Sunroof!



Sunroof! is the work of prolific, Bradford-based guitar-abuse legend Matthew Bower. What is it about Yorkshire that produces so many incredible outsider artists? He's probably better known for his work as Skullflower and Hototogisu (with Marcia Bassett). Although some Sunroof! releases only feature Matt, it is far from a purely solo outing. The project has included collaborators such as Richard Youngs, C. Spencer Yeh (Burning Star Core), John Moloney (Sunburned Hand Of The Man), Ben Jones and Hasan Gaylani (Jazzfinger), Lee Stokoe (Culver), Mick Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra; Flower-Corsano Duo), Neil Campbell (Vibracathedral Orchestra), Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and Spencer Clark and James Ferraro (The Skaters).

Sunroof! specialise in high-pitched, airy, shimmering drones, reminiscent of some of Vibracathedral Orchestra's work, filled with flute-like tones, soft feedbacking guitars and restless, metallic percussion. However, Sunroof!’s trajectory shifts from bubbling, transcendental pulses to coruscating feedback, jerky freeform soloing to sweet-shimmering dream-haze, traces of acid-damaged British folk to brain-blitzing high-pitched psychedelic drone. This shimmering, restless fluttering is filled with a holy chaos, a cacophony that incorporates any background noise, no matter how harsh, into part of the music.

I haven't included Delicate Autobahn Under Construction (a stunning piece of work btw), Silver Bear Mist, Bliss, or Cloudz. The superb VHF Records finally have them in print again after years of unavailability. They are very cheap...$12 for the double cds!!! I think you should support the label and buy them.

The Crippled Rosebud Binding double lp is included in the previous Mouthus post.

1999 - Sunroof! - Peach Fuzzz (7'') [betley welcomes careful drivers, giardia]
1999 - Sunroof! - Slipstream [giardia]
1999 - Sunroof! - Studio Ks (cdr) [self-released]
2000 - Sunroof! - Found Star Sound [vhf records]
2001 - Sunroof! - Reborn In Jets Of Rainbow Water (lp) [giardia]
2002 - Sunroof! - Temple Music Volume 1 & 2 (2xcdr) [rural electrification program]
Volume 1 Volume 2
2003 - Sunroof! - Rock Power (euro tour cdr) [rural electrification program]
2003 - Sunroof! - Splat! [u-sound archive]
2003 - Sunroof! & Vibracathedral Orchestra - Wings Over America [vhf records]
2004 - Sunroof! - USSA [vhf records]
2004 - Sunroof! & Double Leopards - Live @ The Buffalo Bar, London [flac bootleg]
2005 - Sunroof! - Rainbow Electric Sabbath (cdr) [nature tape limb]
2006 - Sunroof! - Goldfoxradianthowl (s-sided lp) [melted mailbox]
2006 - Sunroof! - The Ocean Rooms, Brighton, UK (12 Nov 2006) [flac bootleg]
2007 - Sunroof! - Panzer Division Lou Reed [vhf records]
2007 - Sunroof! - Spitting Gold Zebras [bottrop-boy]
2008 - Kemialliset Ystävät & Sunroof! - Split Series #19 (12'') [fatcat records]
2008 - Sunroof! - Sufi Hate Crime/Zen Atrocity [self-released]

8 comments:

Anonymous,  17 July 2010 at 11:48  

THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!
(the rock power link does not work, apparently...)
but THANKS A LOT!!!

Anonymous,  17 July 2010 at 14:12  

Fantastic! Thank you so much!

Bim,  17 July 2010 at 20:44  

Anon - the Rock Power link has an incomplete file name, you need to add .rar at the end & it'll extract fine.

Same thing caught me out with one of the files on the Hair Police post.

BTW, thanks for all of these - glad you're keeping this blog going.

badgerstump 17 July 2010 at 21:11  

hmm...Rock Power works fine for me...and megaupload don't have rar extensions...not sure what is going on there.

nm...glad you all like

Anonymous,  17 July 2010 at 21:16  

I can hardly believe how awesome this blog is ;-)

Anonymous,  17 July 2010 at 21:59  

Excellent stuff, thanks for posting this!

Unknown 21 July 2010 at 00:22  

I just came. Seven times in a row.

Anonymous,  9 July 2011 at 21:28  

Thanks for posting. Forever grateful