Tiny Desk producers share their top picks from the Contest

Our ninth annual Tiny Desk Contest brought us nearly 6,000 new artists to discover. (The deadline was March 13, so if you missed it, there's always next year.) Before we reveal this year's winner — a lucky musician or band that will get to play their very own Tiny Desk concert and go on tour with NPR Music this summer — Tiny Desk Contest judges are sharing their favorite entries as part of a livestream YouTube series called Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf.

Tiny Desk series creator Bob Boilen and series producer Bobby Carter kicked things off today, sharing an impressive, eclectic selection of entries from a ton of new artists across the country. "We need more energy at the Tiny Desk," Carter said during the episode. "And I'm feeling that energy 100% [with these entries]."

Featured entries included:

• Los Malcriados, "La Malcriada" 
• Forager, "Can Both Be True?" 
• Giovanni Kiyingi, "Bukunja"
• Vitamin Cea, "Feel That" 
• Brianna Tam, "Scarlet" 
• Young Original, "Doubt Your Love" 
• Velvet Crayon, "Back to Bed"
• Nicolle Horbath, "Florecer" 
• Buggy Jive, "Don't Quit Your Day Job" 

Top Shelf episodes stream on Thursdays at 3 p.m. ET on NPR Music's YouTube channel. You can set your reminder here for future episodes with Tiny Desk alums Baby Rose, Sudan Archives and Sharon Van Etten, plus KEXP's Albina Cabrera. Join us to discover great new artists, support one another in the live chat, and find out which entries are rising to the top.

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