NPR and New Music, Part 1: Office Acoustics

Acknowledging that NPR Music is the ur-source for all the cool music that will appear here, and that I am merely ripping it from their website, please allow me to direct to some of the great things I've discovered recently.

First, three Tiny Desk Concerts by acoustic-guitar wielding, singer/songwriter guys: two European dudes, and one quiet American.  All of them are talented lyricists, with stiking voices to match their words-- and they can handle six-strings rather well:

• Conor O'Brien of the band Villagers 
• Kristian Matsson, who plays under the name The Tallest Man on Earth
• Tony Dekker, who plays under the name Great Lake Swimmers

I'll admit, I do have a thing for this type of artist ... from the early Folkies (Woodie Gurthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan unplugged) to more contemporary singers (Josh Ritter, Elliot Smith, etc.)  I admire their poeticism and politics, and especially the immediacy of their approach.  And I guess this interest also it stems from the fact that I can sort of see myself becoming one of them (if not an author of some kind).  And while the brief concerts in the NPR Music offices force large (often electricity-dependent) bands to scale back and strip down, for these guys, the transition from the stage was easy--and created an even greater intimacy and focus on songcraft than a typical performance.  Enjoy.