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Skullflower is a loose group of musicians affiliated with guitarist Matthew Bower that perform wildly improvised psychedelic music.
They debuted with the four-song EP Birthdeath (Broken Flag, 1988) and the six-song mini-album Form Destroyer (1989).
Ruins (Shock, 1990) compiles those two records and adds two unreleased tracks.
Meanwhile,
Anthony DiFranco (also in Ax and Novatron) had his own project,
Ethnic Acid, that released eight cassettes from 1986 to 1988, later
summarized on the double-disc Power-Works 1986-88 (Industrial Recollections, 2009).
Skullflower's albums include:
Xaman (Shock, 1990),
IIIrd Gatekeeper (Headdirt, 1992), that featured
Anthony DiFranco,
the more accessible Last Shot at Heaven (Noiseville, 1993),
Obsidian Shaking Codex (RRR, 1993), the best of this phase,
Carved Into Roses (VHF, 1994), containing six lengthy jams.
Their sound was beginning to change towards heavy droning space-rock, as
displayed on
Argon (Freek, 1995), a symphony in four movements featuring Stuart
Dennison on percussion, John Godbert on reeds and Russel Smith on guitar,
the live Adieu All You Judges (Broken Flag, 1995),
Infinityland (Headdirt, 1995), one of their heaviest works,
Transformer (Sympathy, 1996), one of the calmest,
This is Skullflower (VHF, 1996), possibly a self-parody.
Total (which was also the original name of Skullflower) is the "ambient"
project of guitarist Matthew Bower. He has released:
Beyond The Rim (Majora, 1993),
Here, Time Is Space (Majora, 1994),
Sky Blue Void (Freek, 1995),
Glassy Warhead (Pure, 1995),
Exploded Star Sad Servant (Self Abuse, 1995),
Tansmusik Der Renaissance (Freek, 1995),
Clear Factory (Majora, 1996),
Buffin' The Celestial Muffin (Rural Electrification Program, 1997),
To Fall Like Cherry Blossoms (American Tapes, 1997),
Kaspar Hauser (Metonymic, 1997),
Eternity's Beautiful Frontspiece (VHF, 1998),
Solid Objects Cast As Goblins (VHF, 2000).
Matthew Bower's side project Hototogisu, mostly a duo with Marcia Bassett of the Double Leopards, released several limited-edition products such as
White Wind of Autumn (REP, 2000),
Cuckoo Cloudland (Destijl, 2002),
Floating Japanese Oof! Gardens Of The 21st Century (Destijl, 2004),
Swoon Scream (Heavy Blossom, 2004),
Ghosts from the Sun (Heavy Blossom, 2004 - Important, 2005),
Brooming Mephific Blast (Esquilo, 2005),
Awful Symmetry (Heavy Blossom, 2005),
Prayer Rug Exorcism (Heavy Blossom, 2005),
Sardonic Wooden Moonlight (Heavy Blossom, 2005),
and then Green (Eclipse, 2005), that refined their fusion of heavy metal and white noise,
Sculpture Built Upon the Graves (Heavy Blossom, 2006),
Some Blood Will Stick (Important, 2006),
Chimarendammerung (Destijl, 2006),
Robed In Verdigris (Nashazphone, 2007),
Spooked Summer (Heavy Blossom, 2007),
Under The Rose (Heavy Blossom, 2008), containing just two lengthy
noise jams.
Another Matthew Bower project was Sunroof, devoted to a psychotic version
of cosmic music on:
the double-disc Delicate Autobahns Under Construction (VHF, 2000), featuring John Godbert and Neil Campbell,
Found Star Sound (2000),
Sad Frog Wind (Giardia, 2001), containing two lengthy jams of ambient music for droning psychedelic guitar,
the double-disc Bliss (VHF, 2001), a masterful blend of guitar, electronics and percussion containing Embroidered Birdsong Nearly Meadows,
and Cloudz (VHF, 2003), a more rhythmic work closer in spirit to Neu.
Rainbow Electric Sabbath (Nature Tape Limb, 2005) contained five untitled
pieces recorded in a more primitive manner.
After a hiatus of seven years, Matthew Bower resurrected Skullflower for the
impressive Exquisite Fucking Boredom (Tumult, 2003), which contains the
four-part super-doom suite Celestial Highway, and
Orange Canyon Mind (tUMULT, 2004 - Crucial Blast, 2005),
both hyper-noisy psychedelic freak-outs in the stoner style.
The noise further increased on Tribulation (Crucial Blast, 2006)
reaching a point of sheer bestiality, relishing pieces such as Lost In The Blackened Gardens Of Some Vast Star that are one long modulated massive distortion.
Sunroof's double-disc Silver Bear Mist (VHF, 2005) is an ambitious
summa of noise music, from driving space-rock to ebullient psychedelic pop
to indulgent white noise to acid-rock jams
that sometimes sound like cacophonous parodies of Pachelbel's canon.
Sunroof's progression towards a wall of noise continued on
Panzer Division Lou Reed (VHF, 2007), that is basically
Matthew Bower's equivalent of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music,
the heaviest and most cacophonous of Sunroof's albums, particularly the
colossal two-movement Slew Plateaus, but also the shorter and intense
Etoile Sauvage and
Stairways And Terraces Descending One Beyond Another In A Stupefying State Of Exhaustion.
Abyssic Lowland Hiss (Heavy Blossom, 2007) documents a live Skullflower performance.
Matthew Bower opted for chaos and violence again on Skullflower's
Desire For A Holy War (Utech, 2008), a vortex of dense galaxies of
organized noise.
The triple-disc Circulus Vitiosus Deus/ Circle Of Serpents/ Valley Of Scorpions (Turgid Animal, 2008) offered three hours of
hypnotic loops, black metal, dark ambience, industrial music, and so forth,
almost a summary of everything that Skullflower had tried over the years.
Because of its hodgepodge of styles,
Taste The Blood Of Deceiver (Not Not Fun, 2008) sounded like a fourth
part of the triple-CD.
La Noche De Walpurgis (2008) and
the live Pure Imperial Reform (Turgid Animal, 2008)
veered towards free-form guitar noise.
Malediction (Second Layer, 2009) was one of their most extreme works.
Tracks:
1 A'arab Zaraq - Ravens Of The Burning Of God 24:16
2 Ghost Bitch Of Black Flame 10:01
3 Drenched In Moonsblood (Waxing Gibbous) 17:46
Vile Veil (Noiseville, 2009) contains the lengthy noise-jam
Vinum Sabbati.
Bower and cellist Samantha Davies formed Voltigeurs that debuted with
Voltigeurs (Turgid Animal, 2009) and Tentacle Rape (2009).
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