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When Brion Gysin died a tape was found in his possession which was posthumously released under his name entitled "The Pool". It took many years and a lot of letters to realize this was actually a composition by his friend Paul Bowles, as they often sent recordings back and forth to each other. Dumb EPs are the same in a way, like tapes or letters crossed through time. Not as they are confused, from a band not earnestly wearing influences on its sleeve. But as a future touchstone making music that is uniquely their own.

The learning process is just as much an act of healing as betterment. The enabling of solutions through sheer willpower and openness to discovery, or a noble mission, never completed. In that spirit, the latest album by Berlin-based Slovak duo Päfgens – comprising Jana Drábeková Kočišová and Filip Drábek – represents a pensive development for the project.

Drifting from their lo-fi shoegaze beginnings, Päfgens drone-infused soundscapes have become increasingly immersive and expressive “framed improvisations,” where spontaneous passages are captured, then revisited with fresh layers upon layers over the course of months, breathing and evolving naturally, mirroring the unpredictability of nature. Songforms have all but melted away, with ethereal guitars and bass nestling up against field-recorded sounds, synth beds, percussion, and singing bowl tones.

The framed improvisation on ‘Aspect of What’ explores love and loss, relishing both the joy and melancholy of paying tribute to Filip’s late ethnologist grandmother, Božena Filová (1926-2020). Her voice opens track 2, ‘Particles’, speaking of the humble desire to “help the people in the rural environment”, and the goal of “uplifting people to better living through education”. The album’s emotionally charged approach to improvisation is suitably uplifting and seemingly made without ego, the couple melting away into the flitting wall of rustling drones and heavenly fuzz. Even at their most serrated (the groaning guitar amp squall underpinning ‘Journey’) or when surrounded by chiming bells, clocks and bowls (‘Around the Clock’), Päfgens is ready to listen, rest, learn, and improve, extracting and nurturing hidden abstract emotion in every piece, plundering something universal and teachable from very personal depths.

After his participation in a masterpiece such as Popol Vuh’s Hosianna Mantra, in the early 1980s Klaus Wiese produced a series of seminal works in the field of ambient-drone and healing music. The first of these, Baraka, was released on tape by Acquamarin in 1981, and already contained all the aspects of his future research into the mysticism of sound. Wiese shares the path with other German explorers such as Hamel, Fricke, Micus or Deuter, but he focuses his attention on the most essential nature of sounds, on their acoustic purity, which is always infinite spiral, vortex of frequencies and cosmic bath. It takes only a few means (zither, tampoura, cybals, singing bowls) to reach the absolute through vibration. Like the archaic mood of a great universal harmony, the sound suggests a complete state of otherworldly meditation, an enveloping cloud of peace in the eternity of the present. The musician is only the one who distributes and directs the thickenings of ethereal matter, microtonal agglomerates, cascades of celestial harmonics and emotional floods, petals and stems of devotion.

Stomu Yamash'ta's ultra-rare cult 1971 LP is reissued for the first time, it is a deep, cosmic, at time ambient performance recorded live and
featuring two other Japanese legends: Takehisa Kosugi from the TajMahal Travellers and jazz pianist Masahiko Satoh

Remastered from the master tapes with original gatefold artwork, obi and newintroduction by Paul Bowler. Recorded live at Yamaha Hall in Tokyo on April 18, 1971, the all- night concert was recorded in front of an invite- only audience consisting of friends and musicians. Yamash'ta had Satoh on keyboards along with Fluxus master and leader of the Taj Mahal Travellers Takehisa Kosugi on violin and Hideakira Sakurai on electric shamisen.

Edited down to fit two sides of an album that will become 'Sunrise From West
Sea', the performance is both hypnotic and ethereal. It starts with Kosugi's
distinctive electric violin and develops into a deep, spiritual free form
conversation between the four musicians, giving them all the space, they need to
freely improvise and interact with each other, mixing electronics, percussion,
electric organ and shamizen without ever clashing. The interaction alternates
between quiet, tranquil Eastern meditations and more paced parts, fuelled by
Yamash'ta's extraordinary percussion playing.
Yamash'ta never reached the creativity heard in 'Sunrise From West Sea' again.
The album was recorded during one of the most fertile periods in Japan where
such groups as Les Rallizes Denudes and Taj Mahal Travellers and jazz
musicians like Masahiko Satoh and Yamash'ta were revolutionising the Japanese
music scene.

The ethereal harmonies of Eve were ever present, but the psychedelic girl group feel of their previous band, Honey Ltd, was replaced with funky grooves and a stoned country rock vibe that permeated Los Angeles in the early 1970s. In the late 1960s, four teenage girls from Detroit hitch-hiked to Los Angeles to follow their dream. Known as the Mama Cats, their combined voices, created a magical instrument, a holy harmonic vehicle built upon the inspiration and improvisation of four close friends. Their ethereal voices and heavenly harmonies sounded like no one. Upon meeting Lee Hazlewood in Los Angeles, he was bowled over, offering them a recording contract on his label, Lee Hazlewood Industries (LHI), renaming them, Honey Ltd. Their sole 1968 LP never saw the light of day. Out of the ashes of the group, the three remaining members continued on under the name Eve. In the spring of 1970, Eve and producer Tom Thacker went into the studio to record "Take It And Smile". The ethereal harmonies were ever present, but the psychedelic girl group feel of the Honey Ltd album were replaced with funky grooves and a stoned country rock vibe that permeated Los Angeles in the early 1970s (Think John Philips "Wolfking Of L.A.). Backed by another amazing group of musicians, the recording sessions included members of the Wrecking Crew, Elvis' TCB band, Ry Cooder, Sneaky Pete and Glenn Frey from the Eagles. Featuring songs by James Taylor, Fred Neil, The Gibb Brothers, Burt Bacharach, Bob Dylan, Mac Davis and a handful of amazing originals including the beautiful "Dusty Roads" and the title track "Take It And Smile," co-written with Glenn Frey. Upon its release, the album failed to find an audience. After recording one last song, "So Tired" for The Vanishing Point soundtrack, the girls went their separate ways, each continuing to sing professionally with artists that include Bob Seger, Neil Young, Tina Turner, Loretta Lynn and countless others. Remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMYr-nominated engineer John Baldwin, the reissue is complimented by a new Q&A interview with Eve members Laura Creamer, Temmer Darigan & Joan Glasser and GRAMMYr-nominated reissue producer Hunter Lea. This record is the first release in a new series of full albums reissues from the LHI (Lee Hazlewood Industries Records) catalogue that Munster will be releasing over the next months. All the releases include liner notes and exclusive interviews with the artists, rare photos, and restored original artwork