Last week, we brought you five Tiny Desk Performances to watch when you're down in the fucking dumps, feeling like dog shit, riding the proverbial depression bronco, as the kids say.
Tiny Desk was launched in 2008 by music journalism Daddy Bob Boilen, bringing absolute fucking legends and young guns alike tuck into the cramped corner of the NPR Music office to perform to an offscreen crowd.
Sixteen years and more than 800 performances later, the series is an archive of epic, intimate, joyful, and thrilling performances.
Here is part two of our top 10 Tiny Desk Concerts to watch when you feel like shit.
St. Paul and the Broken Bones
Dec. 2014
Singer Paul Janeway looks like he should be taking your driver's license photo at the DMV. Or writing you a parking ticket. Or staffing the booth in a parking garage. But, when this navy-suited stud opens his mouth, the voice that surges out will blow your fucking hair back. Janeway's voice is the kind that has a thousand different lives inside of it, a voice you've heard before and not at all at the same time.
He stands on the Tiny Desk with gold shoes, transforming it into an old nightclub as he sings, wiggles his hips, taps his feet, and sweats through his set. He tops it off at the end with an endearingly shy smile.
Big Daddy Kane
February 19, 2018
If you don't know who Big Daddy Kane is, you can go fuck yourself.
We kid, we kid; we frown on all forms of elitism here at Vulgar Advice.
But seriously. In the late 80s, Big Daddy Kane's cadence and fast flow transcended his time in the Juice Crew and set the stage for the mega MCs of the 90s. During his Tiny Desk performance, he masterfully charts a path through the music of a screaming saxophone, fast-tapping drums, a keyboard, and a smooth base. In the middle of his set, he surveys the room and says with a grin, "This is alright. I'm having a good time, for real. I might fill out an application for a job here." Kane closes out with a rendition
"Ain't No Half-Stepping" and a sick-ass freestyle that will leave you in awe of his lung capacity.
Sting and Shaggy
July 17, 2019
Yes, THAT Sting and THAT Shaggy teamed up for a Tiny Desk and thank fuck they did. Sting and Shaggy' distinct vocals glide and ricochet off each other, climbing the island rhythm of the band. The result is a perfect mashup that makes you feel bright inside in the irresistible way that Reggae always does. The pair sip coffee between songs, and at one point, Shaggy says, "Thank you for having me here at the Tiny Desk with my good buddy here, Stingy."
The Comet is Coming
December 18, 2019
This Tiny Desk by British instrumental jazz trio The Comet is Coming will knock your goddamn socks off. Their sound clashes into a sonic ball of energy fueled by the insanity each is frantically coaxing out of their instrument. Each musician looks like they are from a totally different band, coming together to create something that sounds as if electronic and jazz and punk all had a ravenous baby.
The entire performance is fucking amazing, and Shabaka Hutchings is a standout as he throttles the absolute shit out of his saxophone to make it scream.
Fred again...
April 10, 2023
South London producer and DJ Fred again... faced the task of bringing his 100% electronic music to Tiny Desk using live instruments. The result is a performance that makes you feel like you are watching someone push themselves to the edge of a world they've created.
He surrounds himself in a circle of instruments — a piano, a marimba, and a vibraphone — spending time at each to draw out a specific sound to loop. Vocal samples from singers I am Roze and Delilah Montagu and poet Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre are accompanied by videos of the vocalists on screens surrounding Fred again... At one point, he hits his closed fist on a desktop to tap out a rhythm to loop. It's a performance so intimate it's as if you are standing outside of Fred again's... bedroom door, watching him play in a private flow state to make something fucking gorgeous.