THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF DER SHRIMPKIN

This album (to date the only one I've heard by the group) is just irresistable. Often complex, endlessly quirky and inventive yet accessible enough to play to just about anyone on one condition: That they possess a sense of humour. For, ladies and gents, I can think of few artists other than the great Zappa himself who are quite as relentlessly silly, whimsical and playful in their approach to music than Eskimo.

Right from the off you know you're in for a pretty crazy time of it as the first song "Bones of the Saints" leaps from style to style at least five times in just over two minutes. From its quirky avant-prog opening strains through metal to tribal beats and nonsensical a capella lyrics, it's a positively bewildering opener. And it doesn't get much more predictable through the rest of the album, either.

Really, there's little point me attempting to describe the myriad of sounds and styles showcased on this album, save to say that Eskimo still manage to build up an impressively distinct character by instrumentation alone - the dominant trombone and marimba call to mind the Magic Band (particularly around about the Shiny Beast era) and basically nobody else. As I mentioned in my the biography page, most of the stylistic changes are borderline-pastiche rather than a serious attempt to fuse countless genres. However, the album is none the worse for this playful attitude towards composition.

It's hard to pick favourite songs as most of their tracks are quite short and they simply allow the album to ebb and flow from one idea to the next. It's both a fragmented and deeply unified piece of work. However, if I'm forced to, I'd say the borderline jazz-hop/patriotic pomp of "Bughead", the out-and-out avant-funk of "Dado Peru" and the silly, mystical and at times even unsettling "Kill the Great Raven" are all stand-out tracks.

In conclusion, if you're anything like me then the terms I've used to describe Eskimo (such as quirky, complex, bewildering, playful) will have already got you salivating at the mere thought of this album. If those words do nothing for you, stay well clear. You'd simply be wasting everybody's time.

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