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PUP Makes Existential Nihilism Sound Like The Happiest Party On Earth At Tiny Desk

Eric Alper
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PUP Makes Existential Nihilism Sound Like The Happiest Party On Earth At Tiny Desk

For anyone who thinks confronting world-weary discontent cannot be fun, the Canadian pop-punk powerhouse PUP is here to prove you wrong with their long-overdue and absolutely chaotic Tiny Desk debut. The band, whose albums carry titles like ‘Morbid Stuff’ and ‘The Dream is Over’, possesses a unique genius for pairing hard-earned wisdom and deadpan humor with songs about a miserable existence, making their anxiety sound utterly anthemic. PUP, which stands for Pathetic Use of Potential, tore through five songs, kicking things off with the restlessly hooky title track “Morbid Stuff,” followed by the self-referential “Robot Writes a Love Song” from 2022’s ‘The Unraveling of PUPTheBand’. They kept the energy high with “Hallways,” a driving track about struggling through life just to be around for your dog. Though frontman Stefan Babcock kept silent between songs, he beamed playfully while delivering lines like “I’ve been navigating my way through the mind-numbing reality of a godless existence,” before closing with the pop-leaning “Hunger for Death” from ‘Who Will Look After the Dogs?’ The set concluded perfectly when Babcock leaned in to declare, “F*** everyone in this office,” only to add with a smile, “especially me.”

SET LIST

  • “Morbid Stuff”
  • “Robot Writes a Love Song”
  • “Hallways”
  • “Kids”
  • “Hunger for Death”

Sasha Keable Delivers A Resilient Victory Lap At Tiny Desk

Eric Alper
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Sasha Keable Delivers A Resilient Victory Lap At Tiny Desk

Sasha Keable’s Tiny Desk performance is a powerful testament to resilience, marking a triumphant moment after numerous music industry setbacks that might have convinced others to walk away. Her journey to the Desk began years ago when her own father introduced her to the series after watching Tom Jones play. When 2019’s ‘MAN’ EP dropped, the raw music and Keable’s brash delivery coupled with effortless power immediately drew comparisons to the first time listeners heard Amy Winehouse. Though a scheduled performance was curbed by COVID-19, Keable’s profile skyrocketed last year with a string of singles that captivated audiences globally and even earned her a shout-out from Beyoncé in a GQ magazine interview. Flying over from South London, the British Colombian singer-songwriter enlisted the Slim Wav-led Band of Brothas to arrange a dynamic medley of bangers from her upcoming ‘act right’ EP, proving this victory lap is just the exciting beginning of her career.

SET LIST

“WHY”

“FEEL SOMETHING”

“Tai Chi”

“act right”

“can’t stop”

“Take Your Time”

“move it along”

“Hold Up”

Photo Gallery: Of Monsters And Men and Josie Edwards at Toronto’s History on December 5, 2025

Eric Alper
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Photo Gallery: Of Monsters And Men and Josie Edwards at Toronto’s History on December 5, 2025

All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her through Instagram or X.

Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Of Monsters And Men
Josie Edwards
Josie Edwards
Josie Edwards

Sierra Hull Brings Bluegrass Brilliance and Heartfelt Stories to Tiny Desk

Eric Alper
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Sierra Hull Brings Bluegrass Brilliance and Heartfelt Stories to Tiny Desk

Mandolin virtuoso Sierra Hull brought her mesmerizing bluegrass to the Tiny Desk, effortlessly captivating the audience just as she has since she first picked up the instrument two decades ago. Her set featured four powerful songs from her latest album ‘A Tip Toe High Wire’, including “Boom” and “Lord, That’s a Long Way,” which highlighted her incredibly fast fingerpicking abilities. Hull delivered a deeply personal moment before playing “Spitfire,” a resilient tribute to her late grandmother who lived a life of hardship in rural Tennessee. The performance concluded with “Muddy Water,” a song encouraging listeners to show their true selves, demonstrating Hull’s ability to weave profound wisdom into her extraordinary songwriting.

SET LIST

  • “Boom”
  • “Lord, That’s a Long Way”
  • “Spitfire”
  • “Muddy Water”

MIKE Brings Vulnerable Sweeping Gratitude To His Tiny Desk Set

Eric Alper
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MIKE Brings Vulnerable Sweeping Gratitude To His Tiny Desk Set

MIKE’s deeply personal approach shines through in his Tiny Desk performance, reflecting the immense gratitude and love he showed for his fans and collaborators throughout his 71-date Artists of the Century tour. The Brooklyn-based rapper, who is also a former teen prodigy and the founder of the independent label 10k, stood behind the Desk and proclaimed, “We are the band of the century,” just as a light and breezy melody began. This set reveals a truly sweeping and vulnerable new frontier for MIKE’s epic artistry, touching on eight years of his extensive discography, including a dj blackpower cameo on “nite flite,” all delivered with immense family pride and emotional honesty. He rapped profoundly about moments with his late mother in the song “Evil Eye” and reflected on his upbringing with his sister, Victoria, in a fresh arrangement of “parkS,” supported beautifully by his labelmate duendita and frequent collaborator Liv.e. MIKE filled the room with appreciation and empathy, inspiring fans to dance and rap along to the songs they know well, proving why this expanded set is so meaningful.

River Tiber’s NPR Tiny Desk Performance Is A Brilliant Musical Chairs Masterpiece

Eric Alper
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River Tiber’s NPR Tiny Desk Performance Is A Brilliant Musical Chairs Masterpiece

River Tiber’s performance at the Tiny Desk offers one of the most brilliant and dynamic games of musical chairs imaginable, completely defying expectations set by his studio work where he often operates as a one-person army. The Toronto native and his exceptional bandmates, Justin Nozuka, Dan Only, and John Mavro, constantly swap instruments, pushing the boundaries of what is possible within the small space as Tiber himself rotates through piano, drums, bass, and trombone. Since his appearance on Kaytranada’s 2016 debut album ‘99.9%’, River Tiber has cultivated a fascinating and somewhat enigmatic presence, an aura that lends itself perfectly to his music, but his talent is not understated; he has collaborated with huge names like Travis Scott and Post Malone. During the set, he delivered the iconic track “Hypnotized,” which Kendrick Lamar sampled, alongside other incredible highlights from his latest album, ‘Dreaming Eyes’, showcasing his wide-ranging musicality and inventive arrangements with pure excitement.

The Mekons Prove Alt-Country Punk Is Still The Best Soundtrack For Chaos at NPR’s Tiny Desk

Eric Alper
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The Mekons Prove Alt-Country Punk Is Still The Best Soundtrack For Chaos at NPR’s Tiny Desk

The enduring power of The Mekons is the band’s nearly 50-year commitment to doing things their own way, creating a glorious snaggled-toothed sneer mixed with the most bittersweet sentimentality. This timeless punk rock attitude is the perfect soundtrack for moments when everything feels completely fraught, and The Mekons brought that energy straight to the Tiny Desk. The band immediately launched listeners back four decades, opening with the joyous and desperate “Last Dance,” a standout from their influential 1985 album ‘Fear and Whiskey’. This track is about falling in love during wartime, and its decades-old themes feel acutely relevant today. The middle of the set featured two phenomenal cuts from this year’s album ‘Horror’, starting with “War Economy,” which has that post-punk throwback energy reminiscent of the days when The Mekons borrowed Gang of Four’s instruments. They followed that with “Sanctuary,” where the always-steadying violin player Susie Honeyman takes a rare vocal lead, her gentle sing-songy voice providing an elegy-like wisp in the musical wind. The performance closed with another classic from ‘Fear and Whiskey’, the down-but-not-defeated barn burner “Hard to Be Human Again,” a song that demands to be sung loudly alongside comrades who have also been punched and beaten by life.

Nduduzo Makhathini Delivers A Deeply Spiritual NPR Tiny Desk Journey

Eric Alper
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Nduduzo Makhathini Delivers A Deeply Spiritual NPR Tiny Desk Journey

Nduduzo Makhathini possesses an incredible, unique ability to absolutely transfix anyone listening, whether through his recorded albums or during his mesmerizing live performances like this recent Tiny Desk set. The South African pianist and Zulu healer creates music that is lush with spiritual exploration, meditations on Blackness, and ancestral invocation, always delivered with thoughtful intentionality. For this intimate concert, Makhathini presented a powerful cross-section of his work titled the Ntu Sonicities Devotion Suite in Five Movements, walking the audience through deeply personal concepts. The suite moves from “Kuzodlula,” which encourages stillness and inward emptiness, to the invocation of African deities in “Omnyama,” before offering a short reflection on Black aesthetics in “Equidistant Passage.” The journey builds to “Izinkonjana,” a transcendent song of grace that evokes the feeling of effortlessly flying birds, and culminates in “Imvunge,” a powerful song of protest and victory. Makhathini, along with bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere and drummer Kabelo Mokhatla, creates a truly immersive soundscape interwoven with Zulu spoken reflections, vocoder use, and sound design that truly compels the audience to participate in this profound act of devotion.

Guster Transforms NPR’s Tiny Desk Into A Symphony of Sounds

Eric Alper
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0
Guster Transforms NPR’s Tiny Desk Into A Symphony of Sounds

Guster’s long-awaited appearance at the Tiny Desk felt like a truly destined moment for a band that has always excelled at weaving incredible sonic landscapes and telling deeply meaningful stories, seamlessly blending new material with beloved older songs. They launched the set with the hopeful anthem “Manifest Destiny,” which is all about packing up and making a clean getaway, before the Washington DC Gay Men’s Chorus provided stunning, rich harmonies on the track “Empire State.”

Ty Segall Proves NPR’s Tiny Desk Can Handle Massive Rock Sounds

Eric Alper
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0
Ty Segall Proves NPR’s Tiny Desk Can Handle Massive Rock Sounds

The biggest myth about the Tiny Desk series is that bands must go all-acoustic or keep the volume low, but Ty Segall went into his set with the clear goal of shattering that notion. When he received the invite to play in the office, his three-word reply by email was a simple, confident mission statement: “We shall rock.” True to his word, the full band delivered a stadium-sized vibe that immediately pushed the limits of the space. They opened with the pulse-spiking “You’re the Doctor” from the 2012 album ‘Twins’ and immediately brought the energy with the title track from this year’s ‘Possession’. That high-voltage sound continued into the rolling, harmony-rich track “Whisper” from 2021’s ‘Harmonizer’, showcasing genuinely glorious shredding you rarely see in such an intimate setting. They closed out the set with a gritty take on “Girlfriend,” a gem from 2010, and the excellent “My Best Friend” off last year’s ‘Three Bells’, leaving no doubt that this is one of the most powerful and electrifying sets the venue has ever hosted.

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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