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E.U.: Tiny Desk Concert

E.U.: Tiny Desk Concert Hotney 7 Streams • 4 days ago

Suraya Mohamed | August 27, 2026
At last, we have completed the Mount Rushmore of go-go music: E.U. (aka Experience Unlimited) has blessed the Desk. And the timing couldn't be more perfect! In 2026, the official music of Washington, D.C. celebrates 50 years of heavily syncopated funk.

Go-go features a slow and simple groove, but hidden within are dense polyrhythms and interwoven harmonies. On stage, where go-go thrives, songs bleed into one another and the crowd engages in high-energy call and response, a technique with origins in the Black church. Though many other notable bands deserve recognition, the vanguard four — Chuck Brown, Trouble Funk, Rare Essence and E.U. — are an exemplar of this party music.

At the Tiny Desk, each band has brought its own distinct approach to go-go and, here, E.U. plays up its rock and roll edge. You might recognize the last song "Da Butt," which was released as a single from the soundtrack to Spike Lee's 1988 film School Daze.

After a raucously funky set, we asked E.U. founder, bassist and lead vocalist Gregory "Sugar Bear" Elliott what this music means to him. "Go-go is my life," he says. "It's the best music in the world. It's an instant party. You can't stay still. You are part of it as soon as you hear because you move — you can't stay still. It's heavy percussion based. Its call and response. A big, giant party. That's what go-go is to me and to the world."

SET LIST
"Shake Your Thang"
"Oo La La La"
"Go Ju Ju Go"
"Taste of Your Love"
"Bounce!"
"E.U. Freeze"
"Um Bop Bop"
"Da Butt"

MUSICIANS
Gregory "Sugar Bear" Elliott: vocals, bass
Tony Cothran: guitar
V. Higgz: keys
William "JuJu" House: drums
Maurice "Mighty Mo" Hagans: percussion
Archie Knuckles: trumpet, background vocals
Anthony Shields: sax, background vocals
Kal-El Gross: background vocals
LaWanda: background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Engineer/Mix: Neil Tevault
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Mitra I. Arthur
Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
Audio Mix: Josh Newell
Production Assistant: Dora Levite
Photographer: Vanessa Castillo
Tiny Desk Team: Ashley Pointer, Felix Contreras
Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#nprmusic #tinydesk #eu

Support for NPR comes from Moises, the creative suite for musicians, used by over 75 million artists worldwide to learn, create and collaborate. Available for phone, tablet and desktop.

'Weird Al' Yankovic: Tiny Desk Concert

'Weird Al' Yankovic: Tiny Desk Concert Hotney 6 Streams • 4 days ago

Stephen Thompson | August 20, 2026
For "Weird Al" Yankovic — pop parodist, comedy lifer, occasional movie and TV star, and improver of countless adolescences — coming up with a fresh set of songs for the Tiny Desk was never going to be an issue. The singer and should-be Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has a massive arsenal of parodies, pastiches and originals at his disposal. And the band he's brought to the Tiny Desk has grown from the lean, unplugged configuration that graced our stage in 2010 to a high-spirited and electrified crowd of players.

Yankovic focused on originals the first time around, but for this show he brought parodies of Don McLean's "American Pie" ("The Saga Begins," from 1999's Running with Scissors) and Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" ("eBay," from 2003's Poodle Hat), as well as the Weezer pastiche "Skipper Dan," from 2011's Alpocalypse. And, for fans of the breathtakingly factual 2022 biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, he performs the film's Emmy-losing closing-credits blues-rock jam "Now You Know."

We only get so many gifts in this life, so let's set an intention here and now to return "Weird Al" Yankovic to the Tiny Desk in the summer of 2042. But if he's gonna come back and see us (or whoever's buried us and moved on) at a sprightly 82, we'll have to ask him to bring a string section, just to keep things fresh.

SET LIST
"Skipper Dan"
"eBay"
"Now You Know"
"The Saga Begins"

MUSICIANS
Al Yankovic: vocals, keys
Jim "Kimo" West: guitar, background vocals
Steve Jay: bass, background vocals
Jon "Burmuda" Schwartz: drums
Chad Thomas: keys
Payton Rose Velligan: guitar, background vocals
Monique Donnelly: tambourine, background vocals
Scheila Gonzalez: alto sax, baritone sax, background vocals
Probyn Gregory: trumpet, background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton
Director: Joshua Bryant
Audio Director/Mix: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Video Editor: Kara Frame
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Bronson Arcuri
Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#tinydesk #nprmusic #weirdalyankovic

Support for NPR comes from Moises, the creative suite for musicians, used by over 75 million artists worldwide to learn, create and collaborate. Available for phone, tablet and desktop.

Audrey Hobert: Tiny Desk Concert

Audrey Hobert: Tiny Desk Concert Hotney 7 Streams • 4 days ago

Elle Mannion | August 13, 2026
Audrey Hobert loves a comedic bit. In concert, she’ll stand on a tall ladder hidden by a taller trench coat. Or bounce on a mini trampoline. Or dribble basketballs. Knowing that she's inspired by comedian (and musician) Steve Martin, this all makes more sense. But take away those tricks in a setting like the Tiny Desk, and Hobert’s catchy pop songs are just as captivating.

Hobert arrived with a debut album last year, Who's the Clown?, already with a distinct songwriting voice. The Los Angeles artist has a knack for putting words to the sometimes embarrassing thoughts many of us have rolling around in our heads — and singing them with a satisfying cadence over a banging beat.

Her storytelling shines on songs like “Sex and the city” and the Friends-inspired “Phoebe.” (Given her background in screenwriting, it’s not surprising that her songs reference these hit shows and paint amusing characters.) “The seat is up, the place is haunted / He's heating up and eating up a pizza pocket / I wanted one, but he forgot it,” she muses on “Sex and the city.” The songwriting is funny, but it’s also a vulnerable exploration of desire.

“Sometimes when you’re a burgeoning artist, you have one hit,” Hobert says before the last song. “I would classify this as a hit.” She adds that “it’s only a hit with time,” a statement that would prove true: “Sue me” entered the Billboard Hot 100 just this week.

SET LIST
“Shooting star”
“Thirst Trap”
“Phoebe”
“Sex and the city”
“Sue me”

MUSICIANS
Audrey Hobert: vocals, guitar
Ricky Gourmet: guitar
Hayley Briasco: guitar, banjo
Lana Drincic: keys, piano
Steven Brickman: sax, keys, piano, bass
Andrew Pham: bass
Cameron Allen: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Elle Mannion
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Engineer/Mix: Josephine Nyounai
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Alanté Serene
Audio Director: Josh Newell
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Felix Contreras
Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#tinydesk #nprmusic #audreyhobert

Support for NPR comes from Moises, the creative suite for musicians, used by over 75 million artists worldwide to learn, create and collaborate. Available for phone, tablet and desktop.

Death Cab for Cutie: Tiny Desk Concert

Death Cab for Cutie: Tiny Desk Concert Hotney 3 Streams • 4 days ago

Robin Hilton | August 11, 2026
Death Cab for Cutie has always had a gift for making the ordinary feel breathtaking, bringing clarity to complicated feelings in plainspoken and universal ways, with a sound that is singularly its own. For this performance, the band's second at the Tiny Desk, the members recreate that sound almost entirely on acoustic instruments, including a nearly 100-year old zither.

The band opens with "Pep Talk" and "Stone Over Water" from Death Cab's latest album, I Built You a Tower, both stirring reflections on aging and surviving regret, before turning to two older cuts: "Title and Registration" from the 2003 album Transatlanticism and "Soul Meets Body" from 2005's Plans. "A lot of [our songs] are becoming oldies now," Gibbard tells the crowd. "I'm starting to realize that some of our earlier records came out a similar distance away from, like, the Beatles records when I was a kid." Guitarist Dave Depper jokes that Gibbard needs to "stop it now." But, as Gibbard notes, "That's how time works, Dave."

When Death Cab visited the Tiny Desk in 2015, Gibbard was recovering from a broken wrist and, unable to play guitar, crooned at the mic accompanied only by Zac Rae's piano, with Nick Harmer on bass. But the full band sits in for this concert, with the addition of Depper, and Jason McGerr on drums.

SET LIST
"Pep Talk"
"Stone Over Water"
"Title and Registration"
"Soul Meets Body"

MUSICIANS
Ben Gibbard: vocals, guitar
Dave Depper: guitar, background vocals
Zac Rae: piano, zither
Nick Harmer: bass
Jason McGerr: drums

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Robin Hilton
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Director/Mix: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Nickolai Hammar
Audio Engineer: Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Vanessa Castillo
Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Felix Contreras
Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#nprmusic #tinydesk #deathcabforcutie

Support for NPR comes from Moises, the creative suite for musicians, used by over 75 million artists worldwide to learn, create and collaborate. Available for phone, tablet and desktop.

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