GUN OUTFIT

There are some bands that lend themselves to bizarre introspective thought that only really makes sense during the asphalt daze of a roadtrip or whatever the hell you think about while passing in and out of consciousness. For example, Meat Puppets, Sebadoh, and Unwound are bands that have always lent a connection when I find myself on a long walk home after a shitty day's work. The weirdness and warm feelings those bands evoke seem to draw away the tedium of pounding the sidewalk and dwelling on the concept that the only good boss is a dead one. When my friend gave me a tape of his new band, Gun Outfit, I popped that shit in the tape deck and was instantly excited about the next time I found myself pissed off and bored (which, if you know me, didn't take long).

The riffs Gun Outfit seem to come up with in their sleep are so awkwardly catchy that it sends me back a decade or two to trading tapes of "You're Living All Over Me" and zoning out until the school bell releases my mind to more productive pursuits (like finding out why Jenny said hi to me in the hall - does she LOVE me???). My friend doesn't play in Gun Outfit anymore but unlike many of your "friend's bands," that hasn't done a damn thing to keep me from loving this band more with every release. Get ready to lose your head in the clouds and get weird.

DREAMDECAY (ONE WORD)
Call us, or just me if you want, hopelessly nostalgic or whatever, but man there's something about a good, loud guitar band in 2012. Especially those that are totally unconcerned with how new or Ohsees-like their stuff sounds.

Dreamdecay's stuff really reminds me of what I like so much about Vaz and Unwound. Loud, kind of solid state ringy guitar tone, and cold, but human hammering repetition. "Noise rock" gets overused here at Total Fest, but I mean, I think we kind of seek it out, and are also pleasantly surprised when it noise rock, done well, finds us. Like for example with this Seattle group called Dreamdecay who popped out of exactly nowhere, onto all of our highly anticipated groups list. They seem to be playing shows with rad bands like Gun Outfit and Milk Music, and have a pleasantly basic blog. I also hear the Mayyors somewhere in this.

BROKEN WATER

NO MORE NICE GIRLS

Straight from Olympia, Babies! Broken Water is a three-some of self-declared feminists and grunge-aholics. In an interchanging instrumentation of bass, guitar and drums, Abigail, Kanako, and Jon blend together punk and pop with shoegaze and psychedalia. If you enjoy Total Fest veterans like RVIVR, Milk Music, and Gun Outfit as much as I do then Broken Water is a must see/hear/experience. Just consult Maximum Rock and Roll if you don’t believe me (specifically issue #320) or check out their new full length Tempest released by Hardly Art. I can’t wait to watch this band and fantasize about being them. Broken Water is not gender specific and watching them is like watching three ambiguous people hum together, it really doesn’t matter who has the dick. Maybe it is not okay to say that, but their songs like “Stop Means Stop” and “Boyfriend Hole" lead me to believe that their brand of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm so well hidden in their tunes overcomes the suffocating political correctness that surrounds the topics of gender, sexuality and politics. Stop being so sensitive and let the music stroke your gender, whatever that means.