Kerston 1975 / Mental Experience 2016
Sexphonie
One-off German gem: studio shenanigans from the outskirts of Krautrock.
By mid-’70s bolshie proggers EULENSPYGEL were effectively over so, when offered an album deal, their associate guitarist Det Fonfara corralled a studio ensemble, called his endeavour TYLL and came up with this curio. Sculpted deliberately dated in sonic terms, it may touch on Kraut-tropes such as acid-fuzz, bent to a short wigout on the title cut, but there are more strains to the record’s DNA – from vibrant flamenco on “Tim” to raga and Renaissance summit on sitar-kissed “Asiatische Liebeserklärung” with comedy cropping up here and there as three singers engage in dialogue. Not a dull moment, then.
The focus of “Nervenzusammenbruch Einer Gitarrre” is, of course, Fonfara’s instrument, but it’s the percussion of EULENSPYGEL’s Günter Klinger – a bone of contention later on, when the parent band returned to action – that drives this mesmeric track towards a spaced-out state and decorates the contemplative “Kristinas Traum” with a festive clang. The real celebratory dances, though, lie in the epic heart of “Delirium Song / Grammophon” which DSCHINGHIS KHAN fans should eagerly lap up for its spicy melange of disco and rock, while the FX-stricken twang of “Suzie Steno” could have come from a Joe Meek school of innocent schlock horror. Signing off with “Morgenlicht” – a pop chorale of sorts – “Sexphonie” has a strange, if alluring, appeal; had Fonfara taken his music to the stage, TYLL would have been rather popular.
***3/4
