Kathleen Edwards isn’t a flashy singer-songwriter, but her music sticks: Easygoing and accessible, it burrows in deep and then stays put. In the NPR Music offices, she sings four sweet, warm, relatable songs that soothe as they nourish.

After a long hiatus, The Cranberries is about to return with a new album called Roses. But if this performance at the NPR Music offices is any indication, the group isn’t afraid to dip into its arsenal of early hits.

The Screaming Females’ keen sense of song prevails in this Tiny Desk Concert, especially in a new song called “It All Means Nothing.”

Watch singer Le Butcherettes singer Teri Gender Bender transform from a soft-spoken musician into a rock ‘n’ roll beast.

Even in a stripped-down acoustic set, Tinariwen’s trance-inducing desert music doesn’t disappoint.

It’s always fun to see an artist who commands space and attention play the confined quarters of Bob Boilen’s desk. Up close, Merrill Garbus’ face contorts with a physical manifestation of the bellows and coos and Prince-style wails that come out of her mouth. You can peer over to watch her stocking feet cavort across the loop pedals. Her warmth and willingness to be unrestrained acts as a communal invitation, so when she encourages the audience to jump along during “You Yes You,” she invites us to let go of our inhibitions, too.

If you watch closely, you can see everyone here grinning like fools. At the end of the performance, after the cameras were turned off, Garbus smiled and said, “Thanks so much for jumping.”

Hospital Ships’ beautiful, crushing songs pack an emotional punch in this performance at NPR Music.

Yo-Yo Ma heads a dream team of string players featuring double-bass master Edgar Meyer, mandolinist Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers) and veteran bluegrass fiddler Stuart Duncan in this performance at the NPR Music office.

Hear a lot of jokes and laughs, a broken mandolin string, a little retuning, and some terrific music that’s fun, intricately built and — thankfully — impossible to pigeonhole.

Tinariwen @ Tiny Desk (Taken with Instagram at NPR Headquarters)

(Source: keithwj)

Czech singer Marketa Irglova is the quiet young female half of The Swell Season, the duo that formed out of its members’ involvement in the Oscar-winning movie musical Once. Given that Irglova was part of one of the most memorable Tiny Desk Concerts ever, it only made sense to bring her back for a show where she gets the spotlight to herself.

Irglova brought a new collaborator of her own in Iranian singer-percussionist Aida Shahghasemi, who pulled off the increasingly rare distinction of bringing an instrument (called a daf) that had never been played behind Bob Boilen’s desk — not while any of us were looking, anyway.