...particular wedges not readily available at the toystore
October 24, 2015 4:05 PM Subscribe
In early 2010, experimental multi-instrumentalist and headgear innovator Buckethead (previously) released It's Alive, the first of a series of albums called "Buckethead Pikes" sold directly to fans "from a small kiosk inside the Bucketheadland park." While things started out slowly, with a release now and then squeezed in between other commitments, by 2014 Buckethead had left most of the bands he'd been playing with, and was releasing on average one pike per week. And he has kept going; earlier today, Buckethead released pike album #199
8 Days Til Halloween: Flare Up, with #200 not very far away.
With a release tempo that has turned keeping his online discographies up to date into a full-time job, the mere thought of summarizing this 200-album and counting project is a bit overwhelming, but this being Buckethead you can expect anything from excessive guitar noodling (#5 Look Up There and many more), to more contemplative works (#49 Monument Valley), to dark ambient stuff (#185 I Got This Costume From The Sears Catalog) and a little of everything at once (#178 Blurmwood).
But if you're going to check out only a few pikes, you can definitely do worse than the two albums he dedicated to his late parents, #150 Heaven Is Your Home (For my Father, Thomas Manley Carroll) and #65 Hold Me Forever (In memory of my mom Nancy York Carroll).
And if you want some excellent full-steam shredding, there's always fan favourites like #51 Claymation Courtyard and #104 Project Little Man.
(Or if all this music bores you, you can always go visit Bucketheadland, the world's premiere abusement park. Enjoy.)
With a release tempo that has turned keeping his online discographies up to date into a full-time job, the mere thought of summarizing this 200-album and counting project is a bit overwhelming, but this being Buckethead you can expect anything from excessive guitar noodling (#5 Look Up There and many more), to more contemplative works (#49 Monument Valley), to dark ambient stuff (#185 I Got This Costume From The Sears Catalog) and a little of everything at once (#178 Blurmwood).
But if you're going to check out only a few pikes, you can definitely do worse than the two albums he dedicated to his late parents, #150 Heaven Is Your Home (For my Father, Thomas Manley Carroll) and #65 Hold Me Forever (In memory of my mom Nancy York Carroll).
And if you want some excellent full-steam shredding, there's always fan favourites like #51 Claymation Courtyard and #104 Project Little Man.
(Or if all this music bores you, you can always go visit Bucketheadland, the world's premiere abusement park. Enjoy.)
Buckethead's "How to Shred" guitar series is... a thing. It is not to be missed.
It's hard to say it for most American "metal" (though he's certainly gone beyond that, but it is where he cut his teeth) artists, but Buckethead is a real original.
posted by clvrmnky at 4:40 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's hard to say it for most American "metal" (though he's certainly gone beyond that, but it is where he cut his teeth) artists, but Buckethead is a real original.
posted by clvrmnky at 4:40 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
In a bizarre (? to me) case of synchronicity, I discovered Buckethead not 30 minutes ago as the only reference to Oakridge cake on the web outside of Kool Keith's "98 Year Old Refrigerator" classic
posted by derekpaco at 5:20 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by derekpaco at 5:20 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Holy hell, for this month, October 2015, he's been putting out an album per day.
*twitch*
I'll be right back, I just have to go throw this guitar in the dumpster.
posted by smcameron at 10:52 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
*twitch*
I'll be right back, I just have to go throw this guitar in the dumpster.
posted by smcameron at 10:52 PM on October 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sweet mother of shit. Was familiar with Buckethead but I hadn't heard about this endeavor.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:32 AM on October 25, 2015
posted by Rhomboid at 2:32 AM on October 25, 2015
he's been putting out an album per day
Putting out one album per day for a month would be crazy enough if you'd spent some considerable time preparing, but he's been releasing 2 albums per week throughout January-September. Heck, I'd trouble coming up with that many titles :-)
(I went looking for collaborators or other production details, but there's very little information out there. Dan Monti is listed as producer on some of the early pikes in Wikipedia, and there are references to an "Albert" who may or may not be the same person as a "Herbie" who may or may not be Buckethead himself, but that's about it. If any MeFite knows more, let me know.)
posted by effbot at 7:06 AM on October 25, 2015
Putting out one album per day for a month would be crazy enough if you'd spent some considerable time preparing, but he's been releasing 2 albums per week throughout January-September. Heck, I'd trouble coming up with that many titles :-)
(I went looking for collaborators or other production details, but there's very little information out there. Dan Monti is listed as producer on some of the early pikes in Wikipedia, and there are references to an "Albert" who may or may not be the same person as a "Herbie" who may or may not be Buckethead himself, but that's about it. If any MeFite knows more, let me know.)
posted by effbot at 7:06 AM on October 25, 2015
Wowsers! I'd long been curious about Buckethead- and I have to admit I'd written him off offhandedly- this here post really helps me get a handle on his prodigious output! Thanks very much!
posted by Philby at 2:23 PM on October 25, 2015
posted by Philby at 2:23 PM on October 25, 2015
OK, two things:
1) He appears in the Limbomaniacs video "Shake It" (at 2:30) from 1990. According to wiki, this is actually how he met Bill Laswell, Bootisie, Bernie, etc.
Its also incredibly 1990, and the Drummer is Brain, of Primus/Praxis fame.
2) as the only reference to Oakridge cake
I'm glad I'm not the only one who actually tried to figure out what Keith is talking about. A friend actually found some random drug forum where someone had been using oakridge cake to grow mushrooms, completely unrelated to Kool Keith or Buckethead. So it does somehow exist in this universe, even if its not a commercial product, or even something that has a recipe.
I saw him a couple years back. Great show, he still does the nunchuks.
posted by lkc at 3:41 PM on October 25, 2015
1) He appears in the Limbomaniacs video "Shake It" (at 2:30) from 1990. According to wiki, this is actually how he met Bill Laswell, Bootisie, Bernie, etc.
Its also incredibly 1990, and the Drummer is Brain, of Primus/Praxis fame.
2) as the only reference to Oakridge cake
I'm glad I'm not the only one who actually tried to figure out what Keith is talking about. A friend actually found some random drug forum where someone had been using oakridge cake to grow mushrooms, completely unrelated to Kool Keith or Buckethead. So it does somehow exist in this universe, even if its not a commercial product, or even something that has a recipe.
I saw him a couple years back. Great show, he still does the nunchuks.
posted by lkc at 3:41 PM on October 25, 2015
...and there's pike #200: 7 Days Til Halloween: Cavernous. Assuming he reverts to the pre-October schedule after Halloween, we'll probably see another 10-12 pikes before this thread closes...
Also found a Pike Suggester tool, which supposedly lets you narrow the selection down by style (haven't tried it).
posted by effbot at 5:34 PM on October 25, 2015
Also found a Pike Suggester tool, which supposedly lets you narrow the selection down by style (haven't tried it).
posted by effbot at 5:34 PM on October 25, 2015
we'll probably see another 10-12 pikes before this thread closes
#210 came out yesterday. The Halloween run with a spooky ambient album every day ended with Happy Halloween: Silver Shamrock, immediately followed by the brilliantly titled 365 Days Til Halloween: Smash, but then he dialed down a bit; he's released three album in the week that's followed. But I should probably add around 5 albums to that forecast.
posted by effbot at 3:57 PM on November 7, 2015
#210 came out yesterday. The Halloween run with a spooky ambient album every day ended with Happy Halloween: Silver Shamrock, immediately followed by the brilliantly titled 365 Days Til Halloween: Smash, but then he dialed down a bit; he's released three album in the week that's followed. But I should probably add around 5 albums to that forecast.
posted by effbot at 3:57 PM on November 7, 2015
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posted by Jubal Kessler at 4:24 PM on October 24, 2015