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Neil Campbell and Robert Horton – ‘Trojandropper’ LP
Two individuals with long histories in improvised and experimental music come together through, and despite, modern technology.  Neil Campbell is an experimental musician known for his Astral Social Clubsolo project and for being a member of Vibracathedral Orchestra and a long time player in the UK noise underground. Robert Horton got his start in the San Francisco punk-noise act The Appliances and the eclectic Plateau Ensemble. After a musical hiatus he returned in the oughts collaborating often with Tom Carter, Loren Chasse, and members of Yellow Swans, as well as releasing solo material under his own name and the moniker of egghatcher. Although Campbell and Horton have never met in person, they met virtually on the Jeweled Antler mailing list. Both musicians are ridiculously prolific and prone to collaboration. They got to talking disco, probably as an antidote to all the folk and ‘how to record’ bug chatter. Campbell says, “Robert TOLD me in an email ‘one day we’ll make a disco record together’… who was I to argue?” As far as the end result being disco, Horton notes “we failed at that.” “It was a good idea,” writes Campbell, “but you’re also correct to draw attention to the missing of original target, which I really like – nothing better than the happy accident.”Horton continues, “collaborations are about being surprised and this one did that often. Just when I thought I knew where it was going it went somewhere else. We still have it in our future plans to make a dance record. ’70s retro disco with a serious virus inside that causes it to bleed drones.” Guest musicians on the album include Dan Plonsey and Hal Hughes(Horton’s Plateau Ensemble bandmate). The title references the infamous Trojandropper virus that infected Horton’s computer, eliminating many hours of work and files. The resulting album that had to be pieced back together is something that mixes organic, almost crystalline drones with off kilter beat patterns and lopsided techno. “Trojandropper” is beatific, odd, and an anomaly to even its creators, like all projects that take on a life of their own.

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