Spiteful Womb - Interior Castle

 

Spiteful Womb – Interior Castle – LP – Cipher Productions - 2023 – (sic150)

https://spitefulwomb.bandcamp.com/

http://www.iheartnoise.com/cipherproductions/

https://cipherproductions.storenvy.com/

1.    First Mansion.

2.    Second Mansion.

3.    Third Mansion.

4.    Fourth Mansion.

5.    Fifth Mansion.

6.    Sixth Mansion.

7.    Seventh Mansion.

 

I’ve been listening to Spiteful Womb for ages. I own a few releases on tape, a bunch of downloads, but I have never reviewed the project on here - it is time to rectify that.

Spiteful Womb is Nora Egloff. The debut release was Postpenitent in 2014, there have been many releases since then, but Interior Castle is the debut vinyl LP by Spiteful Womb. The album comes on heavy vinyl, it has a colour sleeve with inserts.

Side One - Flies buzz and sounds click with a low under drone, sounds go off, it is hard to gauge what is going to happen, this causes immediate tension to the listener; it feels like fragments of memories from the past floating around a space. Buried lyrics flow through dense atmospheres, the noises fill the space, the drones are pushed forwards more so the sound has a thickness that is being continually compressed to give off tension, this forces the different sounds together to become a new form. It is like when you become someone else in a dream or a side of yourself that you aren’t aware of. I like the shift in the third mansion, keyboards melody and drones form the main sound. There is a delicacy to the sound, a minimalism and very successful combination of the different elements. Third Mansion is a break away from the noise and an impressive burst of musicianship across the Interior Castle – that isn’t to detract from the other interiors, but this sudden shift hits the listener.

Side Two – Texture builds within the sound until deep radiating synths pulsate across the sound to make way for the vocal to curse across the work. This has a Power Electronics urgency that heightens the darkness of the work, it is as if the work has taken a step forward at the listener to get in their face. The Fifth Mansion drops back into hostile subconscious territory. Inaudible vocals that play out in the background, high pitched synthesizer sounds wail over the work and the fluidity of the work makes it feel as if the sounds are being pumped through the body – this has a physicality to it that is very prevalent in the work. The sound begins to accelerate and become nosier, falling into PE territory again. The last two mansions descend into dream-like ambient territory that returns partly to the feel of the third mansion and leads us to the end of the album's journey.

I have read Spiteful Womb interviews, where the inner self and obsessions becoming the work is discussed. I feel Interior Castle achieves this and is a perfect representation of Spiteful Womb as a project. The images on the cover, inserts, sparse labelling on the heavy vinyl make for a beautiful, well-presented object. The sound is like a nightmare with fleeting moments of beauty, consistent depth and a sharp attention to detail. I have always liked the work, but this, to me, is Spiteful Womb’s best release so far.

Army of One, 2023.

Hostage Pageant: The Cherry Point: Kazuma Kubota

Hostage Pageant: The Cherry Point: Kazuma Kubota: CD: Cipher Productions: 2019: (sic 115)

http://cipher-productions.blogspot.com/

http://kazumakubota.blogspot.com/

http://hostagepageant.blogspot.com/

http://www.iheartnoise.com/

Hostage Pageant is Shane Church, releasing since 2010. The Cherry Point is Phil Blankenship, releasing since 2002. Kazuma Kubota is Kazuma Kubota and has been releasing since 2008. This split CD contains 3 Hostage Pageant tracks, 1 Cherry Point track and 1 Kazuma Kubota track. Artwork is by the Deathpile dude Jonathan Canady – Jonathan’s amazing art can be seen on his art page - here.

The Hostage Pageant work is like being immediately thrown into a big vortex of Harsh Noise. His work is Harsh and direct, the sound shifts and distorts massively. Depletion is brutal in its’ delivery. Falling Out of Place takes time, it crackles, splutters and keeps trying to explode, it tries and tries until it kick starts a massive wall of distortion. What sounds like a dog panting seems to act as an interlude as things creak and echo around until the sound explodes again, this time there appear to be shouted vocals in the mix. The sound here is more violent than that of Depletion, Church kicks off and fragments big-time here. Enabler is the last blast of Hostage Pageant, this starts with suspenseful tones until the wall of noise breaks through, sharp fragmented noises are forced through the wall. The contrast between wall and sharp noise keeps attention focussed until it breaks down again. This does the break down, build up again routine a few times and indulges that more than the previous track, building to a massive finale.

I confess to only hearing what Cherry Point did on the 10LP California compilation back in 2006 (wow, so long ago). The spaced distortion of Just Before Dawn is impressive from the off, it is as if Blankenship comes at noise from an entirely different perspective, where? I don’t know, but it’s something else completely. The whole track feels distanced and seems to come from a totally different mindset. I am very impressed by this, there is something else going on and I can’t pinpoint it - distanced, distorted and epic. From a personal point of view this project is the one that really grabbed me as it ties in with the current UK PE sensibility.

Kazuma Kubota takes epic journey to new proportions with Zattou Ni Tokete, this has quiet beginnings that shift to loud build ups of vortexed distortion right back down to quiet shifting. There is subtle rattling and creaking before some blast of noise takes over.  This like Cherry Point shows a different mindset, but it happily plays noise in the quiet areas allowing subtle sounds to play off each other, interact and build. This has more in common with Hostage Pageant yet is more shifting in the range of areas that it occupies for periods of time. Kubota delivers a gorgeous, long journey of sound.

Three artists who all play outside the box, all the works are different, yet share some vague similarities, the main being that they are all trying to push their work elsewhere. This is a good split of three artists pushing at the boundaries of their own work. A strained beauty of an album that I like a lot.

Nevis Kretini 2020.

SK.MV -Slow Death.

SK.MV Slow Death. CD. Cipher Productions. Sic107. 2018. 100 copies.

http://cipher-productions.blogspot.com/

http://cipherproductions.storenvy.com/

SK.MV is a collaboration between Stephen Petrus of Murderous Vision and Wyatt Howland of Skin Graft. This is their only album; Slow Death and it is a story of Personal and Social decay that is spread across 5 tracks. I like the effective artwork and presentation of the album spread nicely over 2 panels in a unique soft plastic, non-jewel case.

The first chapter of Slow Death is an immediately atmospheric and rich recording. Electronics and clattering lead the noise at the forefront, whilst cold, echoing backing shifts position between front and background to set us on the journey that is Slow Death. The first track has an immediate aggressive assault with threatening distortion and loud clanging, this is a focussed use of noise that leans into Dark Ambient atmospherics.

The second track pulls back into deep dark ambient territory whilst the distortion remains and becomes a lead component in the sound. It functions like an interrupted dream state that is manipulated continually. Aggressive drones and rising electronic sounds turn dreams into nightmares as the pace of the track accelerates. III continues the nightmarish passages of sound and pulsates itself into a faster pace. The sounds multiply on top of each other to form a heightened state of noise with lots going on so different elements of sound take prominence at different times. It winds itself down by removing different sounds from the mass that has built up, as the sound rebuilds itself it becomes more noise aggressive and violent, using sharp feedback, hiss and pulsating drones. Four is immediately chaotic and psychedelic, percussion seems to be present as noise chaos ensues. The psychedelic chaos is more prominent in comparison to the aggression that built up over previous tracks. Vocal chanting enters the chaos towards the end of the track and takes over as lead sound.  

The finale strips back allowing a few noises to make the sound feel sparse and cold; the communication between the different elements of sound has more impact. Less is more, even as it strips back elements are concise and the slightest build up is felt. The nightmare plays itself out.

SK.MV appears to be a one-off project, the product of that being Slow Death which is a strong album that is beautifully presented and played out well. All tracks tie in together and continue from one to the next perfectly. Good work.

Nevis Kretini 2020.