If you love frogs and toads, sympathize with their struggles, their vulnerabilities, their dreams, their nightmares, then consider Phyllomedusa the official spokesperson for the spirit of the frogs and toads of the world, and their misanthropic hatred for the human creatures. Too long have their legs gone on our plates. Thanks, San Francisco, it’s your god damned fault. Phyllomedusa doesn’t merely sing to you about frogs, they croak to you, they howl at you, they vomit their entrails at you. In snarls of face-melting blast beats, crunchy bass, detuned guitar mayhem and gutteral croaks and ribbits, the rage of the spirit of the frogs become real, become totemic.
This is an excellent showcase for Phyllomedusa. You would think that it might be hard to keep up a frogcore gimmick, and your assumption would be correct if you failed to account for the incredible power Phyllomedusa has in channeling frog and toad rage. There are over 100 releases. There are, I repeat, over ONE HUNDRED albums of ear-shredding, croaking chaos out there.
I’m not surprised. The frog is a tough, resourceful and spirited creature. A general rule of frogs: frogs eat anything smaller than frogs. Anything larger than frogs eat frogs. Frogs lead a life of danger and chaos you couldn’t begin to understand.
古池や
蛙飛び込む
水の音– Matsuo Basho
translations:
Old pond — frogs jumped in — sound of water.
Translated by Lafcadio Hearn
A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps.Translated by Curtis Hidden Page
Into the ancient pond
A frog jumps
Water’s sound!Translated by D.T. Suzuki
The old pond;
A frog jumps in —
The sound of the water.Translated by R.H. Blyth
An old pond —
The sound
Of a diving frog.Translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Pond, there, still and old!
A frog has jumped from the shore.
The splash can be heard.Translated by Eli Siegel
Old pond
and a frog-jump-in
water-soundTranslated by Harold G. Henderson
The old pond, yes, and
A frog-jumping-in-the-
Water’s noise!Translated by G.S. Fraser
The ancient pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water.Translated by Donald Keene
old pond
frog leaping
splashTranslated by Cid Corman
The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!Translated by Alan Watts
Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water —
A deep resonance.Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa
The quiet pond
A frog leaps in,
The sound of the water.Translated by Edward Seidensticker
The old pond —
A frog leaps in,
And a splash.Translated by Makoto Ueda
old pond
a frog in-leaping
water-noteTranslated by Cana Maeda
The old pond
A frog jumped in,
Kerplunk!Translated by Allen Ginsberg
The old pond is still
a frog leaps right into it
splashing the waterTranslated by Earl Miner & Hiroko Odagiri
old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s soundTranslated by William J. Higginson
Old dark sleepy pool
quick unexpected frog
goes plop! Watersplash.Translated by Peter Beilenson
Listen! a frog
Jumping into the stillness
Of an ancient pond!Translated by Dorothy Britton
Old pond
leap — splash
a frog.Translated by Lucien Stryk
The old pond;
A frog jumps in —
The sound of the water.Translated by Robert Aitken
The old pond —
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.Translated by Robert Hass
At the ancient pond
a frog plunges into
the sound of waterTranslated by Sam Hamill
dark old pond
:
a frog plunks inTranslated by Dick Bakken
Ancient silent pond
Then a frog jumped right in
Watersound: kerplunkTranslated by John S. Major
old pond
a frog leaps in —
a moment after, silenceTranslated by Ross Figgins
ancient is the pond —
suddenly a frog leaps — now!
the water echoesTranslated by Tim Chilcott
pond
frog
plop!Translated by James Kirkup
old pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of waterTranslated by Jane Reichhold
There once was a curious frog
Who sat by a pond on a log
And, to see what resulted,
In the pond catapulted
With a water-noise heard round the bog.Translated by Alfred H. Marks
The old pond;
a frog jumps in —
the sound of the water.
Furu ike ya Old pond!
kawazu tobikomu frog jumps in
mizu no oto water’s sound
Fifty State Banana 