Flat Earth Society - 13 (2013) / avant-jazz, avant-prog, jazz-rock, big band, neo-swing

13 is a round number according to Flat Earth Society and so it’s a jubilee year! We raise the flag and sing our song. On our new album, which we conveniently called "13", we serve you our usual unusual portion of gas, chaos & chazz. The 13th album contains 13 new pieces, some more instrumental than the other. The musical journey defies varying landscapes and weather conditions, the orchestra remains ever fresh and unshaven, the music is our pocketknife and compass, the words are of a profoundly deep depth. The CD industry will completely revitalize.

A year ago, radio Klara kindly invited us to their Toots studio to record our new album. From that session, we selected 11 very different pieces. Most of the songs are own compositions, but also Scott Joplin* and Tom Dissevelt (who?)** got a spot. Some pieces are from our HearSee repertoire and can be viewed on our website with the corresponding films. John Watts also pulled his weight and contributed to 2 numbers (Patsy & Unconditional Lucifer), and so we end up with ‘13’.

Flat Earth Society is and remains Belgium's most original and most daring 'big band'. Not in the traditional sense of the word, but simply because they are 15. The influences are many in their far from traditional ‘big band’ music. And although the word 'eclectic' still gives them the creeps, it is difficult to describe this exuberant music otherwise. A musical definition for chemical reactions and cooking techniques, is as yet not available. And even after 13 years this latest sprig still bursts with enthusiasm. For this occasion the cd is released by Igloo Records, who also released Vermeersch’ first Maximalist! album some 25 years ago.

* Ragtime means "time to shreds" and in our version of Scott Joplin's "Stop Time Rag", these patches are even more tattered, so as to intensify the ragtime-feeling.
** Tom Dissevelt was bassplayer and arranger for "The Skymasters" and composed only one piece in his life: "Intersections" (1960), based on twelve-tone serial principles. But fear nothing, it has become a sort of swinging cityjazz. For our remake Bart Maris reconstructed the scores.