The Practice / What-A-Night's - Split 7"

Imomushi (2016)

This was the first record that I bought when I went record shopping in Tokyo.  I picked it up in the Disk Union that was in Nakano by Nakano Broadway.  I will admit to being a little overwhelmed when I first started looking around in that store.  Luckily I was greeted by two familiar faces when this 7" popped up.

The Practice is a band who have a bunch of 7"s on Snuffy Smile that I really like.  They also have a few CDs that are not on Snuffy Smiles.  I have one of those, but the others have been a bit more elusive and I've not been able to pick up any more of the band's albums.  The end result is I'm not quite as familiar with The Practice as I would like, but even that didn't really prepare me for the sounds coming out of my speakers one I started playing their side of the 7".  "Fiasco" is a straight up 70's-80's style ska song.  It's old school for sure and it's not going to remind you of Less Than Jake or anything like that.  It's more in line with The Specials.  I can't say it's my favorite thing I've ever heard by The Practice.  I was expecting the sort of wound up pop as their older records.  I have a feeling it's a one off rather than a new direction, but I'm not really sure.  I guess I'll need more of their records.

What-A-Night's, on the other hand, dish up exactly what I want from them.  Two songs of poppy and catchy guitar rock.  Their first song "Rude Awakening" reminds me a lot of The Stereo, especially in the way the vocals soar in the chorus.  Their second song, "Man In Collapse" is actually my favorite song on the whole 7".  It has really dynamic guitar work, reminiscent of bands long gone like Pollen.  Lots of chord progression changes and searing lead guitar.  Not a bunch of wanky solos, but really good and intricate lines laid over the entire song.  Really good stuff.  Their last full length was quite a while ago at this point.  I hope the band is working on some more new tunes.

V/A - Snuffy Smiles Presents: Puke & Destroy 2 7" (Gleam Garden,What-A-Night's, Tenement, Holy Shit)

V/A - Snuffy Smiles Presents: Puke & Destroy 2 7" (Gleam Garden, What-A-Night's, Tenement, Holy Shit), a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Snuffy Smiles (2013)

Life doesn't get much better than a Snuffy Smiles compilation. Especially when it pairs 2 of my absolute favorite Japanese bands and 1 of my favorite American bands. The deal with this 7" is that each band contributes 2 songs. One quick 30 second long one, then another longer track.

I could go on for days and days about how much I love Gleam Garden and What-A-Night's and you really need to look no further than this 7" to see why. Gleam Garden's 30 second long song isn't anything special, but their 2nd one, "It Smelled Good," is pretty great. Neither is quite as good as their most recent CD, but this band is outstanding. What-A-Night's just kill on both of their contributions. They cram a lot of greatness into the 30 second one, and "Cry for Nothing" is also a hit. This band has tons of energy and write some of the best hooks coming out of Japan right now.

For the US side Tenement 30 second long song (like What-A-Night's) isn't really a standout, but "The Block Is Safe Again" is a really strong mid tempo rocker with great backing harmonies. Tenement is one of the best US bands going and I suggest you buy as many of their records as you can. Holy Shit isn't really my copy of tea, they lean more to the hardcore, really fast side of things and that was just never a style the clicked with me, especially as I've gotten older.

All in, this is a great 7", but really you should always be buying everything that comes out with the Snuffy Smiles logo on it, they can do no wrong.

What-A-Night's - S/T LP - Black Vinyl & Red Vinyl (/60)

What-A-Night's - S/T LP - Black Vinyl & Red Vinyl (/60), a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Snuffy Smiles / Drunken Sailor / Rad Girlfriend (2013)

Vinyl version of one of my absolute favorite record of 2012. The band originally self released this album themselves in Japan. 3 labels were not content with that, 3 labels stepped up and did the right thing. 3 labels made sure this was archived on the best music format. My hat is off to all of them. It makes me absolutely giddy every time I get to see the Snuffy Smiles label on a record these days. Sure it's not as frequent as it once was, but it's a warm, comforting feeling for someone that had been buying records on that label for nearly 20 years.

Musically, I'll repeat what I said about the CD. If you like any of the usual suspects on Snuffy Smiles; Blew, Blotto, Minority Blues Band, The Urchin, etc...this is a must buy. I've always felt that Japanese bands have a remarkable talent of taking melodic punk rock and really elevating it. What-A-Nights, in particular, really have mastered this art and I just can't say enough good things about the record.

The best thing about this is that if you live in America, you can get it domestic from Rad Girlfriend. Europe? Drunken Sailor is there to help and of course Snuffy Smiles is holding down Japan as usual. There were only 60 copies on red vinyl split amongst the 3 labels, so if that's your sort of thing, you best pick it up quickly.

What-A-Nights - S/T (Full Album Stream):
drunkensailorrecords.bandcamp.com/album/what-a-nights-lp

Bangers / What-A-Night's - Split 7"

Bangers / What-A-Night's - Split 7", a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Snuffy Smiles / Drunken Sailor (2012)

What you are looking at is the Snuffy Smiles version of this split 7", though still delivered to my door via the greatness of Drunken Sailor records. They put out some top notch records, folks really should check them out. I did have to get the Snuffy Smiles version of this record as it keeps my collection of (now) 120 Snuffy Smiles 7"s complete. It's one of the collections I'm most proud of.

Starting off with Bangers, I have an older split 12" of theirs that I wasn't particularly impressed with, so I wasn't really expecting much out of their songs on this split. Much to my surprise, these tracks are significantly better than anything that I have on that other record of theirs. I still don't totally love the singers voice, but these songs are much catchier than anything I've heard from the band previously.

What-A-Night's are probably the best kept secret in Japan right now. Even though Your Pest Band is far from what I'd call a well known band, I feel like they have fans in the right places and I do hear them being lauded. I never hear anyone talking about What-A-Night's and it's a damn shame. Combining elements of all of the great Snuffy Smiles bands of the past, it just thrills me to listen to songs this great. Did you ever like Blew or Lovemen, or Three Minute Movie or The Urchin? Take the best parts of each and that might give you an idea of how great this band is. Buy immediately.

Bangers / What-A-Night's - Split 7":
drunkensailorrecords.bandcamp.com/album/split-7-3

What-A-Night's - S/T CD

What-A-Night's - S/T CD, a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Self Released (2012)

What-A-Night's are from Japan and they follow in that great Snuffy Smiles tradition of amazing punk rock bands from Japan. Though this CD is self released, they do have a split 7" coming out on Snuffy Smiles & Drunken Sailor, so I'm going to consider them a Snuffy Smiles band. If you've liked bands like Blotto, Three Minute Movie, Blew or The Urchin, you need to get this CD right away.

I would venture to say that What-A-Night's have more melodic vocals and harmonies than any of the bands mentioned above, but they do not sacrifice the super tight energetic fast temp music that these great bands from Japan are known for. One of the best of the year and I'm not even super annoyed that it's a CD and not vinyl since I'm used to that from Japanese bands.

What-A-Night's - S/T CD
http://drunkensailorrecords.bandcamp.com/album/what-a-nights-lp