CD Review: Bob Bucko Jr. "Volte Face"

[$5 // Edition of 100 // http://bobbuckojr.bandcamp.com/album/volte-face]

According to the Bandcamp site this is a collection of three EPs from 2010 put together on one CD.    If that in any way is to imply that you're going to hear drastic changes or this might come out as three separate movements as opposed to one fluid album then that would be news to me.   The last song is a Daniel Johnston cover made just for the CD, but there are 17 tracks otherwise so I'm not sure how that'd split up except for maybe 6-6-5 but who is to say and does it really matter?

Okay, so the first part of this CD, which is the first six songs, begins with this psychedelic screeching and it has hints of the Velvet Underground before going all crazy jazz with horns (what I believe to be a saxophone) and jangly rock n roll.   It's a lot of fuzz and at times the saxophone solo can just give you that improvised jazz feel and then some heavy distortion can kick in and give you that fusion sense other writers like to talk about.

This does lead into the second part which could very well be the second EP as the seventh song has these darker guitar notes to it and it reminds me a lot of Soundgarden.   I'm thinking of "Blow Up the Outside World" if ya dig.    And these guitar notes carry on in a similar vibe with the next song so since these two songs seem related I'm thinking we started a new EP.

Now this doesn't stand out so much because the first movement was so chaotic that it makes sense to go into this (or anything else for that matter) on certain levels and as such this could just be the next logical step in one lengthy trip.   Pianos do come into the background of the eighth song and I'm feeling an Electric Mayhem influence.  

See, it is kind of easy to put together the gaps between what might be the different EPs if you really sit back and pay attention to it and jot down numbers of songs in your notes like I do, but as someone just listening to this because you appreciate good music then it is a little bit harder to pick up on the different EPs as it just seems to be the flow of the album on the whole.

With moments of screaming, with moments of melody there is a certain amount of distorted feedback and there is even a song with Atari blips.     Every time I think I have Bob Bucko Jr. figured out he goes and pulls something like this.   Just once I'd like to be able to compare one of his albums to another one of his albums... okay, maybe not really.