by Broose Tulloch
The WSO’s New Music Festival and prog-rockers Mahogany Frog have more in common than you might think. Like this year’s theme, “Beyond” both continue to grow and explore new directions. Under the guidance of WSO Artistic Director Alexander Mickelthwate, the New Music Festival has added a late night component, Pop Nuit, to explore new music that blurs the lines between pop and classical.
Mahogany Frog began with prog-rock exploration of the blues (Mahogany Frog Plays The Blues) and have grown into an experimental electronic rock group exploring psychedelia, a shift that began with 2004’s Mahogany Frog vs. Mabus. The music of Mahogany is at once accessible and undeniably rock yet also strangely new; complex yet cohesive; making the quartet, comprised of Jesse Warkentin (guitar/keyboards), Graham Epp (guitar/keyboards/trumpet), Scott Ellenberger (bass/keyboards/trumpet), and Andy Rudoph (drums/electronics), a perfect fit for Pop Nuit. Stylus talked to Graham Epp and Scott Ellenberger about the music of Mahogany Frog. Continue reading “Big Fun / Pop Nuit :: Mahogany Frog”
