Eskmo

California-based electronic musician Eskmo (Brendan Angelides) has produced music in numerous styles, ranging from drum'n'bass and glitch-hop to ambient and downtempo, but his work has always possessed a dramatic, cinematic quality. His tracks often drip with strange, alien-sounding voices and feature bizarre edits and unexpected tonal shifts. While his music is often as wintry as his name suggests, there's still plenty of warmth and humanity to it. Over the years, as he's progressed and evolved, he's been able to realize his visions to a fuller extent. Labels such as Planet Mu, Warp, and Ninja Tune have released his music, he's collaborated with influential artists such as Amon Tobin (as Eskamon), and he's scored independent films and television series. He's also recorded several albums and EPs under the name Welder. Born in Massachusetts, Angelides grew up in Connecticut and began giving away self-released CDs of his tracks at gigs in New England, starting with 1999's Machines on Task. In 2002, drum'n'bass/nu breaks label Downbeat Productions began releasing Eskmo tracks as 12" singles. This led to singles on other breaks labels such as Cyberfunk, Vertical Sound, and Mechanoise. By 2008, Angelides had become a crucial part of the Bay Area's then-emerging dubstep scene, and his Willow Grail EP on Studio Rockers reflected this style. Following releases on Bassrock Records and his own Ancestor imprint, Eskmo appeared on Planet Mu at the end of 2009 with the single Let Them Sing. Almost immediately, he was releasing material on Warp (Hendt, with Eprom) and Ninja Tune, which issued his self-titled proper debut album in October of 2010. By this point, his productions had become far more songlike than his previous work, extensively featuring his own vocals. Following the album, Angelides released several digital EPs and rarities collections on Ancestor, and co-founded a Los Angeles-based artist collective called the Echo Society. In 2015, he moved to R&S Records' Apollo sublabel for a more ambient album titled SOL. During the same year, he also launched FeelHarmonic, an outreach program geared toward deaf students. In 2016, Angelides composed the score for the Showtime drama series Billions. Milan released Eskmo's Billions soundtrack in 2017. ~ Paul Simpson