Have a Nice Life

For those who don't like to read: Deathconsciousness is the greatest album of all time, fuck you I said it.

Suggested listening for while you don't read this.

Have a Nice Life- "A Quick One Before the Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut"

I really hate making lofty claims such as: "Hey, this band is my favorite band of all time!" or "Hey, this truly is the greatest song I've ever heard, I mean, did you HEAR THAT BASS DROP?!" The problem with these statements to me are, times fucking change man. What you may love one year may not be your favorite band the next year, month, week, or day. I've really tried to stay away from these claims, although I have been known to do it before (Man, City of Caterpillar/Kidcrash/The Vidablue/Ten Grand is my favorite band ever); but it's definitely not something I do as much, or at all now. I'm in the middle of a big music taste change anyway, so any of these lofty claims I make are most likely bullshit and I'll just make another one in the next week (that will also most likely be bullshit).

That's why it's weird for me to declare that Have a Nice Life's Deathconsciousness is the greatest album of all time. For close to 4 years now, I've said this, and I'm pretty damn fucking sure that I will continue to say this for as long as time will go. I mean cmon, the album art is one of my fucking favorite pieces of art all time, Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat. I'm pretty sure I downloaded this years ago just for this simple reason. It's not to say this album hasn't had a profound fucking affect on my life though. There has been times in my life where, fuck it man, I'm depressed, and I would just turn off the lights, throw on this record, and turn it up all the fucking way and sit in there in this ambient/drone/shoegaze-y noise. It's fucking hauntingly beautiful, absolutely wild.

And that's the best way to describe the first song on this album, A Quick One Before the Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut. Hauntingly beautiful. I've never been one for a droning ambient noise, but there is absolutely something different about this track, different from the first second I listened to it, different as I listen to it right now. I could really just go on and on about how great it is, the looping guitar line, the keyboard or whatever coming over and whisking away in the background, shit, it's still unlike any other ambient track I listen to, which usually will just bore me to tears (DARK AMBIENT, I'M LOOKING AT YOU).

Have a Nice Life- "Bloodhail"

And that's really the flow of the first disc, The Plow That Broke the Plains, very subdued, very laid back, very fucking good. The best track on this disc is easily the 2nd track, Bloodhail. The whole song is perfectly laid back with a great bass line (which happens more than once on this entire album). And the whole song builds up to the great part of "We kill everyone with, arrowheads, arrowheads" with arrowheads being repeated until the end of time, which is absolutely fantastic. I'm not saying the rest of The Plow That Broke the Plains is bad, because it is in no way close to that; it's just so fucking hard for the rest of the first disc to live up to how great the first two tracks are. Really, the first disc is the perfect thing to relax to, to wind down from whatever awful day you've had, to get you to calm down from anything. Honestly, it's the perfect problem solver of an album, nothing better to do anything to.

Have a Nice Life- "Waiting for Black Metal Records to Come in the Mail"

Now the 2nd disc, entitled The Future, is something completely fucking different. It still has that ambient feel you love to it, but it's just, way fucking better. All 6 songs on The Future are fucking fantastic, just perfectly made songs. Waiting for Black Metal Records to Come in the Mail was the first Have a Nice Life song I've ever heard, and it will forever remain my favorite Have a Nice Life song. Something about the drums, coupled with the guitar in this song, just makes it an absolutely, hauntingly, perfect song. It's hard to describe shit like this (and really, this whole 2nd disc) because it's hard to put feelings like this into words. Whenever I hear the chorus of this song, I literally feel a lightness in my chest, like some sort of mental anguish is literally lifted off of me. Weird shit, eh? Even weirder to try and fucking explain. This is what makes the 2nd disc so hard to describe, because this isn't the only song that gives me that feeling in my chest. The next song, Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000, may do an even better job of putting this feeling in my chest. It's really hard to put this song in words. The fucking chord progression of the acoustic guitar is just, better than perfect, better than the greatest thing I've ever heard, better than achieving nirvana, just holy shit it's really fucking good. So good, I don't even want to use italics to get my point across how good it is, because it's better then that. Not only do we get this fantastic chord progression, but then the song breaks down into this fucking wall of electronic/guitar noise that rips you apart, before seguing back into the original chord progression.

Have a Nice Life- "Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000"

You know how I said Waiting for Black Metal Records to Come in the Mail was my favorite song on this album? Bullshit, it's Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000. And that's why you can't make bullshit lofty claims without being 100% sure.

The rest of this album is straight out of the park home runs as well, from the instrumental track, to the most out of place track on this entire album, The Future. From the fantastic opening of I Don't Love, to the absolutely glorious ending to the entire album with Earthmover. Earthmover is basically 11 and a half minutes of "Fuck you, this whole album rules." To be completely honest, I'm already sure I'll never here an album this good in my life again. It's not even close to depressing either to know I've found music's entire fucking zenith. It's sort of a great feeling actually, knowing this album will always be here, and I'll always be able to listen to it. Great feeling, but eerie as well.

Have a Nice Life has also released two other tapes, Time of Land and Voids. To be honest, I have never listened to either of these tapes. It's not these tape's fault, it's just that, whenever I go to listen to Have a Nice Life, why the fuck would I put on something other than Deathconsciousness?

Deathconsciousness is the greatest album of all time, fuck you I said it, and I'm sticking with it.

Deathconsciousness

Time of Land

Voids

Cigaretteman

For those who don't like to read: Cigaretteman is really fucking good pop-punk from Japan, really fucking good. Split female/male vocals, the whole nine yards (minus Bruce Willis). Get at it.

First off, before anything is mentioned, I would like to thank Servo from the Internet for uploading this for me.

I learned about Cigaretteman about a week ago looking for more Japanese pop-punk (which there will be a part 2 post as well). I fell in love with them immediately, because not only are they really fucking good, just look at that god damn picture up top. LOOK AT IT. I really love it for some reason, I have no clue why, it just rules. So after already building up a love for a band I never heard of, I found some stuff on youtube, and it turns out, they're actually really fucking good. Not just the picture, but man, what a fucking band.

Cigaretteman- "Stay"

From what I can find online about them, they had 4 members:

• Chikako - Vocals / Guitar
• Hiroaki Uozumi - Vocals / Guitar
• Seiji - Bass
• Hiroyuki - Drums

After that, not a fucking thing to be found. Well, there is a fucking fan site set up, but it's all in Japanese and google translator blows ass, so the mystery will forever remain. Speaking of the band, it's really great 90s pop-punk, basically yet again proving that I was born a decade too late. So that pretty much means you've got a the "Jawbreaker-y" riffs and music to go along to, with some awesome male/female vocals to accompany you. Pretty much the perfect music (to me anyway) for any moods; feeling happy? You fucking know I'm gonna jam to some Cigaretteman. Feeling sad? You fucking know I'm gonna cheer myself up to some Cigaretteman. Weather outside is looking shitty because Mother Nature is a total bitch? I'll tell Mother Nature to go fuck herself by blasting some Cigaretteman. It's summer and I've got my windows down and I'm totally blaring down 95 at unsafe speeds? You guessed right that I'll be fucking blasting Cigaretteman while driving like I'm from New Jersey (and I totally am so this works).

I'm not going to prolong this post by dragging on about how great it is. You probably like 90s pop-punk because you have to have something seriously wrong with you to not enjoy it. Cigaretteman embodies everything I'm looking for a lot of days, great music to bob my head along to while I have no fucking idea what they're saying.

Cigaretteman- Discography

Japanese Pop Punk

For those who don't like to read: Haha, this is going to be a really long fucking post. Go wild at the bottom, all bands are great. Looking back after writing this, this isn't as long as I expected, whatever.

Maybe I'm a little too into Japan. Sure, there is only 3 posts on this blog (including this one, because I got really fucking lazy already, oops), but I can't even remember when I got seriously interested in Japan. I can guarantee that the music that comes from that island is a big reason for it though. Seriously, every country has their shitty bands, but the good bands in Japan are really fucking good. Maybe I can't understand them all the time, but that doesn't stop it from being some really enjoyable shit.

I think the weirder thing about this whole thing, and this post, is my gradual descension into pop punk. Sure, I can call what I listened to most of elementary school/middle school pop punk, but this is different. This is the rawer sounding late 90s pop punk that was going around (think Sore Loser, Dig Dug, other Texas pop punk bands). Then mostly throughout late middle school through my graduation (and a year after that) all I would listen to is idiots screaming at the top of their lungs. Really, just anyone in the town I lived in knew exactly where the fuck I was because of what was coming out of the car. Well, now that my ears only work at half capacity, and I'm just not as angsty anymore, I've moved more into the pop punk style of music. Not exactly the most creative genre around, but it's more about listening to great tunes, and the happy jams. A complete fucking shift in what I listen to now, maybe I'd rather just get blackout fucking drunk now instead of whining about how unfair the world is and how much life sucks (but alcohol costs money, and tears don't cost a god damn thing!).

Minority Blues Band- "Hands to Build"

I don't remember exactly how I grew so interested in Japanese pop punk, but my greatest guess would be to pin it on 1000 Travels of Jawaharlal. Shit, they're not even pop punk (maybe one of the best bands to come out of Japan, because Owari Wa Konai definitely ranks as one of my favorite LPs of all time), but they sure did do a lot of splits with pop punk bands, respectively: Minority Blues Band and Pear of the West. These two bands were definitely the first experiences I've had with not only Japanese pop punk, but Japanese punk in general. Sure, finding the actual split between 1000 Travels/Pear of the West is absolutely fucking impossible, but the 1000 Travels/Minority Blues Band split isn't, and really, it's almost as fucking good (Pear of the West is #1, for reasons explained soon). I don't know much about any actual histories of these bands, and for Minority Blues Band, I know they existed between 1998-2004. They released two LPs, and a final album that was a compilation of all their splits and such. Really, I'm awful at describing bands, so for any next bands, just give the videos I'm posting a shot, and if you enjoy it, really consider downloading the stuff I post.

Pear of the West.

Now this is where shit gets really good, really fucking good. I'll always rate Pear of the West as one of my favorite things to come out Japan, because it's female fronted pop punk, really fucking good female fronted pop punk. Honestly, I can't describe just how perfect this band sounds for me. It's either the just the fantastic combination of pop punk and her voice, or maybe because I don't understand a fucking thing she is saying, but holy shit it's really good. It's everything you're looking for, short and fast songs, great riffs, you wanna bob your head to it, whatever. I already told you once I fucking suck at describing things, now I have to tell you twice. Get a fucking hint.

But really, female fronted pop punk that is really good? ITS LIKE DREAMS ARE SHATTERING EVERYWHERE. No really, I love the idea of this, and I wish I knew about more female fronted pop punk bands that I would totally be into (hint). I honestly wish I knew more about these bands, but I have no idea how to read Japanese, so until then, I'm stuck giving you half-assed descriptions of why I really love these bands.

Pear of the West- "All I Want All I Need is Communication"

Her Spectacles

Her Spectacles are another great pop punk hailing from Japan. I'd tell you more about them, but their website looks like someone vomited a bunch of text that ASCII couldn't understand, so I'm basically grasping at straws here on what to actually say about them. And I feel like this late in the post you should get the fucking idea what kind of music it is.

Her Spectacles- "Deception"

Then there is Cigaretteman:

Cigaretteman- "Fade Away"

Thanks to the idiots that shut down megaupload though, this one is going to have to be saved for another day.

I wish I knew more about Japanese pop punk, and if you do know more, or would just like to converse on the subject, please feel free to send me an email and we can talk until the Mr. Burns blocks off the sun. But really, learning new music is the best thing there is around, and I hope whoever reads this learns and finds something new to love and enjoy, that's what this blog is about.

Minority Blues Band

Capitalized Suffering

Grab the Fire Swinging in the Rain

Momentary Beautiful Burnout

Pear of the West

This Means Little Resistance And The Proof Of Existence

They also have an 'incomplete discography' called Passed Out on Wasted that I hope to get sometime.

Her Spectacles

Remain

Matt Davis (RIP)

For those who don't like to read a lot: Fuck off and read. This is the only blog post I've ever preemptively written for, for reasons explained in the first paragraph.

It's weird to say that I feel emotions so strong for a person I'll never meet in my life, but that is is really what it boils down to when it comes to a guy like Matt Davis. Honestly, the music his bands have created have really brought me through some incredibly tough times in my life, and for that I can only thank him immensely. It's weird to know that I feel like I have some emotional connection with a person that I never even heard of until 5 or so years after his passing. I'm not writing this post only as a tribute to an obvious great example of what the human race can produce, but as a personal and heartfelt thank you to Matt Davis, you may never know how much what you've made means to me, but everything you've been a part of has touched me in someway during my life, no matter when I've heard it; and by that I mean everything you've been apart of, the most obvious being The Vidablue/Ten Grand, but also you're mostly forgotten other projects of Sergio Leone and Lets Drown Each Other.

I've been thinking about how I wanted to break up the bands Matt was apart of, and I guess the shitty block format is all I can think of.

Only Ten Between Us: Youth Crew/Hardcore band that featured Matt on guitars and only that. I've only listened to this band a couple times just for a reference in what Matt's done, and it sounds like what you think a bunch of teenagers playing hardcore would sound like.

Brazil: This featured Matt on Guitar/Vocals and two dudes from other bands (oh god I can't fucking remember right now what bands they were from). This is a lot more straight forward than the stuff that would eventually be the The Vidablue/Ten Grand. Still enjoyable to hear Matt wail along though, no matter how shitty the quality of the rip.

The Vidablue/Ten Grand: Holy fucking shit I can go on about this group forever. What I would call my favorite group  of all time, this band literally changed my thoughts and perceptions about music as a whole, and what I thought fury in music could be. Before this, I really only recently started listening to screamo (hardcore, whatever the fuck you want to call it) with bands like Saetia, City of Caterpillar, what have you. I don't remember how I exactly came upon The Vidablue's first album "Our Miracle Point of Contact," but I remember being sort of jaded about the album. It was just, strange fucking alien music to my ears. The music was fast, heavy, but it would change into slower paces without warning, and man, that guys fucking voice! It sounded awful to me at first, and as usual, I didn't know how wrong I was. I pretty much kept this album, along with the other two albums they later released as Ten Grand, stashed away, probably never going to listen to them again because I just couldn't stand what I was hearing.

Ten Grand- "Grave? Shovel! Let's Go."

Basically, the biggest punch in the face I'll ever experience.

I don't remember what fucking day it was, but the song "Grave? Shovel! Let's Go." came on, and my fucking god. I'll never remember being so floored by fucking fury in a song, just feeling every note going through me and going absolutely ape shit to the song in my little computer chair, it was like nothing at all I've experience yet! Maybe it was just a right time at the right place sort of thing, but whatever it was, it has stuck with me, and will continue to stick with me. My whole concept of music changed that day; I thought I had an idea of what music could create (being a douchey teenager who thought he knew god damn everything), but that all went down the drain upon hearing this one track. I could go with the "rest is history..." line here, but that would be selling myself short on the impact this band has had on my life. I can't imagine another band I listened to as much during the time my Grandmother passed away, relentlessly shouting along the words I at least knew (shit, the lyrics wrote in their inserts for records didn't even match what they wrote, they just said what they felt in the heat of the moment, and I always thought that was extra fucking cool). And to this day, that sentiment still reigns supreme in me, that The Vidablue/Ten Grand is really music fully realized in what it can be, the ferocious energy of the band was shown in their records (but only truly experienced during their live shows, something I'll never feel); and I really feel like it's a crying shame that this band at least wasn't more well known, this is the most influential music to me and my young life, and I think it is something special that I would love to share with everyone else.

Ten Grand- Live at the Che Cafe sampler

And it is for this band most, above all else, that I thank Matt Davis and the rest of the band for most. I really wish I could thank him to his face for all his words expressed through the medium of music that was The Vidablue/Ten Grand. I would also like to tell him that I don't think a harder breakdown exists than "I Know It Works," it still fucking slays me every time I hear it, and I can't help but thrash along relentlessly as it goes on.

Sergio Leone: An ambient project of Matt Davis and M. Freeman. Very ethereal, and nice to listen to if you're trying to clear your mind. I feel like there is a lot of great stuff present on here, and it's really awesome to see Matt expand himself beyond the boundaries of hardcore music. I also think it's cool that the tracks were recorded in the attic of a haunted house, and the live tracks were recorded in a somewhat haunted venue.

Lets Drown Each Other: I came across this and the Sergio Leone CD by relentlessly fucking nagging someone for CD-r versions of some tracks (actually the Sergio Leone CD, I was sent a cd titled "Lets Drown Each Other- Unreleased along with this randomly). I have to say, after The Vidablue/Ten Grand, this is without a doubt my favorite stuff of Matt's. It's just him and an acoustic guitar for 6 tracks (and 1 transition track, I guess?). It's really heartbreaking to hear his voice creak along with the acoustic guitar, and the roughness of the recording really only adds to listening to it. This along with The Vidablue/Ten Grand has been a great way to relieve stress throughout my life.

In an effort not to become a whirlpool of writing redundancy, I'm going to stop here. Before ending this post, I want to thank Matt Davis for everything he has released and been a part of, and I wish I could tell him what an affect he has had on my life. I have never heard a bad story about this guy from whatever internet reading I could find about him, and to be honest, I don't think I ever will. The guy obviously cared about every single thing he passed through his life, and I wish more people were like that in the world. Never give up for what you live and love for.

And for that Matthew Davis, I thank you from the bottom of my fucking heart, I hope to meet you one day.

RIP (12.16.76 - 08.10.03)

Only Ten Between Us-

1998 Demo

Know We Are

Brazil-

Demo

Love Lost Her Job Today

The Vidablue/Ten Grand-

Split 10" w/ The Khayembii Communique

Our Miracle Point of Contact

The Comprehensive List of Everyone Who Has Ever Done Anything Wrong To Us

This is the Way to Rule

Split 7" w/ Mike Lust

Split 7" w/ Meth and Goats

What I Should Have Said Vol. 1 (compilation of old demos and splits)

Live at the Che Cafe (spent a fun filled day turning this from video to audio)

Sergio Leone-

Live and Other Hits

Lets Drown Each Other-

Unreleased CD

This Time We Will Not Promise and Forgive

Short Intro: 3rd music blog now that I've done, hopefully this one isn't long forgotten in a week.

For those that don't feel like reading this shit but don't know about This Time We Will Not Promise and Forgive: They're really fucking good, download it, and then get the email address for them at thistimesucks.com and at least pick up their newest cd "33℃". I'm pretty sure their full-length cd is still available from Rok Lok records, so get that from there if you want. Buy a CD, buy a shirt, shit whatever.

There really is so much to say about This Time We Will Promise and Forgive (This Time from here on out). I honestly really fucking respect all of these guys, not because of the bands they are also in are really fucking good: Killie (possibly Japan's best hardcore band next to This Time) and Yomoya, but because these guys really give a fuck about the scene they are growing up in (Koenji prefecture of Tokyo). Their first album is called "Inherent to the Generation that Doesn't Read Lyrics."

It may seem sort of, I dunno, stupid (idiotic, just plain douchey?) to name it something like that, but it's been part of a thing I'm trying to understand considering the culture of Japanese punk is a way different thing than the culture of American punk. It's honestly way better explained by someone that isn't me, but it's explained fairly well in the Killie- Afterall, The Opinion of One in a Hundred Million Will Not Reach Anyone (maybe I'll scan it sometime, it really is a fantastic read that got me way more into punk music not only in the US, but in the World and Japan as well, the World is a crazy place). With such a vast difference in scenes, it's hard to understand that a lot of people in Japan actually don't give a shit what the bands are saying, about what words are being communicated to them. I feel like that's one of the most important things about music itself, to have that next level connection of emotions through not only the instruments, but the lyrics as well.

And that is what This Time is all about. It's about what's wrong. It's about supporting your local music scene, trying to harbor what you can and build it from there into something every person in the area can love. I feel like that's the true message of music that is being lost today, the community. In the few times I've forced myself out, I've seen a community, but it always seems so fucking clique(y). No one branches out, meets new people, forges new connections into new friendships, and it's weird to think that even though I don't make it to the outside world much, this is something that bothers me most.

"This Time We Will Not Promise and Forgive- サンティカ (Santika)"

Enough with the rambling shit though, back to This Time. They play a style of hardcore very reminiscent to 90s style Ebulltion I guess? It's 90s sounding punk/emo, it's really fucking good. In fact, it's so good, I sing a long to it. All the lyrics are in Japanese, but I've somehow learned the words (no idea what they would be saying if it werent for some random batch of their lyrics in English on the internet) and sing a long to them every time their music comes on. It's not just straight forward punk, like the 6th track on their full length, Santika, but it is also really fucking catchy punk, like the third track on their full length, The Song of Delight. In fact, their whole fucking full-length is one of the greatest things I've just ever heard, and is a fully recommended download for all of those who like hearing new music, and more importantly, who love damn good punk.

This Time- Demo Tape/Demo CD-R (I think they're the same thing, this is at least what is on the Demo Tape)
This Time- Masturbate on D.I.Y. 7"
This Time- 歌詞を読まない世代へ継ぐ (Inherent to the Generation Who Don't Read Lyrics)
This Time- 33℃ (fucking buy this as well, it should cost you somewhere between $10-15 to get this from Japan, and it's fucking incredible, I promise. Or just download it and learn it that way)

This Time- 歌詞を読まない世代へ継ぐ lyrics