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BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 49 - MONUMENT VALLEY

8th album out of 60 in 2014 and 79th overall

All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental

This one has 4 tracks that clock in at 29:32

“Monument Valley” (7:17) starts things off on mellow mode with clean guitars, a nice bass and minimal percussion. While i usually dislike these mellow albums by BUCKETHEAD because they all tend to sound the same, this one is sounding a bit nicer than many of these by-the-numbers releases. This one has a nice sort of military march percussive drive at times but why this one works better than others is because it doesn’t drown out the mellow vibe with too harsh of percussion. The string section is also more intricate and the melody is actually pleasant to listen to. There are more variations than the average mellow track and this one is actually of the quality found on albums such as “Electric Tears.” No mellow is not a bad thing, but boring is and this one is not that

“Fembot” (11:47) begins a little more upbeat but not much with echoey clean guitars, a very electronic drum beat and a bass. This is a bit different as the guitar is slow and mellow and the drum is a bit more hyperactive. There is also some ambient background swirling of sounds to offer some atmosphere as well. Nope. These elements don’t work together well for me. I just find the whole thing unsatisfying. First of all, the riff is the same recycled mellow progression that a million of these mellower tracks on PIKEs offer and the electronic drums are woefully not suited. Give this one a miss because it more than outstays its welcome. Hell it’s not even welcome

“Attic Floor” (1:19) is another clean guitar mellow track that begins unaccompanied and stays that way. It’s basically an intro to the next track

“Lirtson Nostril” (9:09) picks up the mellow guitar sequence and expands it. It becomes two guitar parts working together to create a richer tapestry of sound with the bass and cymbal action underneath it all. This one is cool in that i has different segments. It doesn’t just repeat the mellow parts to infinity. It picks up steam in the middle with a heavier plucked bass and bluesy guitar licks around it. It reverts back to the mellow parts but has some variety which keeps me interested. It is a nice lush mellow dreamy soundscape that really does feel like a fluffy cloud gently rolling over the great desert landscapes of the American Southwest as depicted on the album cover

This album is half good, half not. The title track and “Lirtson Nostril” are actually quite good for BH’s mellow album material but the other two tracks sandwiched in the middle are pretty much business as usual with nothing exciting to add but still about 2/3 of the album i like