerts' most popular video with 19.17 million views (as of May 2018) surpassing (from November 2017) the previous #1 viewed video of T-Pain, seen 11.48 million times.

^ Although you have a point, windsock, that the TDCs cover more than just one genre, this passage from wikipedia fairly endorses my decision to put the thread in the indie section. If you want to read a furthur petty rant on the subject of where threads go, you are welcome to open the spoiler below:-

Spoiler for a pedantic grumble:

Neapolitan · 09-16-2018, 09:40 AM

That particular kind is called an Autoharp. More well known players are Maybelle Carter (of the Carter Family), Roy Clark, & John Sebastian. You can hear it on the 60s hit "Do You Believe in Magic" by Loving Spoonful. Gay Woods plays the Autoharp on "Fisherman's Wife" found on the Steeleye Span album Hark! The Village Wait. One of my all time favorite Psychedelic Folk albums is One Voice Many by Michaelangelo which features the autoharp throughout the album played by Angel Petersen. In fact the band is named after her autoharp she called Michaelangelo.

Lisnaholic · 09-16-2018, 10:02 AM

^ Thanks! I had a suspicion that it wasn't quite a zither, but I was too lazy to check I'm afraid. I know the Steeleye and Spoonful songs you mention, but I'm very impressed that you can talk about the instruments played, just like that, as if the info is right there in your head already.

WWWP · 09-16-2018, 01:40 PM

lazy sunday morning slow coffee sipping grooves

windsock · 09-16-2018, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

Perhaps as a newcomer there's a detail about MB that you've not noticed (or don't remotely care about

). But for me, I rather dislike the lack of balance in the music sections. This morning when I signed in, for instance, there were 103 people viewing the Gen Music section, as against 4 people viewing the Indie section. So I prefer to spread attention out across the boards when I can.

Some posters actually take the opposite approach; they put threads in the Gen Music section, either because they don't want to think about genres, or they want to get the max exposure for their thread. Today on the first page of the Gen Music board, for example, there are two threads dedicated to The Stones, and one to Captain Beefheart. These threads, imo, could be attracting interest to the Rock section of MB, instead of contributing to its depopulation.

Makes sense. Thanks for clearing up

Neapolitan · 09-16-2018, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

^ Thanks! I had a suspicion that it wasn't quite a zither, but I was too lazy to check I'm afraid. I know the Steeleye and Spoonful songs you mention, but I'm very impressed that you can talk about the instruments played, just like that, as if the info is right there in your head already.

Well, it hasn't always been there in me brains. I heard "Do You Believe in Magic" somewhere around ten thousand times before I found out John Sebastian played an autoharp for the song. Actually I found out during a infomercial for a 60s greatest hits box set. I might have been told prior to that but forgot, and it didn't really sink in till I saw the video.

I knew about Gay Woods through The Woods Band before I knew she also sang for Steeleye Span. I knew she played autoharp from the liner notes.

You might get a kick out of Courtney's lyrics. I find them humorous. I really like her lyrical style and delivery - it reminds me of someone, but I can't place who. I like her choice in guitars, she is playing a Harmony "Rocket."

Not in the indie crowd, but I'll share it anyway cause Booker T. is one of my all time favorites. He is known for playing a Hammond B3 and I think NPR did a really good job sound-wise. I think it sounds amazing.

Courtney Barnett: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Booker T. Jones: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Neapolitan · 09-17-2018, 12:30 AM

...almost forgot this gem:

Angel Olsen: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

edit:
... had to post this too. Cate Le Bon is a Welsh singer. She can sing in both Welsh and English. However she sings the three songs in this set in English. I really like the way she plays guitar, it's somewhere between Art Rock and Post Punk.

Cate Le Bon: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

timihaze · 09-17-2018, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windsock

Feist's Let it Die from 2004 is a gem of a record. The best thing her and her band's ever done. She's pretty minimalist though so I can understand how her tour de force can come across as pretty underwhelming.

Yeah, this sort of lo-fi stuff is super emphasized on melancholia, so it makes sense to having emo lyricism. Emo like Coheed or Mineral I realize though tends to have a lot cleaner production than something like Florist. Just more proof that sadness is one of the strongest emotional connectors for humans, especially when used in music.

Let it Die is one of my favorite albums. Her cover of Inside Out is so funky

09-16-2018, 10:02 AM	#25 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	^ Thanks! I had a suspicion that it wasn't quite a zither, but I was too lazy to check I'm afraid. I know the Steeleye and Spoonful songs you mention, but I'm very impressed that you can talk about the instruments played, just like that, as if the info is right there in your head already. __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953