COASTER COAT

BUCKETHEAD - PIKE 93 - Coaster Coat 52nd album out of 60 in 2014 and 122nd overall All sounds brought to you by Buckethead and all instrumental This one clocks in at 32:46 One of two PIKEs that spells BUCKETHEADLAND in Japanese katakana on the cover

"Coaster Coat" (12:43) starts out with a steady beat and beefy bass with a space rock guitar riff in a mid tempo march and develops an easily digestible melody right off the bat. The guitars remain clean with a warm tone and it evolves into a more subdued section before picking up steam again but it never really heats up past simmer. While Pink Floyd is the usually suspect for space rock influence, this one doesn't sound anything like them although it does have the same general feel. Close to the four minute mark the tempo picks up a bit and a guitar solo wails away. It is rather bluesy and gains intensity with the help of some electronic effects but after it runs out of gas it gets calm and placid again. The melody always remains in the same mode and this doesn't jump around randomly like the previous PIKE did. As it continues it basically trades off more rockin' passages with slow breakdowns. The upbeat segments include guitar soloing over the riffs. This one is a fairly decent example of BH creating a highly accessible meandering but melodic track. It goes on a bit too long but has some nice moments, especially some of the guitar work towards the end

"Flying Cat" (9:00) begins totally differently with a funky bass and heavy drumbeat mixing with slap happy guitar funk. After a fairly straight forward intro it does some time sig tricks. It then returns to the funk rock and then has a staccato guitar attack before bringing in da funky part once again. It continues with slight variations of the general theme and alternates the familiar for a few measures with something improvised off it for an undetermined amount of time. A fairly straight forward but fun track

"Coastline" (11:03) is once again different than the others. This one begins with clean dreamy guitar parts without percussion or bass. It develops a very strong and spacey melody and does bring some Pink Floyd to mind and also has some cool slide guitar. In addition to the two guitar parts (one rhythm, one lead) there is plenty of background ambience to give the whole thing a airy ethereal feel. Usually i don't like these tracks because there is cheesy percussion that ruins it but i'm liking this one. The lead guitar parts become more bluesy and Floydian as the track progresses. This one remains in dream state and simply focuses on a recurring melodic loop that slithers along at a snail's pace. It's very soothing

This is a cool PIKE that focuses strictly on melody rather than the bizarre and avant-garde. While i prefer the latter, this one is a very nice accessible slice of BUCKETHEADLAND. Perhaps not the most original release and could use a little more coal in the fire but a very pleasant listen

3.5 rounded down