Eskinder: The Masked Men From Wales
This psychedelic funk trio worships an Egg God expected to hatch from the Sun.
If done right, masked musicians bestow on audiences an unexpected gift.
Anonymity by way of an alter-ego births a wonderful conundrum. An added creative layer that simultaneously strips away what lies beneath. Giving listeners both a question and a clue, which exist intertwined amidst whatever vision lies at the heart of the music, pushing and pulling, building tension between what we known and what we don’t, what we see and what is hidden, scrambling our expectations like a double-yoked egg.
Masks get the mind going. They can be incredibly simple or wildly elaborate. They can be transfixing, artful, strange, absurd, cool. They can pose as a form of protection, armor, a translation, a visual twin to the sounds shaking our eardrums and demanding attention.
Futuristic robot helmets. Fringed leather face coverings. Demented clown-trash vizards. Polka-dotted papier-mâché puppet heads. Daft Punk, Orville Peck, Slipknot! Angine de Poitrine. The list of performers donning masks remains endless. Veiling your face for an album cover, a press photo, a live performance is not new. But it is timeless — Who doesn’t love a mystery?
Which brings us to a relatively new band out of a small city in Southeast Wales called Newport (“Casnewydd” in Welsh).
Dom (keys, synths), Dan (bass), and Billy (drums) started making psychedelic funk music together in the early aughts, blending live instrumentals with samples from their favorite songs. Over the years, these initial jams have evolved, blooming into Eskinder, a heady groove-forward group whose music is a trippy tincture in line with other reality-bending instrumental groups like BadBadNotGood, Surprise Chef, or L’eclair.
Now pressed to wax, Eskinder’s debut singles — “Winton’s Hubris” and “Forgotten Kitchen” — express the trio’s expansive musical tastes derived from a lifetime of crate digging, eclectic listening, improvisational playing, a killer sense of humor, and a deep appreciation of dazzling vintage visual aesthetics from across the globe.
Oh yeah, and they also wear masks.
Tune in below for The Jam Jar’s witty, informative chat with Dom, in which every answer introduces yet another clue to Eskinder’s unfolding mystery.
Enjoy!
Or, in Welsh: Mwynhewch!
Tell me about the term Eskinder.
“Iskandar” is the Persian name for Alexander the Great. Dan suggested the name and I agreed to it because I liked the Turkish dish, Iskender. There’s also a Russian missile called Iskander, so we went with the Ethiopian spelling.
The masks you wear are mesmerizing and promote a sense of mystery about the project and the people behind it. Is that what you were aiming for?
We wanted to add a visual layer to the music. Over time, we’ve added lore to the masks based on an old man who used to live on the industrial estate we practice in. He lived in a caravan and we nicknamed him “The Egg Man” due to the egg stains on his ribbed tank top. The estate is haunted by his ghost and his dog (“Egg Dog”), while we’re an enigmatic cult who worship a cosmic egg and an entity that will hatch out of the sun. The imagery is drawn from folk masks from around the world: psychedelic sci-fi comic art (Moebius, Caza), as well as Tokusatsu shows (Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Akumaizer 3, Kikaider) from the 70s.
Who are the masked musicians you dig most?
The Residents are definitely the most visually striking masked group I can think of. MF DOOM is one of my favorite artists of all time. GOAT are incredible, that first album I play a lot. There’s also Count Binface, who is quite topical, but he doesn’t make music. Most masked bands make rubbish metal don’t they…
What do you guys want the world to know about Eskinder and the music you’re making?
That instrumental funk music can exist in the South Welsh musical ecosystem!
Both music videos you’ve put out so far are wonderful — they’re psychedelic and simple in a way that perfectly fits the music.
Our friend Dave Lunt created the video for “Winton’s Hubris.” We wanted a vibe similar to the old krautrock and prog-rock videos that aired on German TV in the 70s. And I created the video for “Forgotten Kitchen.” I’ve never animated anything before but I convinced myself I could do some rotoscoping in a similar vein as RUFFMERCY. It took me 3 hours to complete a 9 second loop! Ideally, I’d like to pay someone to make a feature length animation in the style of La Planète Sauvage (“Fantastic Planet”) but I don’t think its within our budget…
Funk Night Records just put out your debut 7”. I first heard of them through Estonian artist Misha Panfilov.
We have a mutual friend with Fergal McBride who plays bass for Smith and The Honey Badgers, as well as The Rayvelles, who have released music with Funk Night. He was nice enough to pass our music on to the label head Frank Raines, who also mixed our record! But we’d been following the label for a while before that because of The Soul Surfers, Shawn Lee, and Misha.
How does it feel to have your music out on vinyl?
Yeah, amazing! I’ve had music released with labels before but it was before the vinyl revival so they just exist digitally. I’ve been collecting vinyl since the 90s so it’s always been a big ambition to get something pressed to wax.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Bart Simpson’s Deep, Deep Trouble on 7”. Jazzy Jeff produced that record, it’s sort of OK? I don’t think Bart was quite up there with Rakim but he gave it his best damn shot.
What was the last record you bought?
Dirty Mind (1980) by Prince, and also a repress of Milton Nascimento’s Clube Da Esquina (1972). Bangers!
What did you grow up listening to?
I was into hip-hop from an early age, I remember convincing my mum to buy me a Snoop Dogg CD despite the Parental Advisory warning. She bought me turntables and would take me to Cardiff so I could spend my pocket money on hip-hop 12s. She also ordered me mixtapes from the U.S. that were chock full of golden age and 90s underground tracks. Thanks, Mum! Legend.
When did you begin listening to funk and psychedelic music?
It started in the late 90s/early 00s. I wanted to know what the samples were in my favorite hip-hop tracks and then finding samples for my own beats. I remember hearing DJ Shadow in the 90s and thinking he was such a genius for mixing cinematic/classical samples with funk breaks. But when I heard David Axelrod for the first time and the Palmer/Kaye rhythm section dropped, I was totally mind-blown that he’d already done the same thing in 1968! Around the same time I was also listening to Dusty Fingers and similar compilations, as well as repress labels like Finders Keepers, Trunk, and Now Again, and learning about library music, soundtracks, Turkish psych, Ethio jazz — all that good shit.
What are the best record shops and music venues in Southeast Wales?
Mint and Sealed is the best shop around me. They stock a lot of really good hip-hop, jazz, and funk, including Funk Night releases. Diggers Club is fairly close to us in Cardiff and stock really interesting second-hand stuff from West Africa, Ethiopia, Japan etc. that I’m always surprised to be in a Welsh record shop. Newport has a few really great grassroots venues but they’re more focused on indie or hardcore punk/metal shows. We only live 30 minutes away from Bristol (England), which has really interesting venues like Strange Brew, Thekla and Jam Jar.
What are some records that most inspire Eskinder’s music?
David Axelrod ‘s Songs of Innocence (1968) and Songs of Experience (1969) have had a huge impact. Two chords over a banging rhythm section? Sorted.
The La Planète Sauvage soundtrack (1973) and film musically and aesthetically are a huge inspiration. I love sci-fi, animation, psychedelia and funk, so this really ticks all the boxes.
Brian Bennett’s Voyage (1978), specifically the track “Solstice,” which still blows my mind — it sounds so ahead of its time. That spacey synth proto hip-hop sound is all over our tracks.
Heliocentrics’ Out There (2007). I love all the Heliocentrics releases, but this was the first time I heard them and couldn’t get enough of this record. Krauty bleeps and bloops over explosive breakbeats — Malcolm Catto is king.
Yussef Kamaal’s Black Focus (2016). I think this was probably the moment I thought I could probably play keys in a jazz group. The rhythm section is really driving the music and the keys/synth are minimal but tie it all together, which is pretty much the Eskinder sound. Great album and the beginning of the current UK Jazz explosion.
What is the music culture like in Southeast Wales?
It’s predominately punk, metal, indie and grime. But there’s still some great stuff to be found if you’re not into those genres. There’s an independent label called Sain who have been putting Welsh Language Folk/Psych/Prog music out since the 70s. Check out the Welsh Rare Beat compilations, Also Don Leisure recently made an album using solely samples from the back catalogue, sort of like Madlib’s Shades of Blue Blue Note album, but Welsh.
Who are some of your favorite Welsh artists playing music today?
Amanda Whiting, a Jazz harpist — sort of like a Welsh Dorothy Ashby — and Huw Marc Bennett, who makes like Jazzy, Psych-Folk instrumentals. Highly recommend.
What are some current bands that inspire your sound?
Anything coming out of College of Knowledge: Sven Wunder, JJ Whitefield, Soyuz, Cromagnon Band, Trees Speak — loads of stuff!
Have you ever played in the U.S. before?
I don’t think they’d let us in. Dan has a vast collection of AI J.D. Vance images he keeps on his phone and refuses to delete…
Can’t blame him. What’s next for Eskinder?
Currently finishing off an album. The main parts are recorded. We’ve got a whole load of track ideas that just need developing, so hopefully there should be loads of new music coming out soon! Maybe someone will fund that animated Cosmic Egg film…
