{{More citations needed|date=December 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Eskimo | type = Album | artist = the Residents | cover = Theresidentseskimo.jpg | alt = | released = 1979 | recorded = April 1976 – May 1979 | venue = | studio = | genre = * Avant-garde<ref name=Fitzgerald>{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/50-best-post-punk-part4-2495402793.html |title=THE 50 BEST POST-PUNK ALBUMS EVER: PART 4, JAMES CHANCE TO THE POP GROUP |last=Fitzgerald |first=Colin|date=April 9, 2020 |publisher=PopMatters |access-date=2022-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116141031/https://www.popmatters.com/50-best-post-punk-part4-2495402793.html | archive-date=2024-01-16 |url-status=dead}}</ref> * ambient<ref name=Fitzgerald/> * post-punk<ref name=Fitzgerald/> | length = 39:01 | label = Ralph | producer = The Residents | prev_title = Duck Stab | prev_year = 1978 | next_title = Commercial Album | next_year = 1980 | misc = }} '''''Eskimo''''' is the sixth studio album by the American experimental rock band the Residents, released in 1979 through Ralph Records.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |date=1999 |publisher=Rough Guides |page=820 |edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Selvin |first1=Joel |title=Lively Arts |work=San Francisco Examiner |date=29 Apr 1979 |page=57}}</ref> The album was originally supposed to follow 1977's ''Fingerprince'', but due to many delays and arguments with management, it was not released until 1979.
The pieces on ''Eskimo'' feature home-made instruments and chanting against backdrops of wind-like synthesizer noise and miscellaneous sound effects. The work is programmatic, each piece pairing music with text detailing a corresponding pseudo-ethnographic narrative.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Iceman Just Took A Turn For The Better (Eskimo)|date=September 26, 1979|publisher=The Cryptic Corporation|url=http://www.residents.com/historical4/classic/page15/page15.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228004248/http://www.residents.com/historical4/classic/page15/page15.php|archive-date=February 28, 2014}}</ref> While ''Eskimo'' is officially maintained to be a true historical document of life in the Arctic, the stories are deliberately absurd fictions loosely based on actual Inuit culture, and the chanting is a combination of gibberish and commercial slogans. The album satirizes ignorance toward and mistreatment of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.<ref name=AllMusic/>
==Diskomo {{anchor|diskomo}} ==
A companion piece, ''Diskomo'', was released in 1980 as a 12-inch single, featuring a remix of the songs backed by a disco beat. In 1988, ''Diskomo'' was covered by Belgian new beat group L&O, and retitled "Even Now". ''Diskomo 2000'', a follow-up EP featuring the original remix, its B-side (''Goosebump'', a collection of children's songs played on toy musical instruments), and several other versions, was released in 2000. The EP's title track, "Diskomo 2000" redoes ''Diskomo'' in the style of "Even Now".
==Critical reception== {{Music ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name=AllMusic>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r58713/review|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]</ref> |rev2 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' |rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Colin|last=Larkin|author-link=Colin Larkin|chapter=Residents|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|publisher=Omnibus Press|year=2007|edition=5th|volume=6|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo0006unse/page/859/mode/1up 859]|isbn=978-1-84609-856-7}}</ref> |rev3 = ''The Great Rock Discography'' |rev3score = 8/10<ref>{{cite book|last=Strong|first=Martin C.|author-link=Martin C. Strong|title=The Great Rock Discography|chapter=Residents|date=2004|edition=7th|publisher=Canongate Books|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatrockdiscogr0000stro_r9o1/page/1281/mode/1up 1281]|isbn=1-84195-615-5}}</ref> |rev4 = ''MusicHound Rock'' |rev4score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Faubert|first=Shane|editor1-last=Graff|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=Durchholz|editor2-first=Daniel|editor1-link=Gary Graff|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |publisher=Visible Ink Press|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|chapter=Residents|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/937/mode/1up 937–38]}}</ref> |rev5 = ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' |rev5score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="RS">{{cite book|chapter=The Residents|last=Coleman|first=Mark|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=DeCurtis|editor1-first=Anthony|editor1-link=Anthony DeCurtis|editor2-last=Henke|editor2-first=James|editor3-last=George-Warren|editor3-first=Holly|publisher=Random House|edition=3rd|year=1992|isbn=0-679-73729-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rollingstonealbu0000unse/page/587/mode/1up 587–88]}}</ref> |rev7 = ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' |rev7score = 9/10<ref name="SP">{{cite book|last=Salamon|first=Jeff|editor1-last=Weisbard|editor1-first=Eric|editor1-link=Eric Weisbard|editor2-last=Marks|editor2-first=Craig|chapter=The Residents|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1995|isbn=0-679-75574-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/spinalternativer0000unse/page/332/mode/2up 332–34]}}</ref> |rev8 = Sputnikmusic |rev8score = 4/5<ref>{{cite web|author=Atari|title=The Residents - Eskimo album review|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/63633/The-Residents-Eskimo/|website=Sputnikmusic|date=August 2, 2014|access-date=October 7, 2025}}</ref> }} The ''Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel'' wrote that "''Eskimo'' is truly a new branch on the rock and roll family tree, truly original music, a new sound."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Betancourt |first1=Ruben |title=W.E.I.R.D., that's the word for the Residents' fan club |work=Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel |page=156}}</ref> ''Spin'' called it "an album-length threnody for wind machine and invented language".<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine= Spin | title=Residents Only|author=Richard Gehr| date=April 1986|issue=12|page=60}}</ref>
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' deemed ''Eskimo'' "a dreary and dank concept album."<ref name=RS/> The ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' called it "creepy and funny" and "the Residents' zenith."<ref name=SP/>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | total_length = 20:47 | all_writing = the Residents | title1 = The Walrus Hunt | length1 = 4:01 | title2 = Birth | length2 = 4:33 | title3 = Arctic Hysteria | length3 = 5:57 | title4 = The Angry Angakok | length4 = 5:20 | headline = Side one }}{{Track listing | total_length = 19:56 | length5 = 8:44 | length6 = 10:20 | title5 = A Spirit Steals a Child | title6 = The Festival of Death | headline = Side two }}
=== 1987 CD bonus tracks === Tracks 7–10 taken from the 1979 album ''Subterranean Modern''. The album also featured the music of San Francisco bands Chrome, MX-80 Sound and Tuxedomoon.{{Track listing | all_writing = | title1 = | length1 = | title7 = I Left My Heart in San Francisco | length7 = 2:02 | title8 = Dumbo the Clown (Who Loved Christmas) | length8 = 2:07 | title9 = Is He Really Bringing Roses? (The Replacement) | length9 = 2:34 | title10 = Time's Up | length10 = 2:54 | total_length = 48:38 | headline = }}
=== 2019 pREServed edition bonus tracks === {{Track listing | total_length = 1:14:12 | headline = Disc One | title7 = Eskimo {{small|(1978 demo)}} | title8 = Eskimo acapella suite | length7 = 14:19 | length8 = 20:52 }}{{Track listing | all_writing = | title7 = Plants | length7 = 3:15 | title8 = Farmers | length8 = 5:26 | title9 = Twinkle | length9 = 2:01 | title10 = Heart in SF | length10 = 2:08 | title11 = I Left My Heart in San Francisco | length11 = 2:02 | title12 = Dumbo the Clown (Who Loved Christmas) | length12 = 2:09 | title13 = Is He Really Bringing Roses? (The Replacement) | length13 = 2:36 | title14 = Time's Up | length14 = 2:56 | title15 = The Sleeper | length15 = 3:27 | title16 = Eskimo suite {{small|(1982 rehearsal)}} | length16 = 8:22 | title17 = Diskomo {{small|(1982 rehearsal)}} | length17 = 2:41 | title18 = The Festival of Death {{small|(live 1986)}} | length18 = 4:38 | title19 = Diskomo {{small|(live in San Francisco, 1987)}} | length19 = 3:18 | title20 = Eskimo Opera Proposal | length20 = 5:27 | total_length = 1:13:57 | headline = Disc Two | length6 = 3:51 | title5 = Diskomo | title4 = Diskomo {{small|(demo)}} | title3 = Scottish Rhapsody | title2 = Middle East Dance (from ICE2) | length1 = 2:28 | length5 = 7:55 | length4 = 3:00 | length3 = 2:55 | length2 = 3:22 | title1 = Kenya | title6 = Disaster }}
==Personnel== * The Residents – vocals, instruments, effects * Snakefinger – guitar * Chris Cutler – percussion * Don Preston – synthesizers
==References== {{reflist}}
{{The Residents}}
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Category:The Residents albums Category:1979 albums Category:Ralph Records albums