Michael Kiwanuka - NPR Music Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

For her Tiny Desk home concert Simz beamed to us from a more modest setting than all of that might imply: a living room, dropped inside a void. But it's an appropriate space for Simz to introduce her self-searching new album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. That arc is pulled together here by a proficient group of players interpreting the relaxed sound of producer Inflo (who is on a run like few in the game at the moment – see Sault and Cleo Sol.) They open with the pulsing military drum and grandiose keys of the record's title track, closing with the bounce and sway of "Woman," dedicated to her mom. Between, a brutally honest message for her father, "I Love You, I Hate You," and a premiere of the Afrobeat bop "Point and Kill," featuring fellow London-based artist Obongjayar.

SET LIST :

"Introvert"
"I Love You, I Hate You"
"Point and Kill" (featuring Obongjayar)
"Woman"

Little Simz - Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Remastered by Christian Traub

As Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/mtme4/sets/tame-impala-innerspeaker-live-from-wave-house

Tame Impala - InnerSpeaker (Live From Wave House)

Belgian dance-pop superstar Stromae puts on one of the best live shows in the world — here’s a two-song set from 2015, presented as evidence — but his stage presentation is tough to strip down. To say nothing of the light show, Stromae’s throbbingly impeccable arrangements involve the extensive use of pre-recorded tracks, all of which are frowned upon at the Tiny Desk. So, given a simple three-word assignment (“no preset sounds”), his team set about re-creating Stromae’s music so that it could be performed in real time.

This involved more gleaming tech than we could have ever imagined when we launched Tiny Desk concerts nearly 15 years ago — veritable banks of laptops, mixers and synthesizers, with multiple producers working out of frame — but damned if every sound in this set wasn’t crafted and played live on the spot. Stromae and his team had to come a day early for hours of setup and rehearsals, and even the band’s clothing was handpicked from the singer’s fashion line, but what they produced felt loose-limbed and organic in the spirit of the series.

It helps that, as heard on this year’s outstanding Multitude, Stromae’s songs draw from a deep well of lived emotion. Backed by three members of the Bulgarian women’s choir Yasna Voices, Stromae kicked off his set with “L’enfer,” a wrenching acknowledgement of suicidal thoughts. The song’s chorus, translated to English, reads, “Sometimes I’ve had suicidal thoughts and I’m not proud of it / Sometimes you feel it’d be the only way to silence them / All these thoughts putting me through hell.”

From there, Stromae’s song selections conveyed lighter moods, but even his most danceable tracks contain undercurrents of darkness and conflict: “Santé” is a toast to those who can’t celebrate, “Alors on danse” (from 2009’s Cheese) embraces dancing as a way to drown out life’s hardships and “Mon amour” attempts to reassure a lover against a backdrop of infidelity and dysfunction. On its own, each track is a heady cocktail of painstaking craft and hard-won joy. Taken together, they form a portrait of a world-class showman at the height of his powers.

SET LIST
“L’enfer”
“Santé”
“Alors on danse”
“Mon amour”

Stromae - NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

This 21-year-old Maltese-Australian got a guitar from her grandfather when she was three, she says, and has played it every day since. It's astonishing to watch Sultana's fluidity on her instrument, like a natural extension of her body. (She also plays bass, saxophone, trumpet, flute and more, but kept it "simple" at the Tiny Desk.) I thought I had a lot of energy — watching her bounce from guitar to drum machine to two separate microphones — and then hopping barefoot from looping pedal to effect pedal as she builds her songs was exhilarating and exhausting. There's more here than an exercise in virtuosity, her music is filled with adventure and ambition. These songs are rapturous and resonant.

Tash has just finished a month-long, sold-out U.S. tour.

The EP Notion is available now. 

iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/not...
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Notion-EP-Tash...

Set List

"Jungle
"Notion"
"Blackbird"

Tash Sultana - NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Leon Bridges- NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

I do not own this music. It belongs to Anderson .Paak. I just wanted to share his live work.

Tash Sultana - NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Thijs van Nuffel

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