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Tyll — Sexphonie
(Guerssen Mental Experience MENT004 / , 1975/2016, LP / CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2016-09-10

Sexphonie Cover art

Tyll was a German band formed in the early 70s when Kerston Records approached Det Fonfara about releasing a Krautrock album. Fonfara and former bandmate and ex-Eulenspygel drummer Günter Klinger put together a new band also called Eulenspygel. According to the Cosmic Egg their live set included Eulenspygel songs with different arranagements that naturally caused confusion with concert-goers and resulted in legal issues with real Eulenspygel. So they changed their name to Tyll. Their one and only album, Sexphonie, was one of those albums that almost never happened. It was created in a matter of weeks and, similar to Mammut, they were given total freedom in the studio to do whatever they wanted. The result was a surprisingly creative gem that has been extremely difficult to obtain until now. Tyll consisted of Michael Scherf (vocals), Ulrike Schempp (vocals), Susanne Schempp (vocals), Det Fonfara (guitar), Achim Bosch (bass), and Günter Klinger (drums). The twelve tracks are evenly split between instrumentals and songs, delivering an excellent mix of Krautrock, psychedelia, jazz, and folk music with references to Floh de Cologne, Yatha Sidhra, and Popol Vuh. Det was a quite versatile guitarist be it on Spanish guitar, acoustic guitar, or electric. He even coaxes sitar-like sounds from his guitar. Songs of note are: the opening track “Tim” with its one minute Spanish guitar intro that morphs into a jazzy rock instrumental for another minute, ventures into avant garde territory for a bit, back to rock, and ends with 30 seconds of a rapid one note guitar sequence; the Eastern “Asiatische Liebeserklärung;” the Fripp influenced “Nervenzusammenbruch Einer Gitarre” that also includes some of Ptose’s French insanity; the beautiful dreamlike “Kristina’s Traum;” and the closing track “Morgenlicht.” If you get a chance, be sure to grab a copy for yourself.

Filed under: Reissues, 2016 releases, 1975 recordings

Related artist(s): Tyll

 

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