Lackluster Biography written by Antti Mutta in 2007:
Spiraling cascades of playful melodies. Lush canopies of layered sound. Ebbing and flowing rhythms. The organic foundations of the music you’re hearing make you inevitably think of Mother Nature itself in its infinite multiplicity and richness. And this sense of naturally born expression is exactly what links Esa Ruoho’s ambient soundscapes, which remind of winter solstice to the wistful, playful tunes of past summer days. This is what makes his music so distinctive, vibrant, and in a word unique.
One of a kind is indeed the expression, which best describes the electronic music auteur Esa Ruoho, regardless whether we are talking about the organic quality of his music under the artist name Lackluster or just the artist himself in his private life. Esa Ruoho is truly an original; a homegrown and uncompromising composer and an eccentric explorer of science and nature, whose artistic career might seem at first glimpse to be just a sum of happy accidents. However, the illusion quickly dissolves after carefully examining his biography. Instead of coincidence, there is only talent and hard work.
Lackluster emerged seemingly out of the blue and stepped directly into the international limelight in the year 2000 with his debut album, Container. While the artist himself remains endlessly surprised by his signing to a real record label, everyone else knew even then that it was just a question of time. The underground scene had been buzzing for with the Lackluster fever, which was in full blaze thanks to the astounding amount of music Esa Ruoho put out for free through early electronic distribution channels and old fashioned, homemade cds.
When label head Clair Poulton of legendary Clear and Rephlex fame decided to look for new talent for her newly found deFocus label, the new kid on the block was the natural choice. The press raved about the debut album’s warm nostalgia and went on to compare Lackluster to the genre pioneers like Aphex Twin, B12 and Black Dog. Muzik magazine even wrote that Container is "what we’ve been missing since Warp stopped their ’Artificial Intelligence’ series".
Instead of resting on his laurels after such unanimous praise, Esa Ruoho seized the opportunity and kept on going from strength to strength with releases like the EP R U Oho? on deFocus, the seminal ambient concept album Spaces on Belgian U-Cover and rikos005 on Finnish Rikos Records. At the same he remained active by remixing other artists, producing soundtracks for award winning multimedia art pieces and licensing his music out to animations and educational games.
The year 2002 saw the release of the long awaited second full-length Lackluster album on deFocus. The celebrated and innovative label was in dire straits financially, and the name of Lackluster’s album, Wrapping, foretold the beginning of an end for the fruitful collaboration between deFocus and Esa Ruoho. This however didn’t stop the press from noticing how Lackluster’s sound had matured and progressed. Igloomag called the album "an essential follow-up to the wonderful Container".
Albeit deFocus was the single most important milestone in his early musical career, Esa Ruoho had already moved on to new avenues. In the following year after Wrapping’s release, he produced music for two important contemporary dance projects, other being a live performance and the second a short movie. At the same time he signed a recording deal with the iconic Merck Records, which is widely recognized as the single most important experimental electronic music label to emerge after the birth of such genre institutions as Warp and Skam. The Florida based label, helmed by Gabe Koch, was the perfect home for the Lackluster sound.
Promptly after settling down at Merck, Esa Ruoho put out his third Lackluster album called Showcase, which again garnered praise from the press. Whilst the music was collected mostly from his harder-to-find vinyl and electronic releases from years 1999 thru 2001, the compiled sound presented an edgier side of Lackluster, one that XLR8R described as "predating the irony-laden electro explosion" and The Wire dubbed "moody, crepuscular Techno". More than anything else, Showcase gave the audience a more accurate portrayal of the wide spectrum of Lackluster’s composing capabilities and a glimpse of the energetic live performances that followed.
The timing couldn’t be better; Esa Ruoho was finally getting ready both technically and mentally to, in the spirit of his third album’s name, showcase his broad musical canvas in a live form. Additionally the promotional deal with Ableton on their groundbreaking Live software enabled Esa Ruoho to finally express himself on stage the way he had always wanted. Instead of resorting to just playlists or djing, thanks to Live, every Lackluster gig is a truly one of a kind experience with plenty of jamming and improvisation, yet enough dance-floor friendly rhythms as well as familiar elements and melodies from past albums to satisfy both the fans and other club-goers.
It was the appearance as a headliner in Ireland’s Mor Festival in 2003, which finally set the wheels in motion. The high demand for Lackluster’s live shows after that speaks volumes. Since the turning point, Lackluster has toured in nearly 20 different countries from Italy to Russia. Highlights include touring Middle-Europe with Machinedrum, and warming up for renowned electronic music artists such as The Orb, Jimmy Edgar, Biosphere, Ulrich Schnauss, Cylob and Ovuca.
Touring has its quirks and benefits. For Lackluster this meant landing a recording deal in 2004 after series of highly successful gigs in Ireland. By then Esa Ruoho had remixed his share of songs from other artists, and as luck had it, Dublin-based label Psychonavigation was more than happy to release the compilation album Remixselection_One, which included some of Lackluster’s best remixes from past years for artists as diverse as Global Goon, Sleepy Town Manufacture and Korpi Ensemble. "For deep fried crunched up electronics of the highest order - look no further.", said Boomkat in their review.
In the end it took two whole years for Esa Ruoho to come down from the touring rush and get back to recording new music. Finally the musical drought ended in 2005. The saying when it rains, it pours is not out of place here, as the calls of fans were answered with not one, but two separate albums for two separate record labels.
Slices marked Esa Ruoho’s return to Belgian U-Cover label, only this time he used his usual Lackluster guise. Slices is a complex and multi-faceted work of art where Lackluster’s love for simple melodies and layered sounds flirts with tech-influences and minimalistic compositions. The highpoint of the album is zithertrak2, where Lackluster combines the exquisite sounds of the stringed instrument zither to minimal techno rhythms.
The second album, What You Want Isn’t What You Need, was released on Swedish record label New Speak. On WYWIWYN the familiar Lackluster sound is stripped bare and harmonies and melodies take over. Naively romantic sounds and overall melancholia dominates, while the feather-light rhythms and silky basslines keep them company. WYWIWYN wouldn’t be out of place if heard in the background of an obscure art house movie from the 1980s.
Recently Lackluster has once again concentrated on gigging, but at the same he has tried to keep focused on composing new music and remixing other artists. The latest releases could be seen as paying respect to the way Lackluster’s musical career started, just because of the way they’re distributed. Lax EP, which was released on Greek label Digilog in late 2006, as well as the Stationary Trout Ep, which was released in March 2007 on part2 records, are freely downloadable mp3 minialbums.
Currently Lackluster is signed to the US-based label SLSK Records. His first release for the label, Repulsine EP, arrives during Summer 2007. In the meantime you can try and witness the organic and always unique Lackluster live experience.
2000 - Container (foc350cd/lp - deFocus)
2001 - Spaces (ucover005cd, u-cover)
2002 - Wrapping (foc369cd/lp - deFocus)
2003 - Showcase (merck015cd - Merck Records)
2004 - Remixselection_one (psy012 - Psychonavigation Records)
2005 - Slice (ucover024cd - U-Cover)
2005 - What you want isn’t what you need (nspk008cd - New Speak Records)
2007 - Repulsine (SLSK002CD - SLSK Records)
We are trying to get the forum going so we would appreciate you sharing any thoughts you have on the site, the articles, the designers or ethical fashion as a whole.
We're trying to kick things off by just getting people to introduce themselves. There's also some topics for debate if you want to have a good argument.
Anyway, thanks again for supporting us and joining us on this lovely new adventure!
PS, to comment on the forums you'll need to be logged into Facebook!
The Psychonavigation Arena @ Planetlove Summer Sessions on Saturday June 21st.Featuring Mixmaster Morris,Enrico Coniglio,RSAG,Ciaran Byrne,Keith Downey,Alphamono & Danny Johnston. More info here : http://www. planetlovemusic. com/indexsummersession08. asp
Hey Esa, how are you? Sorry to bother you, just wondered if you wanted to hear this remix I’ve done of the new Radiohead single? You can just click below. Any support would be amazing. Thanks loads and speak soon
We are trying to get the forum going so we would appreciate you sharing any thoughts you have on the site, the articles, the designers or ethical fashion as a whole.
We're trying to kick things off by just getting people to introduce themselves. There's also some topics for debate if you want to have a good argument.
Anyway, thanks again for supporting us and joining us on this lovely new adventure!
PS, to comment on the forums you'll need to be logged into Facebook!
The Heretics of Disko get the full remix treatment of their club track Feelin' Electrified and it is available to download from all good online retailers. Vinyl wil be out in May.
Remixes from
Lackluster
Soul AD
Yuki:o
T-Polar
Also out on Nice & nasty - Plastic spanner Remixes (Marco Bernardi) and Tracys Revenge Remxies (A Diff Kinda Brotha) and coming soon music from Terrence Dixon, Derek Carr and more
thanks for being virtual friends. and a lot more for being in our ears since years, distanceson! (cull bazar score still has the wide plane we never found anywhere else so far!!!)
Hola! AIO here (Deviant, Epstein, La Mano Fria and Soarse Spoken) and we're back from Colombia after playing Medelink 2008 in Medellin, Colombia. 8000 heads plus! Also check out the special DJ set by Arepaz Immigrante Orchestra on the second night of the festival! Wish you were all there, thanks for your support of Arepaz & BBC worldwide! Next up on the world tour is Japan with Deviant, La Mano Fria and JayTram (on the Kanazawa date May 10)!
