1. "Broken Mirror" - 4:16 – 
2. "Big D's Touch" - 4:11 – 
3. "Separate Sky" - 2:58 – 
4. "Dawn Appears" - 3:46 – 
5. "A Real Diamond in the Rough" - 4:08 – 
6. "Sundial" -1:04 – 
7. "Squid Ink" -3:05 – 
8. "Four Rivers" -2:38 – 
9. "Allowed to Play" -1:55 – 
10. "Formless Present" -3:44 – 
11. "Squid Ink Part 2" - 0:56 – 
12. "The Miracle of Surrender" - 5:37 – 
13. "The Return of Captain EO" - 3:30 –

Drum Programming, Bass – Dan Monti
Drums – Brain (tracks: 2, 4, 7)
Engineer – Dan Monti
Guitar, Performer [Invisible Scalp] – Buckethead
Mixed By – Dan Monti
Producer – Albert, Dan Monti 

Buckethead is a very unique and often misunderstood musician. He is proficient with so many genres that it's mindblowing. He can shred, he can riff, he can make you cry, he can make you laugh, he can scare you, he can play some MEAN funk basslines, he can drum, he can slay a keyboard, he can even make freaking techno music with a guitar. A lot of times Buckethead likes to let his experimental side shine through, but when he wants to focus on putting feeling, emotion, and soul into his work, the results are profoundly amazing. I am a massive Buckethead fan, being introduced to his work through the just as eclectic bass god Les Claypool, and there was a point in my life where I was either listening to Primus or Buckethead. I was actually a bigger fan of his softer material, although I loved his funk, metal, and avant-garde releases as well. When it comes to his softer, more peaceful and relaxing material, A Real Diamond In The Rough is my favorite from him. This album is an absolute musical masterpiece. Words cannot express how amazing this is. This is a tapestry of true musical beauty weaved by a true musical master.

A Real Diamond in the Rough takes you on a journey, it touches on melancholy and joy, loneliness and happiness, and everything in between. The album's progression can really be thought of as an experience. It starts off rather upbeat and happy, with some awesome, heavier riffs offset with charming soloing. The album continues down a similar path for the first two thirds of the album, with generally more peaceful, but mid-paced to faster tracks that weave in and out with a spectacular atmosphere. There are some parts that dabble in eerie or sad, but the tone (I mean literary tone, not literal tone) generally will fluctuate between different levels of happiness or peace. The musical style for this first two thirds is generally composed of straightforward styled songs full of rich solos, interesting interludes, and catchy yet peaceful riffs. There are no lyrics to any of this, but it doesn't need any whatsoever. Buckethead conveys exactly what he wants to through each note he plays. Some of the solos are magical, the solos from "Dawn Appears", "Separate Sky", and the title track are marvelous. Once the short and delightful "Four Rivers" finishes, then the album drastically shifts gears. It enters the really sad part of the album. "Allowed to Play", "Formless Present", "Squid Ink Part 2", and "The Miracle of Surrender" are all pretty depressing and dark. They are all slow and absorbed, sometimes it will be a few seconds between notes. This part of the album is just as good, just extremely sad. "Allowed to Play" always makes me wanna cry, it is absolutely depressing; and keep in mind: no lyrics. "Squid Ink Part 2" is quite simple and is just a simple arpeggio played up and down, yet it is very atmospheric and for a 50 second song, it's amazing. Once the album finishes this section, in comes "The Return of Captain EO", which changes the tone one final time. This is the heaviest song on the album, kicking in with a killer riff and some neat sections and licks. This song ends the album on a high note, rather than ending on a somber one. I think that this makes the album even more powerful, as I find that ending the record with a sad song would harm the overall feel.

Everything on this album is done masterfully, and while it might not be his most technically blistering work, it is definitely one of his best releases. This is saying a LOT, as Buckethead has released album after album of quality material. The playing is magnificent, and the production is top notch. The infamous Brian Mantia plays drums on a few songs here and he does a great job, as does the producer, who also plays the basslines. This is one of the albums that I can recommend to everybody reading this. This album isn't for fans of just one specific genre, this will be a wonderful listening experience to everybody who hears this. Amongst all of the other millions of hours of music out there, both good and bad, this album truly is, A Real Diamond in the Rough. ---stainedclass2112, metal-archives.com

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01 – Lafayette’s Landing
02 – Whale On This
03 – Four O’Clock For Dub Down
04 – Spinal Clock
05 – Overnight The Animatronics
06 – Gelatin Nerve
07 – Spinal Cracker
08 – Skeleton Dance             play
09 – Bayou By You               play


Buckethead – banjo, guitar, bass, percussion

Spinal Clock is the twenty-eighth studio album by avant-garde guitarist Buckethead. The title may refer to Buckethead's back injury in April 2010, it is his first solo album released since then.

The album was announced and available for pre-order on August 25 via the TDRS Music page, suggesting a release date on or near September 15. Eventually the album was released one day after, on September 16, 350 signed copies of the album were sent out. While the rest of the signed orders and the regular ones where sent a day later. The site also contains 30-second samples of every track from the album, except for "Spinal Cracker" which can be heard in its entirety.

The album consists of 9 tracks played with a Banjo guitar. Originally, the first 300 copies of the album were limited edition, signed and numbered by Buckethead, while the rest was going to released as a regular Non-Limited CD, but due to the high demand of the album, Travis Dickerson announced that the amount of limited edition copies had been extended to 500. On September 13 it was announced that the 500 limited edition copies had sold out.

Despite initial anticipation (likely because this was the first solo release since the announcement of Buckethead's injury), reception was mixed. Some criticized its highly experimental content and expressed their distaste at this new direction. However, it is still a popular release due to its limited run. ---wikipedia

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1. Electric Sea (6:26)
2. Beyond the Knowing (3:54)
3. Swomee Swan (4:43)
4. Point Doom (5:15)
5. El Indio (7:20)
6. La Wally (3:49)				play
7. La Gavotte (2:53)				play
8. Bachethead (2:07)
9. Yokohama (2:54)
10. Gateless Gate (1:58)
11. The Homing Beacon (6:53)

Produced by Buckethead and Janet Rienstra-Friesea

Coming a whole decade after the release of "Electric Tears," BUCKETHEAD released ELECTRIC SEA on 21, February, 2012 which is the sequel to that mellow chill out music that ironically is swimming in a sea of Pikes and as it turns out is the only album released outside of the Pike series since he began the seemingly endless output. This was released between Pikes 5 - Look Up There and 6 - Balloon Cement. ELECTRIC SEA pretty much follows in the footsteps of its predecessor being an acoustic guitar dominated album that adds healthy doses of ambience and subtle experimental procedures.

This one is different in that it includes other acoustic guitar genres to the mix such as flamenco ("Beyond The Knowing," "Point Doom") and classical music. Once again this one is pretty much a guitar only album with no percussion or vocals to be heard and BUCKETHEAD performs all musical duties. All the tracks are originals with the exception of "La Gavotte" and "Bachethead" which were written by J.S. Bach and are movements I & II from the "Gavotte Suite No. 6 for solo Cello" (BWV 1012). The other non-original track "La Wally" is taken from a famous Italian opera of the same name and was written by Alfredo Catalani in 1892.

On the whole ELECTRIC SEA is even much mellower than "Electric Tears." Many of the tracks are very low energy but there are slight outbursts of energy on the flamenco influenced tracks such as "Point Doom." The mood is similar in its approach incorporating melancholic melodies that utilize echo effects, ambient atmospheres and classically constructed guitar compositions that have somewhat of a Spanish flair for most tracks as well as a touch of Baroque with the Bach numbers on board. The tracks are basically two guitar parts with one providing the rhythmic flow and the other supplying the lead melodic riffs.

Overall this is a decent album with beautiful compositions both original and covered. The production is crystal clear and as with "Electric Tears" takes the listener to serene musical scenarios in the stress free zone with the only difference being the addition of flamenco and classical music to the musical palette. As good as everything comes off here though, there is less reliance on the experimental effects that added an interesting layer of ambience on the original "Electric Tears." Unlike the album cover of a surfer conquering a monster wave, the music is more suited for a picnic or other chill out activity. Actually the classical tracks don't really jive well with the originals but all is performed well. In the end i'm just not into this one as much as the other but if you can't get enough of BUCKETHEAD on Rancho Relaxo mode then you'll certainly find enough here to enjoy. ---siLLy puPPy, progarchives.com

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01 - All in the waiting
02 - Sketches of Spain 
03 - Padmasana 
04 - Mustang 
05 - The way to heaven 
06 - Baptism of solitude 
07 - Kansas storm 
08 - Datura 
09 - Mantaray 
10 - Witches on the heath 
11 - Angel monster 
12 - Electric tears 
13 - Spell of the gypsies

Arranged By – Buckethead
Concept By – Janet Rienstra
Guitar [Uncredited] – Buckethead
Producer – Buckethead, Janet Rienstra 

Superfreak guitarist Buckethead is known at least as much for his bizarre sartorial choices (his stage name comes from his penchant for wearing both a mask and a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on his head whenever appearing in public) as for his guitar playing, although taken as a whole, his music is actually quite a bit stranger and more original than his image. The bucket remains pretty much the same at all times, whereas his playing is all over the freaking place. With Praxis he contributed white-hot shards of speed metal to what was essentially a funk and dub project; he stuck to heavy rock & roll with a short-lived version of Guns N' Roses. But on his solo work, his approach is often much mellower and more approachable, at times approaching (though, thank heaven, never crossing over entirely into) the realms of the new age. Electric Tears is fairly typical in that regard. On this one he plays all the instruments himself, but the instruments are almost all guitar; each track consists of multi-tracked instruments, and most of them feature a minimum of harmonic movement, making for a pleasant, sometimes intriguing, but sometimes slightly tedious program. On the very pretty "All in the Waiting" he manages to draw quite a bit of musical interest out of an almost minimalist chordal structure, and his adaptation of Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" (the melody used by Miles Davis for his "Sketches of Spain") is also beautiful. "Padmasana" is attractive enough, but the phase shifter sounds a bit cheesy and the tune is way too long at almost 12 minutes -- if you're going to go on like that, it might be good to bring more than two chords to the table. "Kansas Storm," on the other hand, is a very fine tone poem, complete with musical thunder and lightning. Recommended overall. --- Rick Anderson, allmusic.com

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01 – Lebrontron
02 – Tonka			play
03 – Peeling Out
04 – Barnyard Banties	play
05 – Crack The Sky
06 – The Hatch
07 – Brooding Peeps
08 – Picking The Feathers

Buckethead - Feathers and Bass
Dan "Brewer" Monti - Producer, Programming, and Bass
Albert - Producer

Once upon a time there was a dude called BUCKETHEAD and he released albums ever now and again but something strange happened one day and no one is quite sure what it was for all of a sudden he got a wild hair up his ass and decided that releasing an album or two a year just wasn't sufficient. Granted he had always been prolific but beginning on the innocent little date of May 15, 2011, Buck-Buck-Buck-BUCKETHEAD launched the very first of his PIKE series. PIKE 1 - IT'S ALIVE is the beginning of the seemingly endless releases of this series. The title says it all. IT IS ALIVE and it is growing exponentially every passing year. PIKE 1 is not only the first issue in the series but it is also his first album of 2011 when he released a mere five albums. At this point BUCKETHEAD wasn't doing the one man show yet. He had Dan Monti on board as bassist and producer.

"Lebrontron" (6:24) begins like many of the following PIKES. It has a nice echoey guitar intro and then breaks into distorted hard rock. The track alternates between faster more rocking parts and slower riffs that incorporate solos. Nice and melodic and at this stage there is a bit more spunk in the delivery. The riffs are memorable and it changes things up often enough that it doesn't get boring. Nice thrashy guitar march outro. Cool track.

"Tonka" (3:18) starts out with a totally tripped out electronic noise going up and down the scale with accompanying rock guitar. As it drops out the guitar charges into full fledged metal mode with classic 80s Randy Rhoads type riffing and more remnant of BUCKETHEAD's earliest metal oriented releases. After the metal assault it trades off with slower passages that bring back the electronic effects. Another cool track.

"Peeling Out" (:15) is a short but sweet virtuosic guitar solo that rips at a million miles an hour.

"Barnyard Banties" (2:29) basically bleeds into the solo and starts with an unaccompanied funky bass line and then trades off with a hard drivin' metal guitar riff. These two styles dance with other taking turns and then other guitar weirdness occurs as the funky melody stays the same while the riffs change it up on guitars but the two styles still trade off. Pretty cool as well.

"Crack The Sky" (5:08) starts out with arpeggiated grungy guitar but quickly turns into a galloping metal rocker. After it jumps around like a chicken with its head cut-off it turns into an clean guitar flow for a while before jumping into the metal cauldron again. It continues to alternate the two and then adds solos.

"The Hatch" (4:01) begins with a strange guitar effect and a monotonous marching rhythm with strange electronic embellishments and then all drops out except a funky bass line. It all starts trading off with each other delivering quirky time signatures and brief appearances of metal guitar. It then sounds like a battle between Squarepusher IDM and Van Halen inspired metal riffage. Weird indeed.

"Brooding Peeps" (4:54) starts out with a brooding backing ambient effect with staccato guitar chords that have long pauses in between. It eventually becomes a guitar riff with steady drum and bass. This one displays some fine neoclassical guitar shredding and a bountiful style of changing things up but themes recur only with variations. Another cool track.

"Picking The Feathers" (4:40) is very strange. It starts out with a downtempo type electronic drum and then has intermittent power chords and then little tinklings on the higher register of the guitar. The time sigs and tempo changes are all over the map making it impossible to follow but soon it gets joined in by a steady metal guitar / bass / drumbeat for a while before it reverts back to the avant-garde scene. These two styles trade off with variations each time.

This first PIKE is pretty damn good and shows BUCKETHEAD in a mode where he was clearly passionate about the material. The melodies are strong, the delivery even stronger and the album is varied and nicely produced. This is clearly before he was pumping these out on automatic pilot. IT'S ALIVE is mostly rooted in 80s classic metal but has lots of experimental approaches lurking around every corner. The ratio of accessible to avant-garde leads more towards the accessible but when it gets weird there's no holding back. I should've started listening to these from the beginning because this is a keeper. ---siLLy puPPy, progarchives.com

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1 Untitled 5:00
2 Untitled 3:44
3 Untitled 8:49
4 Untitled 1:44
5 Untitled 6:10
6 Untitled 4:30
7 Untitled 1:29

Limited edition CDr hand drawn and numbered by Buckethead.

Buckethead is known for hurling riff after riff after riff at you in his metal songs, and Forgotten Library is certainly no exception. However, one unique stylistic input makes this something special: the album is chock-full of these entrancing acoustic interludes. Throughout almost all of these songs, there are a lot of acoustic sections that accompany the heavy riff sections. "Disintegration" alone cycles through a sizable amount of acoustic interludes. This factor not only makes the songs a lot more dynamic and interesting, but the acoustic sections are simply beautiful to hear.

Don't let the talk about the beautiful interludes be the sole description of the album, however. The album is home of some seriously heavy riffs, each of which flat-out destroy your face hole. The previously mentioned "Disintegration" along with "Corpse Be Animated" are each the heaviest on the album, featuring a boatload of thick, distorted riffs accompanied by those serene acoustic interludes. In many cases, it won't be just a quick acoustic section, but an entire song section that is led by the acoustic part. There have been countless times in which a band will try to play around with acoustic sections to try to add depth or dimension to their sound, but they will oftentimes fall on their face. Buckethead manages to weave polarizing values of heavy guitar riffing with peaceful acoustic snippets, making for a really enjoyable and often unpredictable ride.

The approach works amazingly, especially with Buckethead's talent for unleashing a myriad of different sounds and melodies in a single track. As a result of this somewhat strange take on making music, the album sounds like a progressive metal album with tinges of that classic Buckethead sound. With "Faded From View" we not only are treated to a handful of spectacular riffs and acoustic licks, but a long, funky solo at the end. "Beginning Putrification" sounds like an ode to some of the older Buckethead tunes, featuring straightforward riffs and a fantastic solo. To add a nice little cherry atop this tasty musical ice cream, Big B treats us to a sexy little funk solo on "Decay" before easing the album to a close with the gorgeous title track.

This album is exceedingly enjoyable, never getting stale, and always being a joy to listen to. The aggressive, borderline prog-metal influences that run rampant on this track combined with the beautiful acoustic licks make for a unique and incredibly stellar musical offering that will please newcomers and experienced Bucketbots alike. The only thing detracting from the quality of this Pike is the track "Yellowed Pages", which is about two minutes of weird guitar effects. Other than that, this is one of the most unique and enjoyable Pikes, and it's recommended to anybody interested in Buckethead or to the fans who haven't heard this yet. This one has always been a favorite of mine, along with a handful of the previous Pikes. Forgotten Library is without a doubt one of the highlights of the Pike series, and it is definitely one of the top tier Pikes. ---stainedclass2112, metal-archives.com

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