Mrd00d

Vol. 9: O
No. Title Length
1. "Track 1" 9:23
2. "Track 2" 4:23
3. "Track 3" 5:18
4. "Track 4" 16:52
5. "Track 5" 6:37
Total length:
42:39

"Bullfrog" is the name of track one, and it's the best thing on this volume. It rocks in your face. Buckethead stays in the realm of normality, or at least rides the fence really well. Guitar and bass mesh perfectly against an aggressive but funky drum track. I'd really recommend this one to most anyone looking for some more awesome tracks that won't make their ears bleed straight away.

Another epic jam.


"Escher Relativity" is slow, and quiet. Dare I say, too quiet. Not enough going on here for the good foundation laid down. Then again, some may find this track to be very soothing. I can see that, as well. It's not too short, and not too long.

But don't get comfy, "The Poison Hand" crashes the scene and it's as if you're in a graveyard in a video game. Creepy goes weird and bouncy, slowed down, sped up, twisted around, eaten, and warbled back out again. This track runs the gamut in a friendly way. It's different.



Track 4 is "Robot Chicken". A 16+ minute track of warbling solo and weirdness over a rockin' simple drum track. Buckethead doesn't get screechingly noisy or obnoxious, so much as he uses odd tones and hits odd notes to make his pretty riffs have that twisted sound. At times I feel like I'm on a pirate ship. Heh. Worth at least a listen. It's long, but it's consistently entertaining.




The last track on this volume, "Tunnel to the Light", is abstract. The title here fits really well. The first half of the track emotes the frantic, claustrophobic feelings of being in a tight tunnel digging your way out. The second half of the song is the relief felt after reaching safety. The track winds down in a mellow manner. It's a welcome relief.

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Finishing this out soon, and I hope to promise it doesn't take me another month to sit down with this again! Enjoy!

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Vol. 10: F
No. Title Length
1. "Track 1" 5:13
2. "Track 2" 9:35
3. "Track 3" 6:45
4. "Track 4" 1:13
5. "Track 5" 6:45
6. "Track 6" 3:36
7. "Track 7" 7:13
8. "Track 8" 2:07
Total length:
42:31

Track 1, "Aldebaran Strikes Hard", comes out of the box striking hard like a dirty East-Coast hip-hop track. This could be a very interesting track to rap over. Nice, slow guitar enters, keeping it creepy and dirty. The track suddenly loses its OOMPH and descends into wankery warbling. Very fast finger picking and tapping, and as he wraps it up, the horns come back in and things get 'hard' again... It's hit or miss, check it out. I think it's interesting.


"Down In It" comes out strong too. Very funky bassline, very smooth, fast drumrolls from Brain, and Buckethead lays down this nasty sounding solo. He lays down some solid riffs in between bouts of bluesy, noodly soloing. The drums on this track blow me away. Absolutely beautiful rolls. It's a huge +1 for this song.



Track 3, "The Ludovico Technique", is another exercise in avant-weirdness and instrumental storytelling turned classical. It's a very strange direction to take the song, but it is quite soothing so I'm not complaining...

"Hole in the Feeding Tube" is a mix of activity. Buckethead softly strums while someone plays spoons and a strange drum machine pattern blast off. It's short and to the point.

"Aces of Galaga" is a descriptive title. Buckethead warbles over old school bleeps and bloops, and other arcade sound effects. It's fairly silly.

"Bot's Lament" is next. Imagine a robot crying and stomping around in a temper tantrum, on hallucinogenic drugs.

"Strange Visualization" is a short, eerie two minute piano track with 5+ minutes of silence leading to the 'bonus track'... "Evil Lurks Within", which is another one of those creepy guitar tracks without drum or bass to support. Makes you want to pull out a Ouija board or something...

Overall, this is my lowest rated volume for having a lot of filler, even for a box set of what are basically B-sides. Good thing there's 13 volumes...

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Vol. 11: T
No. Title Length
1. "Track 1" 2:56
2. "Track 2" 4:21
3. "Track 3" 1:10
4. "Track 4" 4:04
5. "Track 5" 6:10
6. "Track 6" 3:14
7. "Track 7" 3:24
8. "Track 8" 3:50
9. "Track 9" 4:05
10. "Track 10" 4:25
11. "Track 11" 4:46
Total length:
42:29

This volume starts off well with "Binge Buddy Lounge". Sweet drum intro, rockin', funky bassline. Funky guitar work. Bobbin' the head, tappin' the foot. Gettin' down! Sweet guitar solo, too!

"I Never Made It Without Biting (Bloodblister Popcorn)" is exactly like "Tower of Insanity", but Tower is better. Not much better, but a few notes worth. End of story here. Skip, next, moving on...

So it's time for the "Electronic Zookeeper's Revenge", which is kind of a electronic dj break set almost. It's got it's groove. It's wicky-wacky.

"Delirium Chamber" is up next. The off playing on the keys of the piano really do help paint the picture of a delirium chamber, and then we get some warble and sound effect out of Buckethead. Quiet, extended outro with just a break every measure. This is what crazy feels like.

"Animatronics Séance" is strange as well. Sounds like Buckethead is strangling his guitar. And mind, when I say strange every time, I mean stange for Buckethead as is. We all know he's a little weird, but this is some off the charts weird. Playing with video game, Atari/arcade sound effects with his guitar or machinery to create an extended electronics jamout. It's different.

"Slunk Funk" is a godsend. Buckethead's funky songs are where I really find his playing to be right up my alley. This is a jammin' track with an extra memorable guitar riff, sweet bass licks, a jammin' solo, and a fast-paced drum track. I find this to be a 5-star any way you look at it. Mark it.



"Funeral For a Friend" has an interesting tapping intro and speed picking. There seems to be a story of a funeral procession for a clown that died... and all the clowns' clown friends are in charge of moving his casket but things go comically wrong. Fast-paced humor. Perhaps they dropped the casket. Outrage occurs and a comic clown-car chase scene follows. This goes on for a while until what I imagine is a car crash occurs. Funeral For a Friend. Interesting. Sorry if my imagination got carried away, but that's the only way to make that enjoyable, and it does work. Create your own story!

"Chicken Cleaver Duty" starts out as drums only, and quietly, classical instruments creep in. There's a break, and then a drum machine with chickens squawking about over it plays. The guitar finally makes an appearance towards the end of the track against a fast jazz beat, where Buckethead warbles as he chops off the chicken's head and it runs around in circles. Hooray!

"Super Booger Auditory Wax Candy" starts off with some stange licks from Buckethead's guitar and just doesn't stop. There's a cool riff to be heard come the 2:55 marker, and it's the only thing that save this track from noodling hell.

"Random Order" starts off as a cool drum machine beat but descends into creepy organ playing and then "Three Stooges'-esque sound effects, with warbling, noodling on top. Buckethead then goes on to pick up his guitar and play a very off kilter solo before the cool drum machine part from the beginning comes back to finish out the track.

Track 11, the final track of this volume, goes by the name of "Scabscratcher Shuffle (They Buried Him Alive)" and has one of the strangest shuffles to be heard, on top of an almost nonexistent drumbeat from the drum machine. As the track winds down, Buckethead pulls out some sweet riffs, but it's
still kind of out there.

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Vol. 12: H
No. Title Length
1. "Track 1" 3:12
2. "Track 2" 10:48
3. "Track 3" 2:15
4. "Track 4" 10:16
5. "Track 5" 2:57
6. "Track 6" 3:33
7. "Track 7" 1:19
8. "Track 8" 15:19
Total length:
49:44

Volume 12 starts out with "Animatronics Workshop". Similar to the other Factory/Workshop themed tracks, it's more of an experiment ambient terror. A slow, rather sweet bassline and mellow jazz drums accompany a screeching guitar tone as Buckethead shreds up and down scales and all around. It provides an eerie creeping on private property feel to it. As the drums pick up some funk, Buckethead warbles his way through a whiny solo, like a child throwing a tantrum. It's hard even as a fan to enjoy this, but I see where he was coming from.

"The Organ Grinder's Mishap" is the second track. This track carries on the creepy vibe, but the in-your-face screeching guitar tone is suspended. Creepy overtones sweetly played on guitar with accompanying drums. As the clock tower chimes, a piano incessantly wails insanely for a few minutes, followed by some notes on guitar strummed softly. Minutes of ambient rattle creep by until harsh keyboard/organ overtones signify the climax. Odd instrumental story-telling. A pain in the ear for some.

Track three, "The Last Tooth to be Pulled", has a very enjoyably, funky drumtrack laid down, while Buckethead warbles with some different tones. Conversing in squeaks and warbles. A few funky guitar licks are thrown in, but nothing to really resemble a song. More of a warble session.

"Alektorophobia", track 4, is where this volume starts to show hope. A small choir sings a chorus of 'aah aahs' to creepily introduce the track, with sporadic thunderous strums of the guitar. When the drums enter, head nodding is not optional. This just got sick. Very funky, very 'hard' drumming from Brain. There's a rumble and synth break and we're back to the wicked drum and guitar pattern. Buckethead is starting to piece these notes together at this point. Another long break for synth and effects. It sounds like a power band from old Hanna Barberra superhero shows. This goes on for minutes, which was mildly disappointing for me. But it could be up someone's alley if you're into avant-garde -ish electronic-y stuff. You be the judge, though...

"Electromagnetic Interference" is up next, and it's a short continuation on the electronic-themed wankery. There's semblances of a beat here. Avant-garde. Buckethead softly solos on acoustic I believe against an electronic drumbeat. His speedy shredding blends well with the bleeps and bloops of the machine.

Track six, "The Sticker on Endorphins", is a strange one. It's got a very modified, over the top, almost 8-bit tone. This is a slow passage, like an electronic robot's death march. Or somebody struggling to fight off a hoard of junkies while on acid.

"One Last Breath" is even shorter, at 1:20. It reminds me of wind chimes in the breeze, or a really pleasant alarm clock.

The last track on the album is "Monsta Kreepathon: Revenge of the Mutant Slunkzilla". This is a cool aural assault. His bends sometimes get close to cringe-worthy, the general feel is strange but slunky. Drums are funky, gettin' down pretty hard. Bass keeps it funky. Buckethead warbles in an accessible way, making things a little hectic but expectedly so. He's purportedly telling a story here, as well. This is, after all, the revenge of the mutant slunkzilla...
Guitar lick at 2:30 rocks, as well as at 6:45 and both lead into very appreciable little solos that border on insanity but never make the leap. Foot tapping is unhelpable. Tribal drumming and back to funky. Love it. Don't miss this track.

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Vol. 13: E
No. Title Length
1. ""Track 1"" 45:01

Yup. One track. "The Butcher's Last Dance". And it's love it or hate it. Well, actually, it's love it, hate it, or go incurably insane. Buckethead solos for 45 minutes and it's not really him that's love or hate or insane about this song. It's the absolutely of a drum track that repeats without change for 44 minutes. It was used in a shorter track earlier, as sort of a preparation for this. If you can handle it, the guitar work is very stellar. I've sat through it about 2 or 3 complete times so I have a right to say I'm done with it. But give it a shot:

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