#desksinthewild

Desks In The Wild: The results are in, and your pick for our first weekly fan-favorite vote is ... The Helmsmen! Their sun-tanning desk and floating, seaworthy tunes won your hearts and took home the title for this week’s Desks In The Wild category. Congratulations to the band and to all our other nominees this week.

We’ll be back on Monday with our next just-for-fun, fan-favorite vote. Remember, this is separate from the actual Tiny Desk Contest judging — don’t worry if you aren’t selected for one of these votes, or if you don’t win. Share your peers’ music, support each other and discover a new artist to fall in love with.

– Ben

Desks In The Wild:  Eva & the Vagabond Tales filmed "Winter” in California, but it has a mournful, Appalachian sound to it. Their desk, true to the band’s name, is makeshift — a board set on top of a dull green suitcase. It’s complete with a tiny lamp, a tiny pencil and several tiny notebooks.

If this traveling desk is your favorite of our six nominees for this week’s Desks In The Wild fan vote, then head over to our weekly just-for-fun vote page by this Friday to cast your vote. In the meantime, we’re reviewing all the submissions to the Contest to choose the overall winner, whom we’ll announce by early March!

-- Ben

Desks In The Wild: At the misty edge of the Shenandoah River in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., Mink’s Miracle Medicine plays the languid “Break My Body’s Speed.” Their desk is both in and of nature — made of salvaged pine slab, set on iron legs at river’s edge. In all-American fashion, it supports two books: one by Mark Twain, and what appears to be a copy of Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael. Lead singer Melissa Elizabeth Wright seems to draw from a deep, soulful reservoir as she sings — especially on the titular refrain.

If this noble pine’s return to the wilderness is your favorite of our six nominees for this week’s Desks In The Wild fan vote, then head over to our weekly just-for-fun vote page by this Friday to cast your vote. In the meantime, we’re reviewing all the submissions to the Contest to choose our overall winner, whom we’ll announce by early March!

– Ben

Desks In The Wild: Our first video in this week’s fan-favorite vote is “Floating” by Florida’s The Helmsmen. Their desk lounges poolside as the band floats nearby on two small boats. Jesse Glendinning, this ship’s captain and sea-shanty singer, leads the band with a dark, seafaring tale.

If this lazy, sun-tanned desk is your favorite of our six nominees for this week’s Desks In The Wild fan vote, then head over to our weekly just-for-fun vote page by this Friday to cast your vote! In the meantime, we’re reviewing all the submissions to the Contest to choose our overall winner, whom we’ll announce by early March.

-- Ben

Desks In The Wild: Little Red and the Riffs set their desk in The Lost Pines of Bastrop, Texas. The Lost Pines are so named because they’re isolated, set apart from the forest where you’d expect to find them – not unlike a desk displaced from an office. Chelsea Pribble opens “Howl” by singing from the desk, and she draws Little Red and the Riffs through a low-key and soulful tune well matched to the moody, overcast day.

If this lost desk of Bastrop is your favorite of our six nominees for this week’s Desks In The Wild fan vote, then head over to our weekly just-for-fun vote page by this Friday at 10:00 a.m. EST to cast your vote. In the meantime, we’re reviewing all the submissions to the Contest to choose our overall winner, whom we’ll announce by early March!

– Ben

Desks In The Wild: Late at night by a gloomy Pacific Ocean, Peter Su sings the haunting “Into The Sea.” As The Helmsmen did in their entry, Su has carefully chosen his setting to complement his lyrics. The waves are audible in the background, and they add a heavy feeling of consequence to Su’s lovelorn song.

If this rusty seaside desk is your favorite of our six nominees for this week’s Desks In The Wild fan vote, then head over to our weekly just-for-fun vote page by this Friday to cast your vote. In the meantime, we’re reviewing all the submissions to the Contest to choose the overall winner, whom we’ll announce by early March!

-- Ben

Desks in the Wild: Mike Saliani recorded the video for “Milk This Ride” on what appears to be a farm out in Petaluma, Calif. The desk is worn and weathered, well suited to the surroundings: A chicken walks in its pen and you can hear at least one goat’s bleat if you listen closely. Saliani’s lonesome character portrait is subtle and affecting. He manages to name-check two key influences, too — Willie and Merle would smile upon this song.

If this barnyard desk is your favorite of our six nominees for this week’s Desks In The Wild fan vote, then head over to our weekly just-for-fun vote page by this Friday at 10:00 a.m. EST to cast your vote. In the meantime, we’re reviewing all the submissions to the Contest to choose the overall winner, whom we’ll announce by early March!

– Ben