see also: Bumblefoot - Hands (CD Review)
Bumblefoot - 9/11 (CD Review)
and the Bumblefoot Interview


Bumblefoot
Uncool 
~reviewed by Eric Rasmussen

If you've followed the work of Bumblefoot, you might have gathered that the man is quite insane, or at least borderline crazy. Listening to the second Bumblefoot CD will only further cement that idea. Uncool hits new levels of wackiness by any standard. It's a quirky rock album that I've been playing almost non-stop since I got it - and I'm still amazed and surprised with each listen. Quality music with a fun and funky vibe can be hard to come by, so fans of most any music should pay attention to Uncool.

The general feel on Uncool is quirky and experimental. "t-jonez" is the best representation of the sound, and you can get it as an mp3 or video on Bumblefoot's Uncool page. The song has a 70's lounge music feel with melodic harmonized vocals, some nice melodic guitar soloing, and a vocalized trombone. Oh, there's a modern rock song in there with growly vocals, too. It all fits, right? For the most part, the genre jumping on Uncool isn't as wild as on past work Bumblefoot has done. And like all of his work, the brilliant compositions make even the most off the wall tracks memorable and fun to listen to.

As you might have gathered from the last paragraph, there is a definite focus on melodic content throughout Uncool. Bumblefoot's vocals are better than ever, and he really shows them off on songs like "t-jonez" and the latin-y love ballad "delilah." The strong melodies and excellent performances work together to make songs that should be in some way appealing to any fan of good music. This is what music is all about. Several of the songs add in harder rock sections that tend to be a bit more serious than the 70's lounge moments, and give the music a grittier edge.

I realize that some of you might be thinking the music sounds too "happy" or wacky for wacky's sake to be worth your time. Most serious music fans aren't into a lot of amusing and downright funny content permeating their music. Bumblefoot adeptly side-steps those trappings by making music that is serious in its own right. Bumblefoot is a wacky guy - it wouldn't exactly be honest to make a bunch of non-wacky music, now would it? It doesn't take too many listens to figure out that this music is thoroughly sincere despite the absurd content. It is also likely that the sincerity will lead you to believe that Bumblefoot is simply nuts. No one's going to go out of their way to argue against that claim, so feel free to think so!

Guitar fans might be a bit disappointed to see a movement away from Bumblefoot's usual guitar antics. There's an occasional crazy solo here and there, but the mostly thematic content lends itself more to Bumblefoot's vocal stylings than guitar soloing. Uncool is even stronger because of this, and Bumblefoot still puts his guitar playing to good use in a melodic and non-insane sort of way. The acoustic soloing in "i hate me more than i love you"  sounds great and fits the song better than any wild soloing could.

It's rare to find an artist as capable and honest as Bumblefoot, so I strongly advise giving his mp3s several listens with an open mind. The superbly crafted songs on Uncool are perfectly suited to many, many listens, and I have already played it an unhealthy amount of times. You won't know what you're missing until you check it out.

10/10/02