Chronicle Man

California’s Mother Hips often work so quickly that any song that doesn’t fit the narrative of the album they’re making is immediately forgotten. The duo of Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono have too many ideas, and they know it. However, as years pass, the duo find themselves in a reflective mood and curious as to what might be on those old studio reels of tape. Sure enough, a short stack of 2-inch analog tapes found in a Los Angeles basement turned out sessions from sometime around 1995’s Part Timer Goes Full and 1996’s Shootout. Dozens of potential songs were discovered, and 11 were chosen for Chronicle Man, an album that should now stand among The Mother Hips’ finest. Whether it’s the sweet, country-influenced indie pop of “The Flood” or the gorgeous western lope of “St. Andrew” or the charging rock of “You Can’t Win” and the title track, Chronicle Man is surely one of the great found treasures of 2014. “El Pancho Villa” had even been an early live-show favorite.