Send "Have A Nice Life " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 So, how much did you like Deathconsciousness? This is pretty much the essential question going into Time of Land. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to listen to it if you haven’t already listened to Deathconsciousness (and if you were thinking about pulling that bullshit, you can just stop it right now), and Time of Land more or less captures the essence of Deathconsciousness without the stand back holy fuck moments that made that album a vital discovery in 2008. So, how much did you like Deathconsciousness? Did you not mind the extensive ambient exercises that repeatedly sedated an already sedate album? Because those are here on Time of Land. Or that one drum beat, the one where the bass hits sound like grinding gears in a machine and the snare hits the exhaust pipe? Because those are here too. If these aspects of Deathconsciousness didn’t appeal to you, turn back now, because on a surface level, Have A Nice Life’s aesthetic isn’t really all that drastically altered here; in fact it’s very much intact. The slow burning, reverb drenched loneliness that defines Deathconsciousness also defines Time of Land. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Also carried over from Deathconsciousness is a great sense of unity, a feeling that these four songs are meant to go together to create something greater than their parts, though it’s hard to see if that’s anything but a Deathconsciousness cliff notes. Still musically ambitious, Have a Nice Life make Time of Land a sprawling teaser of their identity, covering in about 20 minutes everything that Deathconsciousness covered in about an hour and a half....full text |
| Shockmountain |
| A week ago, my friends and I had the fortune of seeing the first ever Have A Nice Life show. We arrived four hours early, where we waited in the cold at the front of the line. The first song they played was a new one, then they went into Bloodhail, probably their best known song. These first two songs, while great, sounded a bit off. After some sound problems, the band really kicked it into gear, finally jelling and finding their sound. They ran through a handful of songs from Deathconsciousness with even more passion and energy than you hear on the album, with lead singer Dan Barrett thrashing around the stage, pointing to his history in Massachusetts hardcore band In Pieces. Not only could you hear the band putting their heart and souls into each song, but you could see it too. Watching all the members of the band scream along to the words, you could just see the passion in their faces. The band concluded their set with Hunter and Earthmover, two of my favorite tracks from their album, in what was definitely one of the most intense moments in live music I have ever heard. I’m not one to cry at shows, but the climax of Earthmover nearly brought tears to my eyes, right when the entire band screamed “We wish we were dead” before exploding into the climax. At that moment, every member of Have A Nice Life was just pouring everything they had into the song and it was almost overwhelming. I couldn’t be happier to hear that they are playing a show with Alcest here in April. Anyway, after the show, they announced that they were selling special cassettes only for that night, so of course I bought one despite the fact that I didn’t have a tape player. I’ve been waiting days for someone to rip this online, when the band finally put it up themselves. Part of me wasn’t going to post this, as it still hadn’t leaked after several days, a tremendous feat in this day and age. When the band finally shared it, I decided I would spread it to the rest of you, hoping you can share my love for this incredible band....full text |
| Enemieslist |
| (Editor’s Note: I could not, for the life of me, write anything about Have A Nice Life for this page. It may be because I’m in the band, but anything I wrote seemed so horribly self-serving and idiotic. Rather than commit any acts of literary inanity, I opted to just include an excerpt from this album review by Jared Dillon, from his music blog Last Train To Cool. He is an awesome writer, and he has excellent taste in music. Go read his blog. – d) As a “music critic” myself I often find myself attempting to publicize records that I feel are cutting edge, provoking, and most of all emotional expressions. In almost every one of my reviews, I reference these ideas. If anyone talks to me about music it is clear to them that I am not one for stoic records. So, when I see fans of a band like Protest the Hero latching on to records that I feel like I have helped bring to the masses it bothers me. In a sense, it makes me want to stop reviewing. Because, it cheapens these records I’ve pined for over for days, weeks, months, years to understand. I was literally counting down the hours today to get home and listen to the record that this review covers, because it is already that special to me. It hurts when people declare something like Kayo Dot unworthy or if someone with a negative persona latches on to a group like Converge, because then I challenge my own conception of those records. In summary of those feelings, I suppose it comes down to the fact that we all must live with our own opinions on things and therefore just be happy that we’ve created such beautiful relationships with the art in our lives. Music criticism then becomes utterly useless and most of what I talk about is inane, but maybe someone will feel these reactions and in turn, go out and find their own, “Deathconsciousness”. Maybe then I can feel like this review proved a point, as music in my eyes isn’t about mass consumption, but rather establishing special relationships with those things that reflect something new, something provoking, something emotional, and most of all something real. As an example, I present Have a Nice Life’s “Deathconsciousness”. “Deathconsciousness” is probably a perfect record. At the time of this review, I haven’t really had enough time to digest it to declare it that, but I can’t really think of any way for it to be better. The production, the tones, the chord choices, the vocals, the lyrics, the concepts, everything is stunningly brilliant and just laughably remarkable. If needed to provide examples, I could do it for every track. The slow and steady build that is “Bloodhail” tossing its way between a propulsive Joy Division-esque rhythm section and beautiful dual vocals, the drums that kick in and take “The Big Gloom” to a whole different spectrum of gorgeousness than the tracks preceding it even hinted at; there are so many great moments on this record I could talk about them for days. Well, I’m obviously getting ahead of myself. Have a Nice Life “is, was, and always will be Dan and Tim” as their myspace states and “Deathconsciousness” is essentially their five year discography, a dual-disc debut album that deals with a variety of concepts relating to religion, death and theories attached to those two ideas. Intensely personal in delivery, this is a record that is basically a collaboration of ideas ranging from industrial to post-punk to post-rock. A common thread would be Canada’s patron saints of avant-doom Nadja, but even that duo don’t possess the massive love of the melodic that Have a Nice Life demonstrates all over their debut. Tracks like “Hunter” show the group’s massive devotion to their specific style of eighties soundscapes, but also echo with an earnestness that can only be related to the group’s supposed leader Dan Barrett’s punk-laden past, as he formerly did time in the relatively obscure post-hardcore group In Pieces. If anything, Have a Nice Life can be described as the perfect example of the suffix “post” in regards to all of the music that has come out in the indie circuit since 1980. It is taking all of the concepts that have made underground music what it is and strangling them in such a way that it creates something of a reminder of what progression actually means....full text |
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