Perhaps more so than any other musician living under the #experimental umbrella, ol’ Uncle Bob [Bucko Jr.]’s scope of variety from release to release is vast. It’s an idea that’s hinted at in the musician’s label, Personal Archives, itself used as a kind of categorization and documentation system for Bucko’s own artistic output. Just hit the “more releases” link on the label’s Bandcamp page, and you’ll notice 26 of the 64 entries in the discography involve Bucko in one form or another, whether it be a single for a comp, a collaborative set of recordings, live improvisation, or simply a BBJr album. Damn, Bob. Damn. And the list of instruments, electronics, software used are about as different from release to release as you could possibly imagine, jumping from vocal manipulation to minimal guitar improvisation to a fucking kazoo run through a table of effect pedals.
Bucko’s most recent efforts, Blast the Past and Travel Well serve as perfect representations of this variety; the former serving as a kind of “greatest hits” collecting material from four previous albums alongside a handful of previously unreleased material, and the latter portraying some of the musician’s more freeform, drone, and minimal tendencies. In other words, if you haven’t yet had the chance to dive into the file cabinets of the BBJr Personal Archives, now’s your chance.
If you’re lucky(?) enough to live in the Midwest, pick these up at the BBJr Long Drive Through Flyover Country Tour in support of both releases, as it takes him all around the central United States throughout the next two weeks. Otherwise, duck outta the way of the Chocolate Grinder and into the Personal Archives to pick them up digitally (free-ish) or physically (CD-R, c20).
• Bob Bucko Jr.: http://bobbuckojr.bandcamp.com
• Personal Archives: https://personalarchives.bandcamp.com
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