Alisa Amador (NPR Music Tiny Desk Contest Tour) @ Songbyrd Music House [DC] - 5/24/2022
NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2022 winner Alisa Amador at Songbyrd Music House in DC (Photo ©2022 Mauricio Castro)
For the last few years, NPR has been putting out the call for unsigned bands in the USA to submit videos of their own original music, with the hopes of winning and getting to perform at the now-famous Tiny Desk. Fantastic Negrito and Tank and the Bangas were two standout recipients of the very competitive annual contest who have gone on to sell out large venues and even win Grammy Awards. In DC, home of NPR’s Tiny Desk, this year’s winner and last year’s winner got together at Songbyrd alongside two other groups from the DMV, hand-picked by member station WAMU/DCist.
Everyday Everybody, which some DC music fans may remember under their previous name Aztec Sun, opened with a massive nine-piece soul/rock explosion. Post-punk quartet Outerloop had the loudest performance of the night, with 5/4 time signatures bolstered by singer Taisha Estrada’s powerful vocals sung both in English and in Spanish. Arlington native and 2021 Tiny Desk Contest winner Neffy followed up, enrapturing the crowd into silence with her solo acoustic performance and deep gratitude for the opportunity to play for crowds again. And this year’s winner, Alisa Amador, who won with a Spanish-language solo recording on her electric guitar, brought a full band in tow to show off not just her solo folk prowess, but also livened things up with a Lake Street Dive-caliber soul-pop performance.
The Tiny Desk Contest tour will continue June 7 in Seattle, June 12 in Atlanta, June 14 in Los Angeles, and June 18 in New York City. Alisa Amador’s latest release is the September 2021 EP Narratives.
