siLLy puPPy BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 81 - Carnival Of Cartilage

40th album out of 60 in 2014 and 110th overall

All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental

This has only ONE very long track that hits the 29 minute mark

“Carnival Of Cartilage” (29:00) immediately starts out very weird with a demented CARNIVAL ride type riff completely distorted and mangled with sound and then trades off with a more alternative metal riff but then reverts back to the CARNIVAL ride theme. Other similar riffs enter the scene. The guitars have a strange processed effect sound that is quite unique. The bass is quite bouncy while the drums lazily keep the beat. The guitar dances around but comes back to the main carnival themed lick although it does change the notes as to create a longer overall song theme with sub-songs within it. After the three minute mark it changes it up into a more frenetic pace with sputtering electronic sounds and a free fall guitar sound. Some new percussive sounds enter but the melody is still a carnival theme even as it becomes more grungy. After a bit of that it becomes two guitars playing the CARNIVAL theme over each other in different ways. As it continues it finds new ways to express the CARNIVAL theme as it expands upon the basic melody, adds drum variations, time sig freak outs and tempo shifts. It continues to ratchet up the intensity but subtlety increasing the complexity and variations and at the ten minute mark hasn’t even begun to lose steam. Around the twenty minute mark it’s still holding strong and has some outrageous organ bombast as the wailing CARNIVAL theme has long surpassed the bounds of sanity and takes the amusement park theme to the avant-garde stratosphere. Yet despite all the swirling swarms of sound, it never loses the overall melody. This is defiantly one of the most creative and bizarre albums i’ve ever heard and one of the gems tucked away in the sonic slunk stack that is the PIKE series. This is quite unique even within BUCKETHEAD’s own bloated discography. Proof that BUCKETHEAD is one of the most creative and unique musical forces on the planet. If you can stand a 29 minute improvisation on simple CARNIVAL music then this is a true treat, otherwise you may have to go to therapy