Trojan Horse and Trojan Horse Redux
A rare candid shot of the conference room at Elephant Towers.
Trojan Horse's self-titled debut album exploded into existence in November 2010, and then a second time a year later with redone mastering (and viola). Right from the start, the genesis of the "Nouveau Prog" moniker is clearly audible, with rich instrumental layering, unconventional song structures, and, yes, a thirteen-minute mini-epic in 'Bicycle Jam'.
Oh, and if you'd like to take a look back at this particular chapter of Trojan Horse's career, the whole thing's available digitally for whatever price you like. Including "absolutely nothing". You won't find a better deal than that anywhere, folks.
The Fire EP
I'm not sure how to tell you this, lads, but you're meant to face towards the audience.
The Fire EP was released in 2012 and contains one new track, some remixes thereof, an acoustic version of 'Disciplining the Reserve Army' from the first album, and a surprising (and surprisingly good!) cover of Neil Young's 'Ohio'. It's certainly a mixed bag in genre terms, but the quality holds all the way through, with one listener noting that it "really gels on repeated listening".
And as if the first album wasn't good enough, Fire is also now pay-what-you-want.
Paper Bells
"You know, this was a cute idea at the time, but none of these bells are actually fit for purpose..."
Early 2014 saw Trojan Horse's first single, Paper Bells, both an impressive, impactful track in its own right and an appetizer for what was to come. This song marked a tighter, more cohesive direction for Trojan Horse's music, bringing together a vast web of influences into something stabler and more refined - a trend that would continue later in the year under the grey, leathery wings of a certain independent record label...
World Turned Upside Down
This is the way the world ends: not with a bang, but with a stegosaurus-shaped hole in the sky.
World Turned Upside Down was finally released by Bad Elephant Music on October 13th, 2014. (Remember that date!) As well as including 'Paper Bells' and a new version of 'Fire', it brought together around three years' worth of songwriting into a deluxe package of punchy riffs, cutting vocals, and a generally harder edge than their previous work. It was well-reviewed, garnering praise from Silent Radio, Already Heard, and PROG Magazine.
World Turned Upside Down is still available from the BEM webstore at the newly reduced price of £5 for the CD or £2 for the digital version.
After the release of World Turned Upside Down, Trojan Horse's Nick Duke told CEO David Elliott that he'd "try to make sure it doesn't take us three years to get the next one out".
Ahem.
Fukushima Surfer Boys
I'm not sure what this is, but I think wearing it will protect me from malicious radio waves.
Trojan Horse's third full-length album, Fukushima Surfer Boys, will be released on October 13th of this year, slightly less than a month away. Yes, that's three years to the day after the release of World Turned Upside Down. Oh, those Trojan Horse lads. What rogues they are. What scoundrels.
If you like what you've heard so far, you may well be inclined to preorder the album, and you can do so here.
Join us again in 2023 for Trojan Horse's next album, which will probably have an even more confusing name than Fukushima Surfer Boys!
Status Update
Aside from Fukushima Surfer Boys going up for preorder two days ago, we're less than a week away now from the release of Whitewater's Universal Medium. Preorders for that are still open, too so grab 'em while they're hot!
This week has mostly seen New James (we're calling him that to distinguish him from BEM co-founder James Allen, who we'll now refer to as Previous James) getting settled into his new role for the label. Full disclosure, by the way: while James (New James) will be continuing his reviewing work, he'll no longer cover BEM releases due to potential conflicts of interest. He did, however, get a couple more in just before the whistle, which you can find in the...
Review Roundup
(Did you see that segue? Where's my damn Pulitzer?)
James' last couple of BEM reviews for Rock Society covered The Fierce and the Dead's Field Recordings and Schnauser's Irritant. You can read these in full dead-tree format in the magazine, but, now with 30% more camera tilt, here they are in all their embedded glory!
And as if that wasn't enough for you, James also covered Sky Architect's Nomad, which we're handling in the UK through a collaboration with FREIA Music. You can grab a copy right here!
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