STANDING ROOM ONLY

THE MOTHER HIPS
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 for sessions in late 2021. Self-produced, When We Disappear features nine new tracks co-written by co-founders Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono — 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.”

“Greg [Loiacono, co-founder) sent me a rough demo of this song and I thought it was promising,” says Hips co-founder Tim Bluhm of “When We Disappear.” “What he was singing was place-holder gibberish, or sounds mixed with some actual lyrics, including what would become the title. I went through it and matched words to his sounds and then tweaked the words to tell a kind of impressionistic history of our adventures together. In this way I believe both Greg’s and my own subconscious worlds revealed themselves. The music is simple and loose, helping with the devil-may-care attitude of the singing.”

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the Bay Area’s most beloved live outfits,” The Mother Hips’ headline and festival performances have became the stuff of legend, finding them sharing stages 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.”

SOUNDING ARROW

Veteran recording artist Scott Kinnebrew returns with SKYMAN, the newest release from his solo project, Sounding Arrow. An ode to easeful living, the soundscape of SKYMAN feels intimate, layered, and expansive.

Co-produced by Gary Jules (“Mad World” from the Donnie Darko soundtrack) and mixed by Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses, The Avett Brothers’ Emotionalism), SKYMAN weaves a vivid sonic landscape rich with the textures of rock, folk, country, blues, British invasion, R&B, and pop. It’s a brew that resists classification, as it lands somewhere between tradition and invention — what Kinnebrew thinks of as “sonic impressionism.”

The songs on SKYMAN are rooted in a personal narrative, but stretch far beyond autobiography, they sound like they could be telling anyone’s story. From Kinnebrew: “Gary calls it ‘the last great American novel’, I call it cool like the rock you find on the beach that ends up on your dashboard.”

Produced by Scott Kinnebrew & Gary Jules Engineered by Scott Kinnebrew at Captain’s Quarters, Asheville, NC & Gary Jules at Carport Recorders, Asheville, NC. Mixed by Bill Reynolds at Fleetwood Shack, Nashville, TN. Mastered by Dewey Thomas at Forest Hill Sound, Asheville, NC.