Virtuoso guitarist Buckethead has over 290 Pikes! What are your favourite Pikes? How do you listen to them? (one at a time? skip tracks? loudly? on a quality system?) Let's discus all things Pikes! A Pike is a Buckethead musical release usually shorter than a typical album and each one is numbered like a comic book, and has unique artwork created by Buckethead. With over 290, he has covered many styles!
The Pike series is remarkable. Buckethead is filled with so many musical ideas, and it is an incredible format that he has created where he can issue so much material without having to hold things back for the purposes of solely releasing music through traditional album formats, which would ultimately limit what he could deliver to the public. I have been selective with what I have acquired. I have around 40 titles so far. I don't need to have every single note, and frankly, some of his excursions go in directions that I don't want to listen to on a repeated basis. But there is a lot of great music in the Pikes series, and I have several titles that I have earmarked for future acquisition. Some favorites: Rooms of Illusions (209) Galaxies (292) Electrum (287) The Sea Remembers Its Own (281) Liminal Monorail (288) Coat of Charms (40) Pike Doors (217) Meteor Firefly Net (256) Untitled (13) Sparks In The Dark (241) Through The Looking Garden (284) Echo (258)
Once per week I take half a day to listen to all 300 of them. Seriously, though, I've found the ones I've listened to a bit frustrating. It's seemed to me that if he spent more time developing some of the material instead of releasing an album per day or week or whatever, it would have been better.
I could never get into the Pikes series. I have listened to multiple Pikes and even purchased a few of the ones he released on CD, but they just don't do anything for me. The last album of his I really liked was Captain EO's Voyage and I wish he would make an actual album again especially one with a actual band. That said I am very glad he has found a way to continue to do what he loves and make money at the same time.
Some nice choices there. The newer Galaxies is pretty good too isn't it? Some good echo/delay effects on his guitar. I was just listening to Unexpected Journeys (278). That is a real treat!
I love the Galaxies release; the first track, Domain of The Air, is great display of prime Buckethead riffing. Yes, Unexpected Journeys is another gem.
Does Buckethead have a backing band. The drums are always so crisp! Samples? I can hear any of his Pikes and I just grin. Love it.
It is a good question. I would guess he plays all instrumentation on his Pikes releases. That said, he has a lot of friends and collaborators, so maybe he has others contribute from time to time (for example, does Brain Mantia ever lay down drums on Buckethead's newer music?).
I have been playing a lot of Pikes releases lately, and after seeing the pricing down to a minimum of $2 a download, have acquired quite a bit of titles over the past month. The one that thing that continues to amaze is how Buckethead seems to have an infinite amount of ideas. The versatility and sheer amount of melodies he creates is astounding. I can't stop laying Pike 224 Buildor.
296 was just released. One of the best in the series. Buckethead’s ability to continue to conjure up new and fresh melodies and riffs is astounding.
He uses a drum machine on the Pikes, not a real band. I think it is all programmes by Dan Monti. The bass he plays himself.
I've been a Bucket fan for quite a few years now having first known of him as a member of Bill Laswell's Praxis in the early 90's. I'm quite new to the Pikes series however. I bought the first 5 and I've spent time absorbing those, so now I can move on to another few. I guess I'll keep going till they don't do anything for me. He's released 317 of them now. Haa. What an artist.
If you don't know it already, this is a somewhat useful site - BUCKETHEAD PIKES in NUMERICAL ORDER with REVIEWS!!! - RYM/Sonemic
Praxis have just reformed and announced two shows in New York in August. A great shock but very exciting. Here is hoping there is a world tour and new album!!!
Amid the flurry of live recordings lately I noticed this little gem: Buckethead - Shadows Between The Sky -- this is Buckethead in chill mode, just noodling away on guitar. Apparently this album was originally released with drums, but this release is sans percussion, maybe to emphasize the axe work. "Name Yer Price" lossless download from Bandcamp. --Geoff
Bucket has released a now incredible 476 pikes up to 17th March. A lot of the recent ones are live recordings.
I used to be a Bucket fanatic but unfortunately the quality / quantity ratio has taken a dramatic spiral downwards recently and I just can’t justify paying for random “live” albums when the majority of the songs are repeated multiple times.
I'm the same mate. I have a few dozen pikes, and I don't think I need any more, also,I'm not interested in live material at all.
100% agree with you. Electric Sea was the last album of his I purchased. He is still one of my favorite guitarists, but I am not interested in anything that he is currently doing. It would take an album by either the Deli Creeps or Buckethead’s Giant Robot to get me to purchase anything new from him.
