Search - Buckethead :: FUNNEL WEAVER

Intelligent and witty verve-laden vignettes

Troy Omafray | Boulder, CO USA | 01/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Buckethead displays remarkably shrewd composition technique and intuition on "Funnel Weaver." In 49 tracks Buckethead exhaustively displays a range of his inner-soundscape vocabulary including chugged power chords, warped sound samples, shards, Zornian pedal tones, and various expanding, contracting, and panning electronic and live drum tracks. With one eye on musicality and another on the usual thanatologic theme Buckethead again offers a glimse into the realm of mortality and its mythological manifestations. Thanks to Big B, Travis Dickerson and company we have an intelligent and self-conscious album. This cd should leave an indelible mark on those inspired by Buckethead's musical imagination."

Strange but cool

F.N. Wright | Philadelphia, PA United States | 11/11/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A collection of 49 "snippets/sketches"? All average one minute, some more, some less. Some are just wierd ambient sounds, grinding and floating around for a few seconds, some start out like "Monsters & Robots"-style pieces: Slammin' riffs, Brain on drums, then they just end. Either they cut out or fade out abruptly. Others are Bucket apparently fooling around on bass with a drum machine or sequencer. Still killer though. Are these demos? Or the B-head just sketching out some ideas? Generally still on par with his last few releases, but the format of minute-long bits is odd, even by Buckethead standards. Some are produced all the way, others are rough-sounding. All in all, I like it, just not as much as "Monsters and Robots" on the one end, and "Colma" on the other. Both of those albums are 5-star extravaganzas on opposite ends of the spectrum. This one has some 5-star jams which start out strong, but minus 1 star because they cut off so soon. As a true Bucket-lover, I would've loved to hear some of these pieces develop more. But dig it for what it is. Bring it on Bucket!"

This is a strange one

Big Luddy | USA | 03/19/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As I've said before, I am a huge fan of Buck and everything he does, but this record was not very appealing. As you probably know by now, this is a collection of 49 new riffs most of them clocking in at 1-2 minutes. Keep in mind that these are riffs, there are no tapping solos, no sweep picking, all shredding is kept at an absolute minimum.

Although this is a very creative concept, one can't help but feel a bit dissappointed when you listen to this. This sounds like something he threw together in a very half-assed fashion just to release something, which shouldn't be surprising because he releases 1-3 albums a year now. It's bad enough that these are just riffs, but their not even very good riffs, pretty much the same stuff you would always expect from Buck. All drumming is programmed in this record too. If you come across this cd, I recommend you pick it up because it is becoming increasingly hard to find. But don't expect a legitimate record like Monsters and Robots, Colma, or Population Override.

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