Going back to "normal" size now. Screw you, if you can't read it get glasses. Although I might change my writings to black to help out any grandmothers/disabled veterans who need to read my blog.
So moving on, I decided I'm overdue to write about some of the music that I sort of love to hate. I wonder about Mr. Matthew Bower sometimes. If you have not lived through reading his blog, I highly (think like, high on drugs) recommend it:
http://skullflower-skullflowertruth.blogspot.com/
On his blog you can read about his kittens, see his artwork, and occasionally be treated to news about upcoming tours or releases. My favorite part of his blog is that the post about Skullflower's latest release, Draconis, starts with like 8 pictures and posts about cats. Ahh, Matt Bower, you crazy son of a gun.
He must lead a very interesting life though. I might do a post about him, alone. But then, I'm kind of lazy. So maybe not. His first project was Pure, a fairly large band (as these things tend to go) and its a bit of garage rock, very loud, not super rhythmic, and fairly decent, I suppose, if you're into that sort of thing (which I'm not). Splitting from that he started his own band Total, which was pretty much just him with occasional guest appearances. Also he started Skullflower, which was a several person ensemble, starting with 3 people on their first release. Oddly enough the first Skullflower release was with two other people that would "make it" in other bands, Whitehouse and Ramleh respectively.
But I'm not writing about Skullflower really. Not until Argon did Skullflower dabble in "psychedelic" noise, and they didn't embrace it completely until 1995's Transformer. It was also around that time Bower started a new project. In 1997 he launched Sunroof! The first real Sunroof! release, Slipstream, was actually not too bad, a bit more drone than we were hearing from Skullflower or Total, but the psychedelic-ness crept in as the CD played on, especially showing itself in the last 3 tracks.
Now, I'm sure this type of music has its fans. I'm not one of them, however. Its just so loopy and weird, so completely out there. When you are putting Sunroof! next to a band like Kemialliset Ystavat, you are really doing some loopy music. (just youtube them, I'm not putting in a link)
Then Skullflower followed suit, with releases such as This Is, Exquisite Fucking Boredom, and Tribulation. But luckily this was a short lived venture, and from there Skullflower grew harsher and screechier and then finally reintroduced hardcore with Desire for a Holy War.
Within this time, Bower also started the band Hototogisu with Marcia Bassett. Hototogisu was the closest Bower would come to Skullflower, but sort of if like Sunroof and Skullflower had a illegitimate child. More drones, more screeches, the absence of any structure or form or a beat, Hototogisu is really one of those bands where every track....kinda sounds exactly the same. Which, again, I'm sure there are fans....but no, not here. I like the joint venture with Prurient, because Dominic Fernow's presence was felt and heard, but otherwise, its pretty skip-able.
This, Sunroof!, Skullflower, and some Hototogisu, is really the closest I'll come to "psychedelic" noise. There may be more of this out there, if it's your thing. Is it yours? If so, listen to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eh2sxkWRsc
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