PHO' HU'YNH HIE^P 1 / KEVIN'S NOODLE HOUSE

While BRAIN had been a significant part of the BUCKETHEAD world, he usually was a mere cast member in the footnotes but on PHO' HU'YNH HIE^P 1 - KEVIN'S NOODLE HOUSE he found himself of equal billing under the moniker BUCKETHEAD & BRAIN. The album was released by TDRS Records along with the previous "Cyborg Slunks" and likewise retains a lot of the experimental rock meets electronica wildness.

Yet another weird and unorthodox release from the chicken lover, KEVIN'S NOODLE HOUSE is mainly a minimalist electronic album that has slow downtempo grooves with intermittent bass and a gazillion guitar effects that whiz around like loose electrons freed from the parent atom also known as free radicals. While some tracks are mostly electronically oriented with a series of bloops and bleeps with guitar frosting. Some like "Thin Crust" are guitar tracks with electronic accoutrements. The album is generally on chill mode hardly ever generating enough steam to be considered rock at all.

While there are some interesting moments if you are into the DJ electronica meets BH guitar phases, the album as a whole doesn't really gel cohesively into much. The whole endeavor seems more like a loose collection of leftover tracks compiled into a big pile. The title is fitting as it is basically an electronic canvass for some guitar noodling. Some of the ideas heard here can also be heard on albums like "Somewhere Over The Slaughterhouse" only on the other albums the tracks are much more interesting. The minimalism makes this rather bland. Not the chicken lover's finest hour for sure.