[the ikara cult]

ive bought a big 2cd thing of his music today, what do you all think of them?

[jon boy]

they fucking rock!

[the ikara cult]

yes im sure it does, but how does it rock?

[jon boy]

with a vengeance.

[bloodcrystallisetosand]

I saw them at colour out of space a couple of years back (I went because of the moore/nace/corsano trio - which was fucking ace). skullflower were heavy as fuck, proper evil avant rock, none of this fannying about trying to be clever, just bucketfuls of swirling evil, evil rock noise. loved 'em.

[pokkeherrie]

Matthew Bower is god.
I just bought Carved Into Roses last week. My favourite Skullflower albums that I've heard are IIIrd Gatekeeper, Infinityland and Obsidian Shaking Codex. edit: Form Destroyer is a good one too.

Also check out his other projects. Sunroof! is probably my favourite outside Skullflower (I can recommmend Bliss and Cloudz, both available for cheap from the VHF site).

I've yet to hear his latest band, Voltigeurs.

[scott v]

the latest album, Malediction I just added as one of my favs of 2010...

[jon boy]

i saw him spit blue paint on a crucifix in a church.

[loubarret]

Gatekeeper is unbeatable

[Bytor Peltor]

Skullflower’s Patterns Of Predjudice

At the end of last week, Skullflower was dropped from the Raw Power festival. People started noticing over the weekend and a social media meltdown insued.

The article mentions 39 Skullflower albums, I’m familiar with four of them. I discovered Skullflower via compilations......back when there were no blogs or social media and meltdowns didn’t occur.

[tesla69]

Skullflower was censored. Of course, this is in England, the dying nation where you go to jail for calling a man "he".

Acid Mothers Temple will provide a safe "avante-gardey" experience that people can put on their snapshit to show they had a weird experience, safely commodified.

[choc e-Claire]

As soon as I saw Tesla had posted here I knew it was going to be something entertaining.

England is looking like a dying nation, but not for the reasons you're arguing.

And yeah, censorship is bad and artists can be provocative. But I'm sure (more like hoping) you'll agree that Nazis are bad. And when you have Nazi symbols in your house, name songs after Nazi websites and talk about needing a weeding out, and perform with openly fascist bands, well...

[guest]

tesla you remain one of the most dull idiots I’ve ever had the pleasure of coming across. keep posting, it’s great for my self esteem.



it’s been alluded to for a really long time that bower is a piece of shit, I think I remember reading an interview with Marcia Bassett where she subtly implied that he was abusive/had a pattern of really problematic behaviour. a shame considering he makes some great music (skullflower always seemed really on the nose but hototogisu/sun roof put out some excellent stuff) but when iconography/ideology become a foundational part of your aesthetic (which in this case is 100% of his music) it really raises some questions as to culpability on the part of the listener.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by guest

it really raises some questions as to culpability on the part of the listener.

Is he any worse than Burzum, whose politics are arguably even more extreme than Bowers and whose music gets a lot of love from some posters here.

[Savage Clone]

Indeed.
There does seem to have been a migration over the years, but to my knowledge no arson or murder yet.
Bower's music is not going to be less important to me going forward. It already exists and has been a sonic touchstone way too long.
And, if Burzum is to be a comparison, personalities aside, neither of these are "political" bands as artistic statement goes. Bower's interviews haven't even been that way, which can't be said of Varg.

John Lennon was a spouse abuser.
David Bowie had a known underage relationship.
The list goes on and on.

Banshees, Stooges, pistols all wore swastikas in photos back when....

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Is he any worse than Burzum, whose politics are arguably even more extreme than Bowers and whose music gets a lot of love from some posters here.

Burzum wasn't booked to play Raw Power. And what is the point of comparing them anyway?

[Savage Clone]

As far as Raw Power goes, it's a private event and they get to add or remove anyone they want for any reason.

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by Savage Clone

Banshees, Stooges, pistols all wore swastikas in photos back when....

My understanding was that was to piss of the older generation though, not for political reasons. And they all stopped when they realised how dumb it was.

[Savage Clone]

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

My understanding was that was to piss of the older generation though, not for political reasons. And they all stopped when they realised how dumb it was.

True enough, but there was a giant piece of privilege involved in minority narratives being even less visible at that time because there were certainly more Holocaust survivors alive at that time and it was even fresher. lots of people in early power electronics used that imagery and stopped the practice and disavow it now, which seems sensible. However, other people have made genuine changes and still can't live down activities they were involved with for very short times in their younger years. Tony wakeford seems a prime example of this.
It does seem however that using provocative imagery for the sake of provocation it's just not something that will fly anymore and is best avoided unless you're actually being serious and not provocative, in which case you've made your choice and you need to live with it.

[Savage Clone]

I guess I'm just saying it's a little mystifying who gets a pass and who doesn't, and for what. And who gets to live stuff down and who doesn't, and for how long. This goes for both legitimate and overblown claims alike.