Mahogany Frog

Besides the hilarious Family Guy episode, frog-licking was once an actual issue, with its psychotropic effects blooming from a mere tongue bath to a frog’s skin. In fact, this frog here, from Manitoba-via-Saskatchewan, also wants to instil those psychedelic effect, but with less effective means and a slight personality disorder. A tentative jam band, Mahogany Frog looks for inspiration in, at times, math rock and even experiments with U.S. Maple-style chaos, but in the end, you can’t keep a jam band down. "Spooky” seems the least jammy and goes for more subtle quiet-loud dynamics with good tension and organisation, but "The Third Machine” revels in its groove-making and by the end it’s classic jam time, with keyboards ringing out loud and clear, the jerky off-beats and even the fake fade out. The epic here, "Paul’s Overalls Hold Mould,” really shows the flaws in this release, as its goes between classic prog rock and jam band guitar noodling leaving many ideas without resolution. For fans of a more progressive jam band, Mahogany Frog may give you that psychedelic high, but others should stick to mushrooms.