As Skullflower moved in a quieter, more ambient direction, Bower's Total releases grew increasingly noisier and more abrasive. 1995 brought a flood of material: Glassy Warhead, on the Pure label; Tanzmusik der Renaissance, on Freek; and the high-volume chaos of Exploded Star Sad Servant, on Self Abuse. 1996's vinyl-only Clear Factory marked a one-off return to Majora, while 1997's Buffin' the Celestial Muffin appeared on Bower's own Rural Electrification Program label, and featured another round of Skullflower guests. That year brought two more releases in the rare (even for Total) To Fall Like Cherry Blossoms, on American Tapes, and Kaspar Hauser, for Metonymic. 1998's Eternity's Beautiful Frontispiece, on VHF, was one of the most widely available Total releases, featuring guest spots from Godbert and violinist Neil Campbell (also of Vibracathedral Orchestra).
Total's name brought about an unlikely crossing of paths with Sean Puffy Combs, who was pushing a female hip-hop trio of the same name in the late '90s. They successfully won rights to the moniker, and Bower -- already possessed of several other creative outlets -- retired Total in favor of his main project, Sunroof!. VHF offered one further archival release in the CD-R Solid Objects Thrown at Goblins, which was issued in 2000 and documented a live performance of four years prior that also featured John Godbert. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi