RDGLDGRN: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

How do you pronounce RDGLDGRN? Easy, it’s just Red Gold Green. Clean and simple, no vowels, no fluff — just like the band’s music. Listen and you’ll hear a striking mix of rock, hip-hop, funk, go-go and international sounds, fused with energy and humor. RDGLDGRN is based in the D.C. suburb of Reston, Va. Local music fans know the band well, and have enjoyed watching it win fans across the country and around the world. A few years ago, I heard its first album (Red, Gold, Green) and fell in love with RDGLDGRN’s style. It’s not only because Dave Grohl played drums in most of the songs, while Pharrell Williams cowrote and co-produced “Doing The Most.“ I loved the group’s fresh sound, and how its members rapped over the top of real drums. Their catchy hooks and harmonies quickly grabbed my attention. When planning for RDGLDGRN’s Tiny Desk show, many details were up for consideration: time, date, technical arrangements, and so on. Of biggest concern, though, was how the group would fit into the scaled-down settin