Celebrating their 13th anniversary, the world's craziest big band Flat Earth Society released their 13th album, the 13-track 13, in February 2013. They also embarked on a 13-date CD release tour. Perhaps you're wondering how many musicians play on 13. The answer: 15. Thankfully, the album's overarching numerical concept didn't extend to tampering with the lineup, a good idea because this number of musicians is just about perfect. Still, be forewarned that bandleader/reedman Peter Vermeersch sometimes writes big-band music intended to accompany, say, a movie featuring a living severed dog's head. If that sounds grotesque, take comfort in the near certainty that the 1940 Soviet film Experiments in the Revival of Organisms, for which Vermeersch composed new music heard as the opening track here, is a fake. The film depicts an alleged experiment in which a decapitated dog's head was kept alive and responded to various stimuli; approaching this as pure propaganda, FES have provided suitable mad-scientist music over 60 years later. The rather cartoony intro of stop-start tuba, brass, vibes, and accordion suggests the busy activities of important men in lab coats, and soon baritone saxophonist Bruno Vansina is jamming out over the full ensemble's powerfully grooved-up backing. But wait! A sudden voice-over from British geneticist J.B.S. Haldane proclaims the experiment's authenticity, provoking a suitably discordant response from keyboardist Peter Vandenberghe, his hands hitting the keys like a big "What?!" As the band quickly shifts to a tense and escalating 5/4 jazz-rock vamp, Vandenberghe unleashes one of his overdriven mutant Rhodes-voiced solos as the full ensemble gradually engulfs him. It's FES at their most...enlivened.

1		Experiments in the Revival of Organisms
2		Sneak Attack of the Sponges
3		Patsy
4		Ffwd
5		Six Pine Trees
6		Stoptime Rag
7		Raincheck
8		Intersections
9		Goat's Wool Without Abbas
10		Betwixt & Between
11		Unconditional Lucifer
12		Meet Luke Devereaux
13		Domination of Black