Five Tiny Desk Concerts You Have To Watch On NPR's New Roku Channel
A big perk of working at NPR is front-row access to the Tiny Desk Concerts filmed at All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen's desk. They are delightful, intimate performances from artists you know and others you haven't heard before.
"But I don't work at the NPR HQ," you say? You can watch all the Tiny Desk Concerts online and in our mobile apps, though we know it just isn't quite the same as being three feet from Adele. (Trust me, working remotely from Texas and California, I experience this reality, too).
So, the NPR visuals team set out to create something that would better replicate the experience of being at Bob's desk.
You can now put NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts on your TV, in full HD, using your Roku device. The artists are a remote's-length away and the performances are beautifully filmed. The audio is lush and visceral. And real. There are mistakes, missed chords and muttered oaths. In short, it's everything you love about live music without the meticulous scripting of a concert DVD.
Below are five concerts you should go watch right now, from a fellow music lover longing to be desk-side.
Five Tiny Desk Concerts You Have To Watch On NPR's New Roku Channel
1. Amanda Palmer And The Grand Theft Orchestra
Amanda Palmer And The Grand Theft Orchestra was the first Tiny Desk Concert that made me realize how incredible they can be. This one was recorded at the old NPR headquarters, so the audio and video quality aren't quite as high as the others on my list, but the performance more than makes up for it. I'm not sure more energy has ever been squeezed into a small space. Palmer screams and dances and stabs the air while the band plays buckets, desks and every other surface available. Friends had recommended Amanda Palmer to me before, but this was the performance that got me hooked.
2. Dessa
Dessa is one of two bands on this list that I had never heard before I saw them behind Bob's desk. Dessa's staccato lyrics are fluid and challenging, never faltering despite the fact that between tracks it becomes clear she is losing her voice. Each song will leave you wishing you had more time before the next to think about the words.
3. Preservation Hall Jazz Band
I've heard endless tales of Preservation Hall Jazz Band's virtuosity, but have never been to New Orleans to see them myself. This performance opened my eyes to what I had been missing. For nearly twenty minutes Preservation Hall crowds more raw sound into the Tiny Desk than anyone else could. Watch along with the Mother Falcon Tiny Desk Concert for a couple of interesting examples of how to fit a huge band at Bob's desk.
4. Daughter
This is probably my favorite of all the Tiny Desk Concerts. Daughter's performance is raw, close and wrenching. I've heard many songs of heartbreak, but rarely have any of them moved me as this does.
5. Asaf Avidan
Asaf Avidan is my most recent Tiny Desk Concert discovery. Like Dessa, I had never heard of Avidan prior to seeing this performance. At the moment he begins to sing I was startled. The way he cracks and warbles through each track was nothing that I expected, but that's also precisely why I enjoyed it so much.
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