Obsessive sequenced electronics, synths and recorded sounds form 11 music narrations,  inspired by or referred to, different works of litterature.

 
released in collaboration with antzen
“These tracks were either inspired by, or made for various works of literature. Sometimes the reading of a book created the almost immediate need to  write some music whilst still under the influence of its words and images, as was the case for “the floating opera”, or “the inheritors”. More often it was the music first and then the memory of a book coming into mind – sometimes it was instantaneous connection as was the case with “todos los fuegos, el fuego”, other times my mind was drifting among novels and short stories trying to find a match. “Ubik” was something inbetween: when i started doing music for it, i was not under its influence, but the feeling of cold, frozen horror, its strange, other-world forms were always there, i just had to bring the book in mind and after all these years of reading it, its feverish visions were still there, ready to melt with and shape the music.
In any case, i did not attempt to create soundtracks for these pieces of literature. The intention was rather a tiny homage to some great written stuff. This and the pursuit of the total bliss of reading an inspiring book while listening to some thought provoking music and the moment when words and sounds melt into a timeless dreamy euphoria.”
Most of the music was done between 2017 and 2019 using a variety of instruments and sound sources, such as:
yamaha cs-20, dreadbox erebus, audiomulch, mfb tanzbar lite, SC six track, yamaha cs-15, Korg sq-1, beatstep, field recordings, mfb dominion
mastered by phillip (synapscape)
cover design: salt
listen
 reviews
The big surprise here is not (perhaps) a new album by the Greek PS Stamps Back, although they write “what’s the point in doing music if you can’t play live”, and still deciding to continue, but the fact that this album is a co-release on the band’s imprint and Ant-Zen. For some reason, I assumed the latter gave up doing physical releases some time ago, but I also admit I am not a man that is a die-hard fanboy of the label. In the past, we had a dedicated reviewer of their releases and that wasn’t me. Works of literature, of which I recognized the title of the album and ‘High Rise’, but not so much the others, inspired the pieces on this new release. I should read more, I guess. The cover also lists the equipment used, various synthesizers but also field recordings. Over the years PS Stamps Back moved towards a techno-inspired sound and that’s what they are doing here as well, a bit better than before, a bit stronger and a bit more complex in terms of rounded songs. Sometimes it is pretty straight forward dance-oriented music, but PS Stamps Back also have these slower arpeggio building pieces that are less about dance music, more a sort of cosmic trip, as in the opening piece, ‘A Boy And His Dog’. Come to think of it, the cosmic (Berlin School) synthesizer trip rings through more pieces here, which is adds a fine dynamic to the music, combined with a more 8-s synth sound in some other pieces. PS Stamps Back take their time to explore each piece and at sixty-nine minutes this is a long album, but it is the variety that saves it for me.
(fdw/vital weekly)