NPR Tiny Desk Concerts Season 6, Episode 4: Cantus

Lucius

One minute, Lucius sounds like a '60s girl group; the next might conjure images of Emmylou Harris.

Black Prairie

With members of The Decemberists, the band lends a snappy, lilting quality to songs of alienation.

Of Montreal

Frontman Kevin Barnes uses the intimacy of the NPR Music offices to try out some quiet new material.

The xx

In The xx's songs, all the calm chilliness in the world can't quite contain an exposed heart.

Night Beds

Winston Yellen's arresting voice propels a lighthearted but deeply affecting set at the NPR office.

Mary Halvorson Quintet

The guitarist brings a decidedly non-standard approach to jazz's standard practices.

The Lone Bellow

The fast-rising Brooklyn trio sings beautiful, heartfelt, impeccably harmonized folk-pop songs.

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill

Watch one of the best fiddlers on the planet and a subtle guitar master work their magic.

Efterklang

The Danish band ransacks the NPR Music offices looking for sound-making material and new ideas.

Yo La Tengo

To coincide with the release of the band's 13th album, Fade, Yo La Tengo performs an acoustic set.

Omar Sosa & Paolo Fresu

The duo's quietly energetic performance hangs over the the NPR Music offices like a soft mist.

Father Figures

Zany, brainy and danceable, these guys' music mixes rock and jazz like King Crimson at its fiercest.

Nicola Benedetti

Watch the violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet, soulful tendrils of sound.

Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale

The veteran country players mix corny humor, musical merrymaking and timeless vocal harmonies.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian

The 73-year-old Iranian icon unleashes torrents of swooping, soaring sound that elicit goosebumps.

Imani Winds

Imani Winds' members shrink Igor Stravinsky down to size in a quintet take on The Rite of Spring.

OK Go

OK Go helps us transport the Tiny Desk from NPR Music's old headquarters to our new facility.

The National

Watch the band perform acoustic arrangements of four songs from its new album, Trouble Will Find Me.

NO BS! Brass Band

An 11-piece brass band turns up the funk and flies the flag high for its native Richmond, Va.

Billy Bragg

One of the world's finest folksingers channels the spirit of Woody Guthrie at the NPR Music offices.

Patty Griffin

Watch the singer-songwriter and her band perform three songs from her fine new album, American Kid.

Maya Beiser

A brilliant cellist with a stunning command of her instrument, Beiser performs at the NPR offices.

Laura Mvula

The U.K. singer performs some of her most intimate material in a short set at the NPR Music offices.

Cheick Hamala Diabate

The Malian musician and his band craft melodies and rhythms that cut across age and ethnicity.

Skinny Lister

The rowdy English folk-punk band brings its barely controlled mayhem to the NPR Music offices.

Frank Turner

Two men with unplugged instruments convey the bawdy rowdiness of a full band.

Alice Russell

When the British singer performs, her emotionally fiery music just gets hotter and grittier.

Cheyenne Mize

The singer, instrumentalist and music therapist plays slinky, forceful songs at NPR Music.

Guards

Hear three sturdy pop songs from In Guards We Trust, performed live at the NPR Music offices.

Time For Three

Hear the "classically trained garage band" perform with staggering technique and contagious energy.

Dana Falconberry

Watch Falconberry and five bandmates perform three delicate songs from her recent album Leelanau.

Keaton Henson

Henson's voice is so fragile and hushed, if you were 10 feet away from him you'd barely hear a peep.

14 min

Jim Guthrie

Guthrie and his band drove 18 hours round-trip from Ontario to perform three songs for NPR Music.

Alpine

The Australian sextet crafts busily impeccable, harmony-intensive pop music with a danceable sway.

Mother Falcon

The 17-member chamber-rock collective uses its size in the service of great, snappy, stirring songs.

The Front Bottoms

The community that's formed around The Front Bottoms speaks to the band's passion and compassion.

Buika

Concha Buika's voice comes from Africa and the past. Watch her perform in the NPR Music offices.

Steve Gunn

Watch Gunn's trio perform a set of hypnotic long-form jams that are perfect for taking it easy.

Baths

Watch Baths' Will Wiesenfeld perform mysterious, textured electronic music in the NPR offices.

Bombino

For our 300th Tiny Desk Concert, we showcase a Tuareg guitarist's fierce, hypnotic, alluring jams.

The 1975

Performing solo, singer Matthew Healy doesn't hesitate to transform both his songs and himself.

Arturo O'Farrill

With an eye on both the past and the future, O'Farrill has jazz and Afro-Cuban music in his DNA.

Shovels & Rope

The husband-and-wife duo mixes rowdy folk-rock and rootsy ballads, with the help of a canine friend.

The Cristina Pato Trio

A Galician bagpiper and her trio take Celtic sounds in an entirely wild and wonderful direction.

Hem

Hem makes a homey, fireside kind of music, with songs that feel as if they've always been there.

Oliver 'Tuku' Mtukudzi

The Zimbabwean legend performs songs from the mournful but celebratory Sarawoga for NPR Music.

Lawrence Brownlee

The operatic tenor, acclaimed for his Rossini, circles back to his roots as a singer of spirituals.

Superchunk

Watch the venerable band translate its electric sound to acoustic instruments in an intimate way.

Valerie June

Short of seeing her live and in person, this is the best way to encounter June's heartfelt sound.

Okkervil River

The band performs three songs from a record inspired by the childhood of singer Will Sheff.

Matt Ulery's Loom

The bassist composes beautiful, unpretentious music for an unusual jazz band with accordion.

Daughter

Pretty and melancholy, the Londoners' music conjures a perfect mix of gloom, desire and hostility.

Typhoon

The dozen members of this Portland, Ore. band crammed behind the Tiny Desk for a transcendent set.

San Fermin

The orchestral folk-pop band's little song-worlds burst with ambition, talent and extreme joy.

Neko Case

Watch a Halloween Tiny Desk Concert in which Case performs with Kelly Hogan and Eric Bachmann.

Ashley Monroe

This three-song set in the NPR Music offices captures a nice cross-section of Monroe's appeal.

Gary Burton

The jazz vibraphone pioneer is 70 now, but that hasn't slowed his flying four-mallet technique.

Debashish Bhattacharya

Bhattacharya draws on North Indian classical music, but blues also pours out of his stunning work.

John Legend

The soul singer retains the easygoing grace of a performer fit for any stage — even a tiny one.

Waxahatchee

This is Katie Crutchfield as Waxahatchee, playing intimate music for an intimate setting.

Kronos Quartet

The intrepid champions of new music bring a lullaby, rare blues and a work by Bryce Dessner to NPR.

The Dismemberment Plan

The band exudes playfulness and wry charm throughout these three songs from Uncanney Valley.

Sarah Jarosz

Jarosz and her small backing band craft a careful mix of technical proficiency and poppy warmth.

Dessa

The whip-smart rapper, singer, poet and songwriter performs three tracks from Parts of Speech.

Christine Salem

Salem sings work songs and chants from the maloya tradition on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

La Santa Cecilia

The video here provides just a hint of the L.A. band's dynamic live shows, albeit a spectacular one.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

The hot and historic New Orleans band brings a tuba-wielding Santa and some original holiday cheer.