Himukalt - Katoptronophilia, Part Three CS (EK Verlag)

"this is the third tape in the four part katoptronophilia series for himukalt. katoptronophilia is the mirror fetish. watching yourself have sex in the mirror. watching yourself masturbate. i grew up around reno, nevada, where low-rent motels had mirrors on the ceilings. it has always seemed "normal" to me, and it has long been one of my favorite kinks. when i started the series, i asked friends, professionals, and fans to explore the sexual practice, but complicating it by recording only sound and nothing visual. it's very much an extension of everything i've done in himukalt in reclaiming erotic and explicitly sexual sounds and working them into industrial noise. on this third katop tape, i asked my wife, christine k, to record herself masturbating in front of a mirror. in our relationship, she has explored the gamut of sexual activities with me. and she has grown quite fond of this particular kink. she just had to contribute. she wanted to.

christine and i have made noise and electronics together on himukalt recordings and on her only solo record, an empty fiction, from 2024. i wanted to honor her boldness to express herself with her body, her words, her sounds. this tape is an extension of that album, but it's so much filthier. dirtier. the introspection of the earlier recordings gives way to excess: self-pleasure, heavy rhythms, nasty power electronics, industrial sex-noise, the quest for the perfect orgasm.

christine recorded a lot of sessions of herself in front of the mirror. the sounds of her playing with her body, describing what she sees as she looks herself in the mirror. i find it interesting that she is so present and in the moment, where i typically dissociate as i explore my body as a foreign object. but here is the immediacy of her touch. her caressing. probing. fucking. this tape features only two of those sessions. i'm teasing. what else would you expect?" - ester kärkkäinen / himukalt