Hips and Makers 30th Anniversary
HAVING JUST TURNED 30, KRISTIN HERSH’S DEBUT SOLO ALBUM, HIPS AND MAKERS, IS BEING REISSUED ON RECORD STORE DAY 2024. A MUST BUY, THIS NEW EDITION SEES THE ALBUM EXPANDED TO 24 TRACKS (25 ON CD) TO INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL RECORD PLUS ASSOCIATE RARITIES AND B-SIDES.
LPs will be available at Record Stores on April 20, 2024 and the Dbl CD is available from 4AD. CDs will ship to arrive around May 3, 2024.
A confessional masterpiece, Hips and Makers is the exemplary debut solo album by Kristin Hersh. Released in 1994, this largely acoustic record saw Kristin pivot from the trailblazing alt-rock of her band Throwing Muses to instead turn her focus inward, showing a fragility a decade plus into her musical career; then a young mother tied down by a restrictive major label contract in a largely sexist industry.
“Acoustic songs were not Throwing Muses’ bread or butter,” she says, “so I let them pile up, bone by bone, until I had what could have been a working body, if it hadn’t lacked muscles and viscera.” Demos she hadn’t intended on releasing but thankfully for the listener she did, they came in to being after she used them as a bargaining chip to complete her American recording contract. “I wanted to be a working musician for the rest of my life. Even if it had to be outside of the industry entirely. So, Warners were off ered the exchange – my solo record in trade for my freedom.”
This intensely personal album was recorded over a two week period, being recorded and produced with ex-Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye (who as well as producing records by Suzanne Vega, Allen Ginsberg and Soul Asylum, also compiled the iconic psychedelic and garage rock compendium, Nuggets). Keeping the demo’s raw simplicity intact, outside of flourishes of cello and piano (and Michael Stipe’s backing vocals on opening track ‘Your Ghost’), it’s just Kristin and her guitar. With room to breathe, Kristin’s voice is allowed to be heard - brittle yet powerful, she delivers a record of true humanity, unvarnished and real. As critic Shawn Stewart said, “like a family, it’s happy on the surface, intriguing when explored.”
Deemed one of the best records of the 90s by SPIN Magazine, this 30th anniversary edition sees the album now being spread over two discs; the original record being joined by its two accompanying EP’s and two Easter eggs in hard-to-find track ‘Hysterical Bending’ and the string version of ‘The Key’, which was last seen on a covermount cassette of long-defunct UK music magazine, Select. This edition comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve which has been designed by Timothy O’Donnell, who keeps Shinro Ohtake’s paintings pride of place whilst also adding compelling liner notes from Kristin that explore the album’s genesis.
Tracklisting:
Hips and Makers
Your Ghost
Beestung
Teeth
Sundrops
Sparky
Houdini Blues
A Loon
Velvet Days
Close Your Eyes
Me and My Charms
Tuesday Night
The Letter
Lurch
The Cuckoo
Hips and Makers
Bonus Track
Hysterical Bending
Your Ghost EP
The Key
Uncle June and Aunt Kiyoti
When the Levee Breaks
Strings EP
A Loon (String Version)
Sundrops (String Version)
Me and My Charms (String Version)
Velvet Days (String Version)
The Key (String Version)
Velvet Days (String Instrumental)