The Residents - Eskimo

Re-release of the classic avant-garde album from 1979. The most rewarding, the most difficult, and the most accomplished of all The Residents' albums, this was their departure into the field of imaginary ethno-musicography. Ostensibly a musical documentary on the Eskimo, this is an album of icy atmospheres, poetic electronics, and imaginary landscapes. The idea for the album is supposed to have come from the band's former collaborator, the mysterious N. Senada, who had disappeared in the early 70s to search for music among the Eskimos (legend has it that he re-appeared during the making of the album with a tape of sound samples and a jar of arctic air to record). The Residents teamed up with drummer Chris Cutler and Don Preston (formerly a keyboard player for Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention), as well as their regular collaborator, Snakefinger. Each track relates a story which was told in writing on the inside of the album's gatefold cover. Euroralph. 2005.

1) Walrus Hunt
2) Birth
3) Arctic Hysteria
4) Angry Angakok
5) Spirit Steals a Child
6) Festival of Death