Silver Bear Mist, Sunroof!’s first release in over two years, is an epic double-CD of inimitable buzz. Recorded during a period when guitarist Matt Bower (Skullflower) was also concentrating on writing material with Marcia Bassett of Double Lepoards for their duo, Hototogisu, Silver Bear Mist diverges from recent releases like the collagy USSA, Splat, Wings Over America, and the last major Sunroof! release - the krautrock-ish Cloudz - to revel in thick, billowing fuzz bombs. Aided by Vibracathedral Orchestra’s Mick Flower and US duo The Skaters, Bower lets rip on rockers like the Tibetan-oriented “Buried in the Sky” and the immense “Sky Blue Sword.” Disc two mixes it up a bit, with the unexpectedly docile “Stacked Diamonds” featuring The Skaters, alongside the scouring surge of Bower leads on “Be Sure to Boogie” and “Luminous Kite.”
2XCD $16.00
10/04/2005
MP3 $0.00
10/04/2005
***BACK IN PRINT!!! The debut album release from MATTHEW BOWER's new trio, following the retirement of SKULLFLOWER and TOTAL, mines territory similar to Total, but with a more group-oriented communal trance arrangement. Taking cues from minimalist composers, Indian music and assorted folk musics, Sunroof uses guitar, violin, hand percussion and reeds to build up layer upon layer of stratospheric bliss, creating the perfect cloud for Bower's sometimes gentle, sometimes excoriating electric guitar to float on.
2XCD $13.00
06/22/2004
MP3 $0.00
06/22/2004
***Bi-annual collection of pillow sound from Matthew Bower & Co. Fairly mellow and spacey, à la the "Embroidered Birdsong Nearly Meadows" disc from Sunroof's 2001 Bliss double-CD. Layers of twinkling keyboard, guitar, unidentified fuzz, short wave, etc. Very much in the style of Harmonia and Cluster in spots. There are a couple of amped-up moments here and there, including surprise lead guitar action on "Tornado Rose Canoe," and the excellent fuzz-grilled rock of "Primavera" (aka "AC/DC" - a staple of recent live sets). According to no less of an authority than Neil Campbell, Cloudz is "the best Sunroof ever."
CD $12.00
10/14/2003
MP3 $9.90
10/14/2003
FLAC $11.99
10/14/2003
The atmosphere of this somewhat delayed yet unstoppable annual collection from long-in-the-tooth UK vibe maestro Matthew Bower and friends (who include Neil Campbell, Rosalie Bower, and maybe some other people - honestly, who can tell?) is mostly spaced and buzzing instruments and voices hovering and floating in the dense mix, all running together like some sort of alien shortwave broadcast. Disc 1 takes off from where last year's Found Star Sound left us - a mix of fuzzy guitar and organ rhythms jousting with voice, bowed strings, and unidentifiable percussion in a compressed fog. Disc 2 is a headlong rush into newish territory, with analog synth vs. birdsong, child's voice vs. sawing violin, chug vs. fizz, etc. There are many tracks on both discs that have subtle (and overt) melodic and rhythmic undercurrents suggesting a fuzz/hiss-dominated alternate-universe version of say, Harmonia or Richter Band. Probably a coincidence, but very, very appealing.
2XCD $13.00
10/30/2001
MP3 $9.90
10/30/2001
***Found Star Sound is the annual dispatch for 2000 from Matthew Bower and friends, continuing their long legacy of outward-bound audio verité. Recorded mostly at Bower's Cumbrian home in the rainy and windy UK "Lake" district, the group's droning guitars, organs, voices, and violins blend with twinkling percussion to evoke an atmosphere perfectly suited to such an environment. Following a brief living-room organ-with-built-in-rhythm-section-gone-haywire introduction on "Pink Stream 1," the CD builds a vibe around Bower's thickly buzzing - but mellow 'n' casual - guitar. Steadily picking up momentum, the record peaks with the chugging sound-of-trains epic "Pink Stream 2," calms briefly, and then goes out strong with a rousing blast of guitar and violin scrape on "Silvera." Another scuff from the UK's biggest scuffmakers! * The names Matthew Bower, Total, Sunroof and Skullflower all command awed hushes of acquisitive anticipation from completist fans of droning noise-blur * Its predecessor, the Delicate Autobahn opus, continues to sell well * Expect the usual flurry of internet / 'zine attention
CD $12.00
05/16/2000
MP3 $9.90
05/16/2000