Pingu At The (Eskimo) Disco

I have a couple of promo CD singles by Eskimo Disco, which both appeared in the late 2000s and featured remixes by Fred Falke, but I knew next to nothing about the band itself.

 

Apart from What Is Woman? and Japanese Girl, there's a 6-track sampler CD and an album - the terribly-titled Robots And Laptop Dancers Make Good Friends - both from 2007 and both on different labels. What Is Woman? also got a release on the legendary Stiff Records, presumably as a one-off depending on whether or not the single was a hit (it wasn't).

 

T'internet reveals that Eskimo Disco are a 3-piece formed in 2003, comprising Scott Doran, Tom Moore and Liam Paton, and promoting (to these ears at least) a fuzzy disco pop that was perhaps overshadowed by the similar but 'edgier' sounds of Klaxons and the Nu Rave mob. 

 

Eskimo Disco's debut single in 2005 was 7-11 and who better to star in it than cult classic Pingu, the Swiss TV animation that aired from 1990 to 2000 and was hugely popular in the UK at the time, thanks to the BBC who had commissioned a revival in 2003. It was also a hit at Casa K when Lady K was in the CBeebies demographic and I have to confess that I loved it. 

 

It's a fun video and narrative and keep your eyes peeled for an Eskimo Disco cameo.

 

In 2021, Eskimo Disco re-emerged with Let The Music, originally one of the tracks from the 2007 sampler and re-released on digital and streaming platforms.

 

In 2022, 7-11 was also re-released as a single with the subtitle "Live And Rebooted", promising that the single had "finally been freed from record company ties".

You'll notice that I used the present tense in describing Eskimo Disco as Scott, Tom and Liam are back on the live circuit. In fact, if you happened to be at the Bures Music Festival on Saturday, you may well have seen them, along with UK Queen, Planet ABBA and Wooden Maiden.

 

Eskimo Disco have got my week off to a great start, I hope they do the same for you.