siLLy puPPy PIKE 203 - 4 DAYS TIL HALLOWEEN: SILENT PHOTO is the 102nd album released by BUCKETHEAD in 2015 and the 28th bizarre sonic experiment that constitutes the countdown to HALLOWEEN with BUCKETHEAD performing all the sounds heard on this totally instrumental album which clocks in near the half hour mark exactly 16 seconds over the 29 minute mark and all six tracks are titled “Silent Photo” and like most of these types of PIKES they all run together in order to create a huge 1/48 of a day’s experience of weirdness, strangeness, outlandishness and another contact with planet bizarro.

Starting out in a weird ambient chamber with crinkling paper or is it bacon frying? No, it’s a shopping cart rolling on a marble floor. Well, maybe. The ambient noise in the background rises and falls in volume and then a slight two note melody repeats. Can melodies be two notes? Only in this world of extraterrestrial delights. As strange as it is, it doesn’t seem to go anywhere very quickly. Same percussive pops, same ambient noises and a monstrous rumble that occasional punctuates the same bleakness. This is making me feel i’m on a lifeless planet just like the album cover.

Finally about 9 minutes in there is a trebly sound that makes a few noises. Some chimes eventually join in and the howling wind ambience becomes more tumultuous but it takes a long time for things to get this far. Just over 17 minutes an alarm clock goes off for a while. Unfortunately this never really goes anywhere. It does make nice background music as i was doing internet crap but if you just want to listen to music give this one a miss. It’s not particularly HALLOWEENIE either.