Frog Squad

Listening to Frog Squad's new album from Mahakala Music, Special Noise is akin to traversing the surface of a strange planet. It's not without recognizable landmarks, as moments of harmonious beauty arise, but listen also for strange sonic formations to erupt unexpectedly from this nine piece band. If the magic of Memphis can be found in its confluence of carefully composed music with the creative looseness of the city's players, no group captures those two elements better than Frog Squad. Started by Collins in 2017, soon after he'd graduated from the University of Memphis, the band's always walked a fine line between the composed and the improvised. And the creative urgency of the latter comes from the musicians he's recruited to the cause.