Hasco Enjoyments - Wow!

A Closer Listen

We almost missed the announcement of this album, as the post-Christmas subject line “Hasco Enjoyments – Wow!” made it look like an ad for toys or chocolates or perhaps even chocolate toys, and thus spam.  Luckily, we like both toys and chocolates, and so we clicked on it, only to be momentarily disappointed to learn that it was an album.

But Wow!, as one can see from the cover, falls into the same general category of the things above, as it looks like pop-out pieces for a children’s game board and sounds like the score to an animated adventure.  The LP comes with “buildable souvenir paper models” and the CD is offered in a vinyl replica sleeve; the deluxe disc comes in a clamshell box.

Hasco Enjoyments – John-Peter Hasson and half a dozen friends – are described as “an ensemble of iridescent bubbles.”  The first track is titled, “It’s Okay To Put Ketchup On A Hot Dog, If That’s What You Like To Eat.”  We know they are having fun before hearing even a single note.  So let’s play a single note.  That was a good note!  It came from a flute.  Buy the album.

Oh, you want to know more about the music.  We suppose that’s reasonable.  As the guitar, sax, clarinet and synth get involved, we begin to daydream about jazzy hot dogs.  We do not, in fact, put ketchup on our hot dogs, even in Iceland, where there are so many better choices, and one may have them all at once.  The percussion does sound like iridescent bubbles.  How was one of these players in Mr. Bungle?  It does not sound like Mr. Bungle, although the approach is Bungly.  This is in fact – and Hasson is not afraid to say it – “easy listening.”  But to mention this may put people off, as it’s not dull.  For example, we really like the vibraphone on Track Two.  And we’re having loads of fun imagining the Seattle Mariners coming out of the tunnel to “The Seattle Mariners Are My Favorite Baseball Team,” which is the most obvious ploy for attention since Walker Hayes put Applebees in his song “Fancy Like.”  And it worked for him, so why not?  Last year, the Mariners missed the playoffs by one game.  Why not try something new, perhaps an easy-going anthem?

By “Finance, Fashion, Healthcare & Sports” (a title that also sounds like spam), the timbre has turned to post-rock, and now one can hear a little of David Pajo’s Slint in there, which is funny because Pajo doesn’t play on this track.  When Lord Phobos kicks out the pedal steel on “Armed Only With The Jagged Shard Of An Ortega Brand Taco Shell,” Morricone suggestions surface, and this does make sense because, you know, tacos.  This album is turning out to be a lot deeper, and more immersive, than we first thought when we received that initial email.  As the jazz bubbles again like tasty meringue, we are left with a satisfied, post-dessert feeling.  (Richard Allen)

Note: The blue Bandcamp link below goes to artist/digital/vinyl, the green link to label/digital/CD.