Flat Earth Society: Boot & Berg/X-Legged Sally/Call Sheets, Riders and Chicken Mushroom
Author: Selwyn Harris
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Peter Vermeersch (b clt, ts, voice) |
Label: |
BONK/IGLOO |
Magazine Review Date: |
October/2014 |
Catalogue Number: |
3CD Box IGL 257 |
RecordDate: |
1988-2012 |
Billing themselves as the creators of ‘the most unreliable music since 1999’, Flat Earth Society (FES) are a multi-media arts ensemble with the spirit, musicality and gusto of Frank Zappa. They are Belgium's answer to Loose Tubes. This 3-CD set is a very good representation of their works' evolution. Non-Flemish speakers might find CD-1 Boot & Berg, a Belgian opera on the subject of the Sinking of the Titanic recorded in 2012, a little hard going but it's never dull. FES are rarely unreachable musically, though always springing new surprises, covering their usual broad spectrum of influences here, the more obvious examples being Igor Stravinsky, Gil Evans and Weill-Brecht through to Zappa, Byrne and Zorn. The influence of the latter grouping comes into the eponymous CD-2, a bite-size prototype of FES called X-Legged Sally (compiled from five recordings issued between 1988 and 1997) run by its director and reedsman Peter Vermeersch, a recording that's in tune with the swampy, electric new wave-y sound of that period. It's the roots of the FES sound and it's well worth a listen. Finally CD-3 is a compilation of FES ‘live’ in action, where they're at their best, between 2000 and 2012 recorded mostly in Belgium but also at London's Vortex. The line up is expansive and there are guest contributions from the likes of pianist Uri Caine, Swiss pop-electronica artist Jimi Tenor and the Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger. All in all, this is a package that's a near perfect entry point to enjoying the kaleidoscopic musical anarchy of one of Belgian jazz's finest.
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