Hashish
A Product Of
Woah Dad!

Hashish is the new band steered by Stefan Kéry. Back in the 80s Kéry led the Swedish garage punk The Stomachmouths, but for many years, he's been running the successful underground label Subliminal Sounds (and Xotic Mind) releasing new music (The Amazing, AnnaMy, Dungen, Lisa O Piu, Ixtauhele and more) as well as putting out re-issues of classic prog-psych from Swedish bands (Kebnekajse, Pärson Sound, Skogen Brinner, Träd gräs och stenar, Älgarnas Trädgård, Kvartetten som sprängde and many more). Kéry and his Hashish outfit deals with and juggles a mishmash of genres: Acid and/or Psychedelic rock, Space and/or Prog rock, Easy listening, Exotica, Krautrock, free/loose jazz, etc. Via Hashish' facebook site, they say they operate inside or from a platform called 'psychedelic electro funk third eye lounge', with a motto being: 'Welcome to tomorrow. Let the sounds transport you into a forgotten world where the future looked different from what it became.'

A Product Of is mainly instrumental music. Psych-funk grooves and hooks, with the vibraphone! Plus sitars, wah-wah guitar, laidback drumming, electronic twists, turns and phase-shifting loops and twirls - everything done backwards, upwards, inside-out. Two singles has been lifted from the album, "Fly Away" and "Outer Spaced". Yes, by seeing those two titles you will understand that this is high-flying music. Literally speaking. At times Hashish sound like Chemcial Brothers without the heavy, block rocking beats, or a more psychedelic playful Massive Attack. Air is another band that springs to mind. Indeed. However, that is just another 'new' band re-creating the old sounds from way back. "Bliss" is just a short, instrumental, introductory opener with the sound of gentle waves (if they are of water and/or air is up to you to decide). As is "Revel", being a short intermission kind of track. The album unveils a few longer tracks, such as the soft take-off with "Fly Away" (the album's first single), with its mellow, repetitive drum and bass groove, and long-stretched "The Light". The former holds vocals by Lisa Isaksson (of Lisa O Piu), the latter is a full-blown instrumental and both songs stretch for the 9-minute mark. "The Light" is later 're-visited' as the closing track is called "The Light pt. 2", swirling as the light fades into night.

I mentioned Isaksson, but also other friends and helpers from Subliminal Sounds label/stable step in to play (such as members of Ixtauhele). "Outer Spaced" is quite spaced out, while "Miracles" (again with Isaksson on vocals?) moves in gracious circles. Most of the time A Product Of is way comfortable, but at times the soundscapes gets a bit too lazy and dazed. Like Noisey said, A Product Of '...sounds like the lovechild between a 70s soft porn soundtrack composer and a wide-eyed teen experiencing hallucinogens for the first time.' Hashish' blend is a lazy, groovy musical cloud of hiss. Some spacecakes (or 'jazz tobacco') to go from the local coffee shop? Enter the 'Third Eye Lounge'; the mind and world of Kéry.

Copyright © 2016 Håvard Oppøyen