Eskmo

California-based electronic musician Eskmo, whose real name is Brendan Angelides, has explored production across a broad spectrum of styles that includes drum'n'bass and glitch-hop as well as ambient and downtempo forms, yet a dramatic, cinematic sensibility has always defined his output. Strange, alien-sounding voices frequently surface in his tracks, which also incorporate bizarre edits and sudden tonal shifts. Although much of the music carries a wintry character suggested by the project name, warmth and humanity remain present throughout. As his career advanced, Angelides gained greater capacity to fully execute his creative intentions. Planet Mu, Warp, and Ninja Tune have all issued his recordings, he has worked with Amon Tobin under the Eskamon alias, and he has composed scores for independent films and television series. Several albums and EPs have also appeared under the Welder moniker.

Angelides was born in Massachusetts, raised in Connecticut, and began distributing self-released CDs of his music at New England performances, beginning with the 1999 collection Machines on Task. Downbeat Productions started issuing Eskmo material on 12" singles in 2002 within the drum'n'bass and nu-breaks field. Additional singles followed on breaks-oriented labels including Cyberfunk, Vertical Sound, and Mechanoise. By 2008 Angelides had become integral to the Bay Area’s emerging dubstep community, a direction reflected in the Willow Grail EP on Studio Rockers. After further releases on Bassrock Records and his own Ancestor imprint, he debuted on Planet Mu in late 2009 with the single Let Them Sing. Shortly afterward he appeared on Warp with Hendt, a collaboration with Eprom, and on Ninja Tune, which released his self-titled debut album in October 2010. By then the productions had grown markedly more song-oriented and prominently featured his own vocals.

After the album’s release Angelides issued multiple digital EPs and rarities collections on Ancestor and co-founded the Los Angeles artist collective known as the Echo Society. In 2015 he moved to the Apollo sublabel of R&S Records for the ambient album SOL. That same year he established FeelHarmonic, an outreach program designed for deaf students. Angelides scored the Showtime drama series Billions in 2016, and Milan issued the corresponding soundtrack in 2017.