The Prettiots: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts

June 15, 2015 by BOB BOILEN •
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)" 00:00
"Stabler" 2:55
"Suicide Hotline" 5:29

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