10 Tiny Desk Concerts to Watch When You Feel Like Shit, Part 01

Are you having the worst day ever? Do you fucking hate life right now? Do you feel like emotional dog shit? We get it; we've all been there. One of our favorite antidotes for crawling out of a bleak hole of casual depression is having a beer, coffee, tea, or a joint and watching NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts.

Launched in 2008 by music journalist daddy Bob Boilen, Tiny Desk features absolute fucking legends and young guns alike tucked into the cramped corner of the NPR Music office to perform to an offscreen crowd. The tight space seems to expand with sound and performances that are epic, intimate, joyful, and rattling, all at once.

Here is part one of 10 Tiny Desk Concerts that we are pretty sure will boost your mood when you feel like shit. Tune in tomorrow for part two.

Action Bronson
August 2023

Back by the Human Growth Hormones, Queens rapper Action Bronson looks like the edible is kicking in as he grins, rubs his head, touches his face, and sways through his tiny desk set. The band is fucking awesome, drawing the perfect path for Bronson's husky Queen's vocals to pour through. At the 9:08 mark, during 'Live from the Moon,' he kneels as if in prayer to the sounds of the saxophone, played by Matt Carrillo. Bronson’s passion for performing melts through your screen, enhancing the already rad music in a way that only someone who has a pure love of what they do can.

Juvenile
June, 2023

If you only watch one Tiny Desk concert your entire life, watch this one.

When New Orleans rapper Juvenile was invited to perform a Tiny Desk in April 2023, his response was, "WTF is a tiny desk and no!"

Juvenile was backed by Trombone Shorty, Alvin Ford, The Amours, the Louisianna Philharmonic, and DJ Mannie Fresh for absolutely beautiful renditions of "I Need a Hot Girl," "Slow Motion" and "Project Bitch."  

The set crescendos with back-to-back performances of "Back That Azz Up." Juv hypes up the room and gives high five all around while Mannie Fresh dances in the crowd. Even through the screen, you can feel the electric energy in the room — the kind of energy that can only come from a crowd who knows they are seeing something pretty fucking special.

IDLES
June 18, 2019

Lead singer of British rock band IDLES Joe Talbot screams, growls, sings, bounces, sweats, thrashes, and kneels throughout the set as the band's sonic sound bursts Tiny Desk at the seams. Around the ten-minute mark, the group keeps up their white-knuckle rhythm as they pull members of the crowd to come to play their instruments with them.

Tash Sultana
April 7, 2017

In 2017, 21-year-old Maltese-Australian wunderkind Tash Sultana brought the energy of an entire fucking band, flowing between instruments to create a sphere of sound. It's enchanting to watch her bounce from guitar to drum machine to microphone to tapping looping pedals deftly with bare feet. And then she opens her mouth, and the voice that rushes out knocks you on your ass in the best way.

Anna Meredith
March 2, 2018

In 2018, Bob Boelin called Anna Meredith's Tiny Desk the most exhilarating he had experienced since the launch of the series, which at the time boasted 700 performances. The thrilling pairing of electronic and classical will wake up a dormant, joyful part of your brain as Meredith plays the clarinet with the energy of someone shredding on the guitar and beckons an electronic keyboard to life. Backed by a cellist, a drummer that absolutely fucking thrashes, a tubaist, and a guitar player pulling sounds out of a guitar you've never heard before, you'll wonder how the fuck that combination of instruments coalesce in a sound so powerful and engrossing and fun.