Tiny Desk Concerts - Video

Predicting music that will survive the ages just isn't possible. And the very existence of The Zombies in 2012 is even more baffling. Don't get me wrong; I love this group. A few of their 45 RPM singles — "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" — I can still recall spinning 'round on my record player as a kid. But understand that this band didn't do so well at home in England and that its best known song, "Time of the Season," came out after the band had already broken up...

Known for mixing folk and electronic music, Orton unveils three new songs with just an acoustic guitar. Her next album, Sugaring Season, doesn't come out until Oct. 2, so consider this a sneak preview — alongside a lovely, spare version of 1999's "Sweetest Decline."

Singer Hamilton Leithauser may wield an acoustic guitar in these three songs, but this is no awkward attempt to shoehorn booming rock anthems into arrangements that don't suit them. It's clear that these guys were making the Tiny Desk accommodate their sound rather than the other way around.

Guitarist Janet Feder marries classical technique and folk song structures with a curiosity and imagination that lets her custom nylon-string baritone electric take on otherworldly textures and sounds.

Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale get a lot done with subtle gestures, but there's real sophistication to the three gorgeous, harmony-rich folk-pop songs they recently performed in the NPR Music offices.

A soulful yet steely singer-songwriter from Algeria charts her own course, from withstanding death threats in her native country to selling hundreds of thousands of records around the globe. Watch her perform four songs in the NPR Music offices.

A soulful yet steely singer-songwriter from Algeria charts her own course, from withstanding death threats in her native country to selling hundreds of thousands of records around the globe. Watch her perform four songs in the NPR Music offices.

In this performance at the NPR Music offices, two pieces from Laura Marling's newest record, 2011's A Creature I Don't Know, bookend a gorgeous new song called "Once." She'd never even recorded "Once," let alone released it, so consider this performance a premiere of sorts.

In this performance at the NPR Music offices, two pieces from Laura Marling's newest record, 2011's A Creature I Don't Know, bookend a gorgeous new song called "Once." She'd never even recorded "Once," let alone released it, so consider this performance a premiere of sorts.

The songs of Exitmusic are so romantically rich, they could envelop a cavernous hall. Luckily, the band didn't defang that cinematic power and anguish in the intimate confines of the NPR Music offices. Here, Exitmusic plays a beautifully buzzing set, marked by vocal nuance and stirring melodies.