We have hosted rap legends, Broadway musicals, pop stars, world-renowned classical musicians, indie rockers and folkies — there's a universe of music at the Tiny Desk that keeps expanding. But we have never featured a hardcore punk band at the NPR Music office ... until Soul Glo.
Hardcore and punk are vital not only in how I understand the world but also challenge myself; it's music that feels first, then screams. Soul Glo crystalizes its anger and anxiety — about trauma, anti-Blackness, mortality, survival — with a pummeling prism of classic hardcore speed, psychedelic noise, sludgy riffs and a spitfire vocalist with exasperated-but-exhilarating run-ons, who finds moments to step back and bounce like an emcee would.
But punk can also be unpredictable because, at its heart, punk does not want to be contained. Soul Glo's set features tracks from 2022's still thrilling Diaspora Problems, plus a loosie from last year. Halfway through "Driponomics," Pierce Jordan gets on the Desk, but dips in and out of the microphone's range to commune with the throng of punks gathered. The same happens with the band's outrageously chaotic and catchy closer, "Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)," but what the mics don't capture in Jordan's verse, the crowd more than ably makes up for in the gang vocals that feverishly scream back the hook. (Yes, that is me stepping into the frame to get a mic back in Jordan's general vicinity.) Oh, and in a Tiny Desk of several firsts, a mosh pit broke out in the office; I'm still smiling about it.
SET LIST
- "Jump!! (Or Get Jumped!!!)((by the future))"
- "If I Speak (Shut The F*** Up)"
- "Driponomics"
- "Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)"
MUSICIANS
- Pierce Jordan: vocals, bass
- GG Guerra: guitar, vocals
- Allen Nunez: bass, guitar
- TJ Stevenson: drums
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Lars Gotrich
- Director/Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
- Series Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Zayrha Rodriguez
- Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
- Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
- Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Hazel Cills
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
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