Ignored            Obscured             Restored

I attended a concert by The Mother Hips at the new Guild Theater in Menlo Park last Saturday.  They played their recently released single “When We Disappear” which will be on their new album of the same name upon its release in January 2023.

The band’s press release says:

Based in Northern California, the Hips headed to New Mexico, spending time at Ghost Ranch before settling in at Jono Manson’s Kitchen Sink studio in Sante Fe in late 2021 for the sessions. Self-produced, When We Disappear features nine new tracks co-written by co-founders Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono — a collection of lit-psych rock songs Inspired by psychology and literature — as well as a raw, garagey cover of Buffy St. Marie’s 1964 addiction song “Codine.”

They also played “Codine” at last Saturday’s show.

The Hips are a sort of cottage industry here in California, much like NRBQ was in the northeast back in their day.  Founded in Chico when Bluhm and Loiacono met in college in 1990, they are still based in Marin County, north of San Francisco.  Their tour dates through year-end have them performing in Oregon, Utah, and about a dozen more gigs up and down the CA coast.

Their own (Mother Hips) website describes their sound aptly as:

… architects of a new breed of California rock and soul, one equally informed by the breezy harmonies of the Beach Boys, the funky roots of The Band, and the psychedelic Americana of Buffalo Springfield.  Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the Bay Area’s most beloved live outfits,” the group’s headline and festival performances became the stuff of legend and helped earn them dates with everyone from Johnny Cash and Wilco to Lucinda Williams and The Black Crowes.  Rolling Stone called the band “divinely inspired,” while Pitchfork praised their “rootsy mix of 70’s rock and power pop,” and The New Yorker lauded their ability to “sing it sweet and play it dirty.”

If The Mother Hips play in a town near you, run to see them.

Enjoy… until next week.