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Matthew Bower is a British musician, active since the early 1980s, with a vast collection of collaborative and solo work behind him.

Initially appearing under the name Pure, the unit became Total and then Skullflower when Bower hooked up with Stefan Jaworzyn and Stuart Dennison around 1982. Unlike most of their immediate contemporaries in the London-based industrial underground, they used traditional rock instruments such as guitars and drums rather than tapes, synths etc. The line-up was fairly fluid, with members of contemporaries such as Whitehouse, Coil and Ramleh contributing. The group are often cited as having been a strong influence on Justin Broadrick of Godflesh (who later released two of their albums on his HeadDirt label) and their early releases such as Form Destroyer and Xaman are widely considered to be their best. Jaworzyn left the band with some acrimony and bassist Anthony DiFranco and guitarist Russell Smith (Terminal Cheesecake) joined. The unit moved further and further away from any recognisable rock genre with albums such as Obsidian Shaking Codex and Transformer showcasing a free-flowing, rootless brand of drone music, often adding reeds and strings.

Throughout, Bower continued solo activities under the Total name issuing around a dozen full length titles on labels such as Majora, VHF, American Tapes (run by John Olson of Wolf Eyes), Self Abuse and Freek as well as appearing on Virgin‘s archetypal Isolationism compilation. Initially a calmer counterpart to Skullflower’s harsh noise, the roles slowly reversed, reaching a peak with the Merzbow Mixed Total cassstte. The name was eventually dropped at around the same time as US R&B group of the same name appeared, although Bower has never confirmed a connection.

With Skullflower officially resting, Bower began a more inclusive project called Sunroof! which, on occasion, could feature Richard Youngs, Neil Campbell, John Godbert, Phil Todd and other friends. More melodic than his previous work, albums were issued on VHF, Giardia and his own Rural Electrification Project label. In addition, he also guested with Vibracathedral Orchestra on a number of occasions and has issued 2 albums with Richard Youngs. More recently he has been found in Hototogisu, initially a fresh solo project, later expanded to a permanent duo of himself and Marcia Bassett of Double Leopards, touring and releasing as extensively as ever. Skullflower was also resurrected, with Bower enlisting people like Mark Burns, Neil Campbell, Michael Flower and Colin Potter (of Nurse With Wound) for new material. Although he recorded the most recent Skullflower title, Tribulation, alone, he toured Skullflower as a duo of himself and Lee Stokoe (who records solo as Culver) in the early part of 2007. He has also begun a new project Mirag, with an EP issued on Campbell Kneale's Battlecruiser label. Bower’s huge discography of visceral, free drone-rock is one of the most formidable of its kind and he was considered in 2005 by The Wire to be one of the "map co-ordinates for much of what passed for a post-punk UK underground during most of the 80s and 90s" (issue 259).

• Unofficial Skullflower website - excellent discography for all projects but appears to be dormant
• Hototogisu website
• VHF Records website - sound samples of their many Bower and related releases are available here
• Matthew Bower at Discogs