The Prettiots: Tiny Desk Concert

The Prettiots' songs are winsome and clever, but most of all they're honest and funny. Goodness knows pop music needs some clever fun.

The three women in The Prettiots — Kay Kasparhauser on ukulele and lead vocals, Rachel Trachtenburg from the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players on drums, and bassist Lulu Prat — share their love of everything from Law & Order to old-school girl groups like the Shangri-Las. Their song "Stabler," performed here, is based on Kasparhauser's infatuation with the Law & Order character Elliot Stabler.

"Boys (I Dated In High School)" is the Prettiots tune that first charmed me, thanks mainly to the perfect portrait its brainy rhymes paint:

Martin, that was your name

I met you on the 1 train

You were super duper duper hot

On the 1 train

You said you were a painter

Mostly you were a waiter

A stoner and a skater

So I had to say later,

These are the boys that I dated in high school

I thought they were so nice

And I thought they were so cool

These are the boys that I dated in high school

They weren't very nice

And they weren't very cool

It's the sort of music you'll either adore or abhor; it's hard to be neutral and you'll know it quickly. For me, their appearance at the Tiny Desk totally made my day.

Set List

• "Boys (I Dated In High School)"
• "Stabler"
• "Suicide Hotline"

Credits

Producers: Bob Boilen, Maggie Starbard; Audio Engineer: Brian Jarboe; Editor: Morgan Walker; Videographers: Maggie Starbard, Morgan McCloy; Assistant Producer: Michaela Gugliotta; photo by Morgan McCloy/NPR

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