Jake Xerxes Fussell: Live For Tiny Desk's Home Concerts

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It’s only February, but I can already tell you that Jake Xerxes Fussell’s newest album Good and Green Again will be on my year-end favorites list.

Drawing from folk, American and even bits of Appalachian music, Fussell has created a beautiful, challenging and yet hopeful album. His incorporation of strings and horns (sometimes reminding me of Gregory Alan Isakov flourishes) brings a lushness to the music that’s comfortable in all the right ways.

Earlier this year, Fussell recorded his (at home) NPR Tiny Desk Concert. According to NPR: “Fussell recorded at a friend's home in Pittsboro, N.C., with Casey Toll on upright bass and Libby Rodenbough on violin, harmonium and backup vocals. The mantle behind them is adorned with a tiny desk surrounded by various vegetable-shaped candles.”

You’re not going to find much better things to do with 18 minutes. Give it a try:

  1. Setlist:

  2. “The River St. Johns"

  3. "Have You Ever Seen Peaches Growing on a Sweet Potato Vine?"

  4. "Breast of Glass"

Players:

  • Jake Xerxes Fussell: guitar, vocals

  • Libby Rodenbough: violin, harmonium, backing vocals

  • Casey Toll: upright bass

  • Visit Jake Xerxes Fussell’s website

  • Follow Jake Xerxes Fussell at Facebook

  • Support Jake Xerxes Fussell at Bandcamp

  • Purchase Jake Xerxes Fussell’s music at Amazon

Beauty Pill Plays the Tiny Desk

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NPR introduces this terrific set by saying:

“Beauty Pill's music is an invitation. In it, life whirs with plunderphonic glee and riffs are funky from the inside out, with rhythms that are equal parts hip-hop and go-go. Conceived, recorded and meticulously tinkered with over the course of eight years, Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are was partly made in front of an audience after member Chad Clark recovered from a viral infection in his heart that nearly killed him. It's one of the year's most stunning records, as well as an argument for letting art rest, live and breathe before it's ready to be known by a listener. “

Setlist:

  1. "Afrikaner Barista"

  2. "Drapetomania!"

  3. "Exit Without Saving"

Deep Sea Diver: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

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Deep Sea Diver recently recreated the Red Room from Twin Peaks for their NPR Tiny Desk concert.

Setlist:

  1. "Impossible Weight"

  2. "Lights Out"

  3. "Wishing"

  4. "Stop Pretending"

Players:

  • Jessica Dobson: vocals, guitar, piano

  • Peter Mansen: drums

  • Elliot Jackson: keys, guitar

  • Elijah Thomson: bass

  • Natalie Schepman: backing vocals

  • Meegan Closner: backing vocals

  • Henry Lee: beagle

Important People and Details:

  • Video: Tyler Kalberg, Luke Dumke, Dylan Priest

  • Audio: Trevor Spencer

TINY DESK TEAM

  • Producer: Marissa Lorusso

  • Video Producer: Maia Stern

  • Audio Mastering: Josh Rogosin

  • Associate Producer: Bobby Carter

  • Tiny Production Team: Kara Frame, Bob Boilen, Gabrielle Pierre

  • Executive Producer: Keith Jenkins

  • Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

  • Visit Deep Sea Diver’s website

  • Follow Deep Sea Diver at Facebook

  • Follow Deep Sea Diver at Twitter

  • Purchase Deep Sea Diver’s music at Amazon

Roy Ayers: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

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Roy Ayers’ stopped by the NPR Tiny Desk in March 2018 with keyboardist Mark Adams, bassist Trevor Allen and drummer Christopher De Carmine.



Setlist:

  • "Searching"

  • "Black Family"

  • "Everybody Loves The Sunshine"

Musicians:

  • Roy Ayers, Mark Adams (keyboards)

  • Trevor Allen (bass)

  • Christopher De Carmine (drums)

Important People:

  • Producers: Abby O'Neill, Morgan Noelle Smith;

  • Creative Director: Bob Boilen;

  • Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin;

  • Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Kara Frame, Bronson Arcuri, Dani Lyman;

  • Production Assistant: Joshua Bote;

  • Photo: Jenna Sterner/NPR.

  • Visit Roy Ayers’ official website

  • Follow Roy Ayers at Facebook

  • Follow Roy Ayers at Twitter

  • Purchase Roy Ayers’ music at Amazon

Daniel Lanois :: WFUV and Tiny Desk

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I am fascinated by these two short live sets from Daniel Lanois. Both feature the same trio of Lanios, Jim Wilson and Brian Blade. The two videos appeared less than a month apart but represent two very different live sets. The WFUV set says it was posted 12/29/14 (recorded on 11/11/14) and the NPR Tiny Desk show says it was posted 01/14/15 (not sure of the recorded date). So, like 16 or 17 days apart, these two videos both appeared representing the same trio with wildly different results and I can’t get enough.

In the WFUV set, Lanois focuses on pedal steel guitar and bassist Jim Wilson plays what appear to be the foot pedals of an organ? Anyone more knowledgeable than me as to what he is doing over there? The NPR Tiny Desk set features Blade on drums, Wilson on bass and Lanois on knobs. Seriously, I understand that things like modular synthesizers exist, it’s just beyond me how someone can get those sounds to come out of a switchboard.

Notes/Setlist:

  • "Aquatic/Sonho Dourado/JJ Leaves L.A." live in Studio A. Recorded November 11th, 2014.

Important People:

  • Host: Darren Devivo

  • Cameras: Caroline Inzucchi & Deirdre Hynes Editor:

  • Caroline Inzucchi & Deirdre Hynes

And, the Tiny Desk Concert is one of my favorite things ever. I even downloaded the audio from the NPR site and cut it into individual tracks and I listen to it all the time.

The Tiny Desk Concert Youtube page says that Lanois “led an all-instrumental, somewhat improvisational trio based on the sort of studio processing for which he's become famous. In essence, he brought the studio out of the studio — with the aid of two great players, drummer Brian Blade and bassist Jim Wilson — and directly to my desk. The title of Lanois' new album, Flesh And Machine, describes the music well. He never says a word, but he sculpts some serious, hypnotic sounds.”

Setlist:

  • "Sci Fi"

  • "Elevator"

  • "Apres Calypso"

Important People:

  • Producers: Bob Boilen, Maggie Starbard;

  • Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait;

  • Videographers: Colin Marshall, Maggie Starbard;

  • Assistant Producer: Susan Hale Thomas;

  • photo by Susan Hale Thomas/NPR

  • Visit Daniel Lanois’ official website

  • Follow Daniel Lanois at Facebook

  • Follow Daniel Lanois at Twitter

  • Purchase Daniel Lanois’ music at Amazon

Cowboy Junkies Sessions at West 54th

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That’s right. We’re back on the Sessions at West 54th train. This time with Cowboy Junkies.

The group was paired with Kronos Quartet and the episode originally aired 09/06/98)

Sorry, not sure of the setlist on this one.

  • Visit the official site for Cowboy Junkies

  • Follow Cowboy Junkies at Facebook

  • Purchase Cowboy Junkies’ music at Amazon

The Comet Is Coming: Tiny Desk

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Since you, dear friends, trust my musical explorations, I know you remember my recent post about Shabaka and the Ancestors: Soul Jazz For The End of Days.

Between Shabaka and the Ancestors, Sons of Kemet, and The Comet is Coming, I dig the musical universe of Shabaka Hutchings in a way I have dug a musical universe in quite a while. While Shabaka and the Ancestors scratch my soul/spiritual-groove-roots-jazz itch, The Comet Is Comet channels my Quarantine angst with electronics, pulsating beats and skreeking skronks and some of the most evocative playing I’ve heard in a while.

The group’s Facebook page says:

“The Comet is Coming to destroy illusions. It will manifest new realities, perceptions, levels of awareness and abilities to coexist. It is a musical expression forged in the deep mystery. It is the overcoming of fear, the embracing of chaos, the peripheral sight that we might summon the fire.

Through the transcendent experience of music we reconnect with the energy of the Lifeforce in hope of manifesting higher realities in new constructs. Because the end is only really the beginning.”

Late last year, the group recorded an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, performing tracks from Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery.

Setlist:

  1. "Super Zodiac"

  2. "Summon The Fire"

  3. "Blood Of The Past"

Musicians:

  • King Shabaka: saxophone;

  • Danalogue: synthesizer;

  • Betamax: drums

  • Visit the official Shabaka Hutchings website.

  • Visit the official website for The Comet Is Coming.

  • Follow The Comet Is Coming at Facebook.

  • Visit The Comet Is Coming’s Bandcamp page.

  • Purchase The Comet Is Coming’s Music at Amazon.

  • Visit Shabaka and the Ancestors’ Bandcamp page.

  • Follow Shabaka and the Ancestors at Facebook.

Angélique Kidjo Remains In Light

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Generally speaking, I have mixed feelings about artists interpreting entire albums by other artists. To be fair, I enjoyed Ryan Adams' handling of Taylor Swift's 1989 more than I thought I would. And some of Phish's Halloween sets are fun (oh, come on, you know Phish is talented). But I could not be more excited about Angélique Kidjo making the Talking Heads classic Remain In Light her own. 

In 1983 Angélique Kidjo moved from Benin to Paris. Kidjo recalls that time with NPR:

And when I arrived in Paris, I was determined to catch up with the music I didn't have. I became a music junkie. I went to a party with some friends of mine and somebody started playing the song of the Talking Heads called "Once in a Lifetime" and everybody was standing and dancing weird, and me, I was grooving. And I told them, "This is African music," and they go, "Hell no, this is rock and roll. You Africans are not sophisticated enough to do this kind of music."

The Talking Heads had already made a name for themselves, rising from the New York scene with a fusion of punk, art-school rock, funk, avant-garde and world music. For their fourth album, the band openly drew from Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and African polyrhythms. The band is even reported to have told people that if they really wanted to understand the band's ambition with the album, go listen to Fela. 

Kidjo has stripped away some of the 80's sheen from the album and brought the Afrobeat influence to full bloom. The music is vibrant and joyful even while many of the lyrics take on added poignancy considering the struggles of Africa and the music grows in urgency. NPR says: 

Kidjo's interpretation feels more legitimate and offers an unfiltered representation of the Motherland's polyrhythmic dance. Take "Listening Wind" as an example: above a gentle mix of djembe drums and oscillating synths, Kidjo tells the story of a man named Mojique, who sees first-hand the colonization of his village. "He sees the foreigners in growing numbers," she sings. "He sees the foreigners in fancy houses." There's a measured sadness to Kidjo's voice, as if she's living the trauma herself.

This is where the album succeeds. Kidjo uses well-known source material but makes it her own; adding depth and perspective. And moving your booty. Watch the video for "Born Under Punches:"

Watch the video for "Once In A Lifetime:"

Songhoy Blues at the Tiny Desk

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Songhoy Blues at the NPR Tiny Desk

NPR’s Bob Boilen says:

“The music I feel most connected to beyond rock is from Mali. The melodies are so fluid, so elegant and most of all so trance-inducing. It often sits on one chord and notes played revolve around that chord. It can feel like a drone at times, and in the case of Songhoy Blues it rocks, lulls and the percussion grooves are not only trance-inducing but dance-inducing.”

  • Visit Songhoy Blues’ official website.

  • Listen to Songhoy Blues on Episode 05 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

  • Purchase Songhoy Music at Bandcamp.

  • Follow Songhoy Blues at Facebook.

  • Follow the group at Twitter.

  • Purchase Songhoy Blues music at Amazon.