The Mother Hips' long awaited follow up to their acclaimed Red Tandy EP proves well worth the anticipation after six years in the making. On Kiss The Crystal Flake, the California-based band produces a laid back sound that rolls right over you like the tide over a beach, sweeping you up in its current and out on a pretty enjoyable journey.

Rising to the occasion of creating their first full length album since 2001's Green Hills Of The Earth, The Hips prove that being willing to evolve; take your time and get it right, makes perfect sense and pays off. The band produces a psychedelic cocktail of Beach Boys surfer-rock, mixed with a flavor of The Beatles' great musical composition and song writing. Listening to Kiss The Crystal Flake can either put you on the beach riding the waves with the surf on your back, or at a festival with flowers in your hair and rock and roll in your soul.

The album shows just how the guys took their time making the music. It doesn't hurry itself or have anything to prove. It's music to dance to. Music to make love to. Music to relax to. It's injected with their own special brand of easy-going rock. Sometimes comparable to one big jam session that could keep you up until the wee hours of the morning...other times so mellow you have no problem closing your eyes to it and drifting off.

Sharp guitar riffs, smooth vocals; a trumpet here; a saxophone there. From start to finish, the album's only flaw is that it doesn't seem to last that long. You listen to the first single, "Mission in Vain" ask the question ‘Why does time keep moving on so quickly?' and wonder the answer yourself.

Kiss The Crystal Flake is obviously a labor of love for the band; the content speaking volumes about each one of the member's musicianship and commitment to one another. Their lives; their loves; their past, present and future. Time might move quickly, but this album creates an atmosphere where fond reflection and celebration of what it produces comes naturally.

Bands like The Mother Hips are scarce in these times; where churning out an album a year as fast as you can with ill regard into the quality of the material is almost the norm. Marinating something as close to their idea of perfection as they could get reflects in the song writing and pays off. The end result is a good album from a good band.