Mellotron Variations: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Watch Mellotron Variations play “Agent Cha Cha“, “Dulcimer“ and “Bill Pulsar“ at the Tiny Desk. Did you know you can watch new Tiny Desk concerts on ONE WEEK before they go up on YouTube? Click here: Follow NPR Music: Twitter: Instagram: March 3, 2020 | Bob Boilen -- We’ve never had an original Mellotron at the Tiny Desk until now. Much like a Hammond organ, it’s big, heavy and fragile. When they fired it up, with all its mechanical gears turning tape loops and moving play heads, the 15-year-old geek in me blissed out.a The Mellotron was a magical 1960s invention that predates sampling. It’s a keyboard instrument, with each piano key triggering a tape loop — the sound could be a string ensemble, a flamenco guitar, a saxophone and so much more. Think about the flute sounds on The Beatles’ song “Strawberry Fields Forever“ and you get the idea. When Mellotron Variations keyboardist Robby Grant and I began di