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BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 56 - CYCLE

15th album out of 60 in 2014 and 86th overall

All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental

This one has 3 tracks that clock in at 30:29

Seems to be an album dedicated to the type of CYCLE we ride with two wheels :)

“The Repair Station” (7:31) starts out like an ambient techno album with electronic atmospheric layers, a sort of tribal drumbeat and clean guitar licks. It’s all rather echoey as if recorded in a metal chamber. It is melodic and changes the melody up therefore not one of those three chord jam tracks to infinity. It’s sort of in the ball park of those really mellow PIKEs that i usually can’t stand unless they have something new to offer. This one is more mid-tempo and has a really groovy feel and the overall effect is fairly pleasant

“Cycle” (9:52) is another dreamy trip hop type track with clean guitars and a heavy slower tempoed drumbeat that has the same type of feel as track one. While this one has pretty much the same formula as the first, for some reason doesn’t sound as melodically pleasing. Something’s just not as good here or maybe it’s just too similar to the first for me to be interested. Nah, something’s definitely missing. There was more atmosphere in that one and this one sounds a little too repetitive without enough subtle swirls of electronica happening. As this one goes on it gets more and more monotonous. Amazing how such subtleties can make or break a track. Certainly not a bad background track as it’s pleasant enough but if you’re looking for some meat and potatoes, look elsewhere

“Replacement Decal” (13:06) is yet another downtempo trip hop type of track with the fat drumbeat enshrouded with ambience, clean guitar licks and groovy bass lines. The track churns along with a nice melody, beefy bass line that becomes more funkified gradually and the guitars become more echoey like a comet’s tail to the bass that slowly fade out. This one is fairly repetitive but it does have break downs which allow some new effervescence to the whole thing.

CYCLE is one of those PIKEs that is perfectly listenable but fails to inspire. There are some great sounds on here but there isn’t necessarily enough variety for their time lengths. Certainly more interesting than those repetitive PIKEs as this one has a nice groove and all. This is definitely a chilled out album that will please any fans of downtempo and trip hop, however don’t expect this to be the next Massive Attack or anything. It’s good and nothing more