Send "Eskmo " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Brendan Angelides, aka Eskmo, has been gathering steam as an electronic musician for over a decade, but he's really come into his own in the past couple of years. In 2009 he released the deservedly well-received singles "Hypercolor" and "Agnus Dei" on his own Ancestor label, and then he scored one of the best remixes on Bibio's The Apple and the Tooth, a molten vamp on "Dwrcan". This led to an invitation to perform with Nosaj Thing at one of Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder sessions, to working with Amon Tobin as Eskamon, and to releasing his own tracks on Warp and Planet Mu. With the release of his debut LP on Ninja Tune, it seems clear that his moment has arrived. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite risen to meet it.Eskmo's music incorporates hip-hop, glitch, and, increasingly, dubstep. His self-titled debut has all the right trappings: It sounds like a malfunctioning arcade cabinet, it's knee-deep in bass, the percussion appears to consist mainly of dice and bubbles, the synth lines are pinched-off and squealing, and there are some denatured vocals. But only a couple of tracks, the wriggly "Moving Glowstream" and the mildly irritating "Starships", have anything like the lopsided textures, rhythmic swerves, and glowing colors that made Eskmo's 2009 singles so appealing. The other tracks are pretty flat and unmemorable, with the exception of the opener "Cloudlight", which provides a sense of colliding weathers that's sorely missed elsewhere. In particular, the record's home stretch is just kind of a mess, seeming to lose all regard for melodic and rhythmic center. What happened? My suspicion is that the inclusion of vocals made Eskmo feel the need to thin out his productions, clearing out the knottier and thicker parts-- the most interesting ones. The vocals are in the archly louche, coarse-grained, low register that seems so prevalent since Matthew Dear's Asa Breed, and since they're neither novel nor especially charismatic, the production suffers needlessly. The acute angles and purposeful evolution of his prior singles are replaced by long, endlessly re-sliced bass and synth grooves, though there are flashes of life throughout, like the daisy-chained burps of the clearly Timbaland-inspired "The Melody". Without much variety to spice it up, the overall sluggardly pace is energy-sapping. An album of the sort of tracks on which Eskmo earned his reputation might not have gone amiss before he ventured a more songwriterly statement, but there's no reason he can't regroup and pull that off yet....full text |
| Musicomh |
| Brendan Angelides, otherwise known as Eskmo, has been around the block. He can count such influential companies such as Warp and Planet Mu amongst his litany of releasing labels, and now he can add Ninja Tune to that list. Most of his releases over the last few years have been singles and EPs, including 2009's Hypercolor - championed by Radio 1 DJ Mary-Anne Hobbs and the influential Bleep catalogue. The San Francisco-based producer is now ready to venture into unknown territory: a full-length album. It seems quite surprising that a man Angelides' calibre has not previously released an album, but his self-titled effort is his first attempt and bringing the success of his EPs and singles onto the LP format. Eskmo made his name due to his use of textures and samples; more to the point, his intelligently thought-out method of constructing his material. Color Dropping, for a song that sports at least 10 different types of electronic noise, remains uncluttered due to Angelides' clever use of his equipment. Elsewhere, Starships has some suitably ethereal sounding effects that live up to its song title. There are a few other highlights that make for fascinating listening. We Got More is dominated by a thumping beat that creates a chugging groove that, in turn, drives everything along. Cloudlight features shifting and sliding sounds that conceal a robotic vocal that is almost hushed and hazy in its ambient quality. That said, they are a lot more prominent on the short but sweet album closer My Gears Are Starting To Tremble, which makes a nice change from the rest of the album....full text |
| Thelineofbestfit |
| The transition from 12”s and EPs to long players can certainly expose an artist to their weaknesses in production and repetitive nature of live techniques, in what should be seen as a full representation of their creativity rather than just a collection of dj-orienated tracks. I am not suggesting that every producer out there who releases 12”s are destined to be used and abused by their peers, but within today’s future beats collective it is plain to hear those who rely too heavily on the same manufactured loops and tired synths, or even drenching their set with as much organic based sounds as possible, and those who spend more time to gather, analyse and reflect on source material before using it within their work. Thankfully there are artists such as Flying Lotus, Starkey et al who can maintain an album’s worth of material and with this self-titled album, Ninja Tune’s latest audio gymnast Eskmo can help himself to a piece of that action. Maybe it is because San Francisco based Brendan Angelides, aka Eskmo, isn’t or hasn’t really been a DJ. He is a musician, and started playing the bass at an early age, then drums, then keys, whilst simultaneously working his way through the back catalogue of 1990s electronica. Eskmo spans current genres within beatmaking and at time sounds similar to Brainfeeder glitch-hop, and at others new-age synth-funk. It is a loose hybrid downtempo style that is although deep into the LA low-end scene has hints of UK based artist Joker and fellow experimenter Nosaj Thing. Throughout the building block beats and deep soothing bass notes is a much laid back vibe that oozes through the album. ‘Cloudlight’ floats up and down with its wafting and bubble pop samples, which sound like a constant stream of Facebook chat messages. ‘Become Matter Soon, For You’ sounds similar to 2009’s ‘Hypercolour’, again a loose feel with subtle spacey synths. Although next to each other in the play list, ‘Siblings’ and ‘Gold & Stone’ feel quite different, one a mixture of strangulated piano samples working its way through your ears, and the other being an almost Bonobo sounding powerhouse. Any vocals on this album reflect track titles and are spliced between wafting basslines and a mixed case of field music and sampled beats. The samples for much of the album are intended to be interwoven with the lush melodies and transfixing synths. On ‘We Have Invisible Friends’ and ‘My Gears Are Starting To Tremble’, this approach is ethereal and very poetic in nature, and very representative of the whole listening experience....full text |
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