Oh, that we could all be so Pretty & Nice

My friend Julio asked me for some Top Fives of the year (leaving it open to interpretation) and I gave him things like 5 shows I loved, 5 books I enjoyed, and 5 memorable Halloween costumes I saw. My friends were more creative. The wonderful John Wenzel (who knows dangerously funny stuff) caught my attention with this write-up of his “favorite neon spazz-rock trio”:

Pretty & Nice hail from Boston, but they may as well be from southern Ohio circa 1996, as much as they incorporate elements of Dayton-bred acts like Brainiac and Guided by Voices into their squiggling synths, monaural guitars and insanely catchy vocal melodies. There’s also bits of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe (and latter day post-punk/pop whores the New Pornographers) out in front, and somehow this mash of old and new makes perfect, danceable sense.

Big words like that are why he works for a newspaper, people.

I love short lists of bests at the end of the year from people with tastes so different than mine, so I took a listen and yeah, pretty much haven’t stopped all day. Everything Wenzel says (in this instance) is true. You can stream the aptly-titled new album Get Young over on the Pretty & Nice website, and here’s one ridiculously danceable tune you can take with you.

Tora Tora Tora – Pretty & Nice

Fuel/Friends was also comfortably ranked above naughtynicegay.com on the list of “Colorado music websites that are taking over the world,” by one hiply-monikered Ricardo Baca. Whew. That site has really, really good music, so it was a close finish. Thanks!