Pacific Dust

San Francisco’s Mother Hips were once favorites of producer Rick Rubin — who signed them to his American Records label — but these days the group records for an independent label and sings its tales of musical trials to a devoted cult who hear great things from leader Tim Bluhm. Their seventh studio release, Pacific Dust centers on the music. The band’s alt-country attack is highlighted by thorny electric guitars that consistently break through the laidback lope (“White Falcon Fuzz”) or add to the funkier attack (the record company politics of “Third Floor Story”). Tremoloed guitars ramp up the attack for “Jess OXOX.” “The Lion and the Bull” shades towards Jayhawks territory with its sweet, pining harmonies. “One Way Out” lays back further towards the Eagles’ Southern California harmonies and West Coast groove. “All In Favor” heads for Hawaii. The title track flows towards the psychedelic end of the band’s influences. “Young Charles Ives” shadows early Bowie. The Mother Hips, nearly twenty years on, continue to journey through the past to find the present.