The opening swing band freneticisms of "Mixture" should leave no doubt that Flat Earth Society is a crazy jazz band at heart, but Trap might also be the FES album most likely to snare fans of the group's antecedent, X-Legged Sally. XLS was a Zappa-influenced jazz-rock band par excellence, and that group's leader, clarinetist/composer Peter Vermeersch, is in the driver's seat here as well. And, like the other FES discs, the band's lineup includes a handful of former XLS members. But more than just personnel hark back to XLS, whether or not the forward-thinking Vermeersch would care to admit it. Take, for example, the cover of Godley Creme's "Foreign Accents," an homage to a Zappa homage with startling outbursts of unison vocals, tuned percussion, and horn lines thrown over the top of an insistent bass/guitar/drum vamp as a pair of saxophones pan back and forth from channel to channel with a crisp, two-note riff. This ain't jazz, this is Zappa-esque avant jazz-rock, and it's done exceedingly well even if it doesn't necessarily chart an untrammeled path. "Zonk" (the name of the band's Belgian record label) has it both ways, as wild big-band jazz merges perfectly with Zappa-influenced themes and instrumentation. However, it would be a mistake to give short shrift to the originality of FES and the thread of continuity that one hears in all of Vermeersch's work. It's not all Zappa, in other words. "Woeful Message from the VLF" is a slow and atmospheric number with a moody baritone sax solo and muted brass, echoing "Blackhead Blue Blues" from XLS' opening salvo of 1991, Slow-Up. Vermeersch's penchant for discovering the commonality in disparate musical traditions can be heard as Bizet's "Carmen" permutes into Lennon & McCartney's "With a Little Help from My Friends." With her Euro-chanteuse inflections, vocalist Anja Kowalski belts this one out in highly entertaining fashion; Kowalski's cabaret influences are on even fuller display in "Servus Sagt die Schöne Stadt der Lieder." (She's not as folky as Iva Bittová, but Bittová fans might do well to notice her.) All in all, the eclecticism of Trap might be compared to Eggs and Ashes, the XLS album with the widest stylistic breadth. Staking out territory between XLS writ large and a more overtly jazzy FES outing like 2003's The Armstrong Mutations, Trap is highly recommended to adventurous listeners who favor dense scoring, tight arrangements, driving rhythms, varied moods, and fiery performances. On second thought, don't call it "fiery," at least before taking a closer look at the CD jacket. They're setting a trap for you, and if you are appalled by the image in the photo, perhaps that is the intended effect. ~ Dave Lynch, Rovi

1		Mixture
2		Trap
3		The Carmen
4		Foreign Accents
5		Servus Sagt die Schöne Stadt der Lieder
6		Zonk
7		Woeful Message from the VLF
8		O.P.E.N.E.R.
9		Marche des Lames
10		Mr. Monotony

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