It’s time for a re-up to our Monomania playlist, the songs currently stuck in our head and on constant repeat. We’ve asked George Pettis from 100 Watt Horse to take over this week’s playlist with some picks of his own.
If you haven’t listened to 100 Watt Horse yet, it’s time to get on board with one of the most inventive and compelling experimental folk bands around. Led by songwriter George Pettis, the band has released one full length album (Top 5 of 2015 here on OE), and two EP’s including the latest, It May Very Well Do (March 2016), which pushes the boundaries of the band’s sound, while the 4 songs are presented into one 15 minute mixtape to listen to straight through:
George Pettis’ “The Tite List June 24, 2016”
This is an arbitrary list of tite songs that should be listened to, in my unqualified opinion:
Mitski, “Your Best American Girl”
The combination of how good this song is and how easily it could be used for a Target back-to-school sale commercial has been destroying my brain since I first heard it. It has all the hallmarks of the sort of pop song I would normally dismiss: distorted vocals, power chords, feedbacky background guitar sounds, etc. But Mitski is simply too good at what she does to fall into that category; so good, in fact, that she has somehow found a way to co-opt all that cheesy shit and reclaim it for herself. It’s almost as if she somehow cheated and found a way to make all that mid-2000s indie rock shit cool again without having to wait the obligatory 20 years or so for it to become retro-cool.
I give it 5/5 Jansport Backpacks.
Fantasy Guys, “Going on a Chill Walk”
The biggest strength of the new Fantasy Guys album is also, in my opinion, it’s only real weakness. This is that all of the songs on the record are mega chillax-ed out to the point of being a bit indiscernible. But then, you don’t fault one of the levels on Super Mario World because it plays like another level. Rather, you view them all as chapters in a larger story, and that is how to best view Fantasy Guys. They are three p chill vibe wizards casting 420 spells from atop a pineapple-patterned unicorn/dolphin hybrid. They are the word “tite” personified in a band and therefore perfect for this list.
I give this track ⅘ tiny umbrellas.
Omni, “Wednesday Wedding”
Omni (previously Landline) has been steadily growing on me for a couple years now, which feels silly to say considering how much I dug all of the bands that groomed each member: Carnivores, Balkans, Back Pockets. Still, I think this song is a departure. The previous output I’ve heard from this band has been solid to a fault, like a bunch of scene veterans who could write a great rock song in their sleep. “Wednesday Wedding” is Phillip and the boys dipping their feet into the shallow end of the mathy art-rock swimming pool that Red Sea and Hellier Ulysses have been floating in, drinking Bud Light Lime A Ritas in, for years now. And dagnabbit I really have to mention how much I enjoy Billy Mitchell’s drumming, and this song is a challenge for him, a challenge which he overcomes with style and inventiveness that makes me very VERY stoked for the upcoming full length.
I give this track ⅘ Bud Light Limes because Lime A Ritas are fucking nasty as hell.
Hello Ocho, “Tear Wagon”
It was hard to pick one song off of In Portuguese because the whole record is a jellyfish and each song is a microorganism in the larger beast. In general, though, it’s safe to say I fuck with this band. I just like how truly weird Hello Ocho is, and sometimes their musicianship and pop sensibilities will hide this fact. I chose this song in particular because it’s hard to miss the weirdness when, for example, Chris goes Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with the breaking fragile vocals or when Clinton is just zipping that bass line all over the damn fretboard. I sort of hate to see this band lumped in with the multi-instrumentalist mini orchestras Atlanta tends to produce (Adron, Little Tybee, Faun and a Pan Flute, etc) because they are, in essence, a true pop band. And yeah, they are all stupid talented, I will give you that (John Gregg, best drummer in ATL? discuss) but all of these melodies are straight up jingle-level get-out-of-my-head catchy, and that is hard enough to do, and even without the cherry of virtuosic playing on top this is a pretty tasty sunday. Just let it soak in, stop tapping out the polyrhythms, appreciate how genuinely fun this band is.
Guerilla Toss, “367 Equalizer”
Do I really have to explain this one? Guerilla Toss is the raddest rock band in the universe and this track is LIVE, man, it’s fucking LIVE like god damn this is live? Yes, it’s fucking LIVE. Ugh. This shit is gross. – George Pettis
All tracks on Spotify added to our “Monomania” playlist (kept fresh with 30 songs at a time) for your on the go playlist needs:
More Info on 100 Watt Horse:
