‘The best hip-hop display at the Tiny Desk’ from Ab-Soul

Plus, Son Lux on composing the ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ score [View this email online]( [NPR Music]( Feb. 25, 2023 by [Marissa Lorusso]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This week, we’re sharing the latest Tiny Desk concerts; plus, the story behind the score for Everything Everywhere All at Once. [Ab-Soul performs a Tiny Desk concert.]( Bob Boilen/NPR Pretty much every artist who comes to play a Tiny Desk concert makes some adjustments to their usual set-up. We don’t amplify singers’ voices in the room, so a raucous band might turn down its amps or swap an electric guitar for an acoustic. Given the chance to try something new, some artists pare down their ensembles, while others bring in additional players. For some musicians, simply performing in broad daylight in front of NPR staff on their lunch breaks is enough of a challenge by itself. But hip-hop artists, senior producer Bobby Carter argues, make the most significant adjustments to play behind the Desk — and this week’s [Tiny Desk from California rapper Ab-Soul]( is a perfect example. Ab-Soul doesn’t normally play with a band, but for his Tiny Desk concert, he hand-picked a group of talented musicians to back him up for songs from his latest album, [last year’s memoiristic, grief-laced]( HERBERT, plus some never-heard-before rhymes over instrumentals from 2012's Control System. The result, Bobby told me, is “the best hip-hop display at the Desk,” for a few reasons. “Sure, he gave us brand-new material through a bonus verse on 'GOTTA RAP,' ” Bobby explains. “But it was also the clever way he presented the older material.” Bobby pointed to a line from Ab-Soul’s song “DO BETTER”: “Faces playing and it’s f***ing with me,” which refers to a 2014 mixtape by his late friend Mac Miller. “Watching him recite that line sitting on the same stool in the same spot [Mac sat for his Tiny Desk]( didn’t escape me in the moment,” Bobby says. “Knowing how much Ab-Soul has gone through to get to this point, it’s the heart, courage and passion he put into his performance that takes it over the top for me.” --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- More to read, watch and hear - “I [think it’s love]( That’s how Ryan Lott sums up the score he and his band, Son Lux, wrote for the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once — and how he describes the main point of the film itself, too. This week, Lott spoke to All Songs Considered’s Robin Hilton about how the band wrote a wild, intimate, deeply emotional (and Oscar-nominated) score for such a delightful and existential film. - The music of singer and songwriter Kelela sits at an innovative crossroads of left-field R&B and forward-thinking electronic music. Her latest album, Raven, presents a [more unified and independent version]( of herself, says writer Vrinda Jagota. Filled with lyrics that “feel like free-associations from a mind centered and deeply focused on rejuvenation,” Jagota says, the album powerfully “reminds Black listeners of their expansiveness.” - This week on All Songs Considered, I joined host Bob Boilen and editor Hazel Cills to talk about [some of our favorite new songs]( including a seven-minute epic by Lana Del Rey and a turn toward the dark and dramatic by Caroline Rose. - The Berlin Philharmonic recently announced violinist Vineta Sareika-Völkner as its first woman concertmaster in the orchestra's 141-year history. To celebrate, this week’s NPR Classical playlist is a [salute to female fiddlers]( young and old, including Hilary Hahn, Midori, Maud Powell and Ida Haendel. - This week, our friends at WUNC shared a video of [Say She She]( performing “Blow My Mind” live at Motorco Music Hall in Durham, NC. --------------------------------------------------------------- Tiny Desk [Charley Crockett plays a Tiny Desk concert]( Michael Zamora/NPR No surprise from someone who has spent years [winning over audiences of all stripes]( but behind the Tiny Desk, Texas troubadour [Charley Crockett]( came off as a seasoned and courtly showman. His charming five-song set showed off his ability to tease out new meaning from familiar country, folk and blues forms. Also: There’s still time to enter the Tiny Desk Contest, our annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play behind Bob Boilen’s desk. On [the Tiny Desk Contest blog]( you can read about some of the recent entries that have caught the attention of the Tiny Desk Contest team. --------------------------------------------------------------- One More Thing From our friends at Everyone & Their Mom: A guide to [making a playlist for your crush](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Listen Live]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( Need a new playlist? Follow NPR Music on [Spotify]( and [Apple Music]( What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [nprmusic@npr.org](mailto:nprmusic@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! [They can sign up here.]( Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Books, Pop Culture, Health and more! 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