Lackluster
Background information
Birth nameEsa Juhani Ruoho
Also known asLackluster, Esa Ruoho, HLER
Born (1978-10-26) 26 October 1978
OriginHelsinki, Finland
GenresIDM, ambient, downtempo, tracker-music, chiptune, chillout
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Computer, laptop, synthesizer, tracker, sequencer
Years active1994–present
LabelsdeFocus, Merck Records, U-Cover Records, SLSK Records, Psychonavigation Records
Websitewww.lackluster.org

Esa Ruoho (born 26 October 1978 in Helsinki, Finland), better known as Lackluster, is a Finnish electronic music producer and performer from Kontula, Helsinki. He is also known as Esa Ruoho, XLLV, Can'O'Lard and Kökö and the Köks.[1]

Ruoho has lived most of his life in Helsinki, Finland, but has also, since 2000, travelled to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada for six months in 2000–2001,[2] and also spent time in Dublin, Ireland.[3]

Musical career

Esa Ruoho started composing electronic music in the mid-1990s and, after 2000 has been releasing recorded music (remixes, compilation-tracks, original work) on many labels, full-length CDs on such labels as deFocus records (Great Britain), Merck Records (Miami, Florida, US),[4] U-cover (Belgium),[5] Psychonavigation Records (Dublin, Ireland), New-Speak Records (Stockholm, Sweden).[1] He has since 2007 worked with SLSK Records from San Francisco and Nice And Nasty from Ireland, the San Francisco-based netlabel TwoCircles Records and the Argentinian netlabel Igloo-Rec, and the American label JellyFish Frequency Recordings.[6]

Lackluster was formerly known as the chiptune musician, Distance, part of the demoscene groups Orange, Monotonik, Calodox, The Digital Artists, The Planet of Leather Moomins (TPOLM), FLO and Satori.[7]

Esa also ran a Bulletin Board System, Cloudcity, from 1992 to 2000 – utilizing HectoBBS (1992), SuperBBS (1992–1994) and PCBoard (1994–2000) BBS Software.[8] The name Lackluster is taken from "Pyramids" by Terry Pratchett (Discworld series), encountered 1996–1997.

Collaborations

Esa has collaborated with Heikki Lindgren since 2018, forming a duo called HLER (Heikki Lindgren, Esa Ruoho), creating fully improvised Ambient Drone music using a rare Peruvian monophonic synthesizer, the Atomosynth Mochika XL.

Live performances

Since 2000, Ruoho has played numerous musical performances as Lackluster, Esa Ruoho and as a part of the ambient-drone duo HLER in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, England, Austria, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania and Ukraine.[6][9] Ruoho has also played as warm-up support for numerous electronic musicians, such as Biosphere, Petri Kuljuntausta, The Orb, Mixmaster Morris, Brothomstates, Aleksi Perälä/Astrobotnia/Ovuca, Cylob, Wevie Stonder, Machinedrum, Jimmy Edgar, Move D, Jimi Tenor and Bad Loop.

Discography

  • 1999 – Album – "CDR#2" (CDr) Monotonik
  • 2000 – EP – "FOC349" (LP) deFocus
  • 2000 – Album – "Container" (CD, LP) deFocus
  • 2000 – EP – "R U Oho?" (LP) deFocus
  • 2000 – EP – "Rikos005" (LP) Rikos Records
  • 2001 – Album – "Spaces" (CD) U-Cover (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2001 – EP – "Spaces" (LP) Inc.US (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2001 – EP – "Zealectronic Purple" (LP) Zeal
  • 2001 – EP – "One-Offs" (NET) Monotonik
  • 2002 – EP – "A Lackluster Sampler" (LP) Merck
  • 2002 – EP – "Wrapping Album Sampler" (LP) deFocus
  • 2002 – Album – "Wrapping" (CD, LP) deFocus
  • 2003 – Album – "Showcase" (CD) Merck
  • 2003 – EP – "None of That" (NET) Binkcrsh (as Can'O'Lard)
  • 2003 – LP – "None of What" (NET) Corewatch (as Can'O'Lard)
  • 2003 – EP – "Not An EP" (NET) Corewatch
  • 2003 – EP – "You Are on My Mind" (NET) Monotonik
  • 2004 – EP – "Showcase Sampler" (LP) Merck
  • 2004 – Album – "Remixselection_one" (CD) Psychonavigation
  • 2004 – EP – "R U Oho?" (LP) Merck
  • 2005 – Album – "Slice" (CD) U-Cover
  • 2005 – Album – "What You Want Isn't What You Need" (CD) Newspeak Records
  • 2006 – EP – "Lax EP" (NET) Digilog
  • 2007 – EP – "Repulsine EP" (CD) SLSK Records
  • 2007 – EP – "The Stationary Trout" (NET) Part2 Records
  • 2008 – Album – "Places" (CDr) Grundruck Records (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2009 – EP – "Aeration" (NET) TwoCircles Records
  • 2009 – EP – "Cold Trail" (NET) Acroplane Recordings
  • 2009 – EP – "Proof of Concept" (NET) Yuki Yaki Recordings
  • 2009 – EP – "The Flows" (NET) Part2 Records
  • 2009 – EP – "Portal" (NET) Cornwarning
  • 2009 – EP – "Scattered Harvest" (NET) Format-Noise
  • 2011 – EP – "Remixed" (DIGITAL) Nice & Nasty Records
  • 2011 – EP – "Detro" (DIGITAL) Nice & Nasty Records
  • 2011 – EP – "Kaneel/Lackluster Split 3"" (CDr) Awkward Silence recordings
  • 2011 – Album – "The Invisible Spanish Inquisition" (CD) Igloo Pop Records
  • 2011 – EP – "Riversmouth" (3" CD-r) Attenuation Circuit
  • 2012 – Album – "On The Hangar of Spaceship Earth" (NET) Mahorka Net-Label (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2014 – Album – "Moments" (DIGITAL) Igloo Pop Records
  • 2014 – Album – "Lexicon of Goods" (DIGITAL) JellyFish Frequency Recordings
  • 2015 – Album – "Merck Package" (DIGITAL) Lackluster Bandcamp
  • 2015 – EP – "Parched Throat" (CD-r/DIGITAL) Attenuation Circuit (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2015 – EP – "Swansong" (NET) Kahvi Collective
  • 2015 – Album – "deFocus Package" (NET) Lackluster Bandcamp
  • 2015 – Album – "PSCHNVGTN K T H X" (NET) Lackluster Bandcamp
  • 2016 – Album – "Moonbears on Planet Earth Soundtrack" (NET) Lackluster Bandcamp
  • 2016 – Album – Esa Ruoho: KVA-015 (Cassette) Kaukana Väijyy Ambient (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2018 – Album – HLER (Cassette) HLER Bandcamp (Heikki Lindgren & Esa Ruoho = HLER)
  • 2018 – EP – Yep, I'd Certainly take a Roland D2 for free (NET) Lackluster Bandcamp
  • 2018 – Album – "Hydroton - a model of Cold Fusion: Original Soundtrack" (NET) Lackluster Bandcamp
  • 2018 – Album – Collage (NET) Lackluster Bandcamp (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2019 – Album – Avaruusromua Special 2016 (NET) Lackluster Bandcamp (as Esa Ruoho)
  • 2021 - EP - 100606 Kosmos8 Sinuus Sina

Media collaborations

  • Utopias of Helsinki, a web report for Helsingin Sanomat "What would Helsinki be like now, if all of the grandiose city-utopias of the 1960s had come to fruition?" (composition)(2001)[10]
  • Pauli Ojala (a Finnish graphics artist) on "13/10/99", a short music video which was presented at the Assembly 2001 Wild demo competition, placing 4th.[11]
  • Wilma Mehtonen (a Finnish choreographer) "Ulottumaton Symbioosi" (2002).
  • Halcyon (demogroup) DVD, providing in-menu composition (2002)
  • Wilma Mehtonen "T.43" modern dance-performance (2003).
  • Teemu Niskanen (a Finnish photographer) on a web-slideshow project (2006).[12]
  • Thuyen Nguyen: "The Most Powerful Person in the World" – 16 May 2007.[13]
    • Synopsis: A love letter to video games.
  • Luca Barbeni (designer) on "dune.8081", a flash website, 2007.[14]
  • Mari Helisevä (painter) on "Luontaisenkaltaisia", an art installation featuring a musical mixture of kitchen-recorded materials, displayed at Maa-Tila, Helsinki, Finland, from 9 to 20 January 2008.[15]
  • Thuyen Nguyen: "Same as it ever was" – 29 February 2008.
    • Synopsis: Video game critics use the same arguments against gaming as they did for movies, television, comics, books.[16]
  • Jonatan Söderström: Retro 4, 2008 [17]
  • scheltema/van beem NEPCO/ILC: "Headfooters", 2008 [18]
    • Synopsis: Cutesy headfoot monsters jump around to the sound of "Hugytrak" off of Lackluster: Slice (released on U-Cover)
  • Antti Mutta/Pelaaja-Lehti (Journalist) on "Korg DS-10", a review, Pelaaja-Lehti September/2009 (2009)[19][20]
  • Toisissa Tiloissa: "Suuri Koralliriutta" – 21 April 2018, 29 September 2018.
    • Synopsis: An improvised dance performance open to the public organised by Toisissa Tiloissa and Kontula Electronic, held at the Youth House of Kontula - re-run at Kanneltalo. [21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Esa Ruoho at Discogs.com". Discogs.
  2. ↑ Grooves Magazine #5, FAQT Magazine #5, Zealectronic Purple Biography
  3. ↑ 2005 hotpress interview, Foggy notions interview (2005)
  4. ↑ Merck records website, numerous interviews
  5. ↑ U-cover website
  6. 1 2 "Lackluster website".
  7. ↑ "TPOLM roster". "Monotonik roster". "Your account". pouët.net website. Retrieved October 11, 2010. "Esa Ruoho Demography".
  8. ↑ "Private communique".
  9. ↑ "Lackluster gig list".
  10. ↑ "Helsingin Utopiat". Archived from the original on January 3, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Assembly website".
  12. ↑ "Teemu niskanen site".
  13. ↑ "devinquest.com website".
  14. ↑ "8081.com website". Archived from the original on May 11, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Maa-tila". Archived from the original on October 19, 2006.
  16. ↑ "Same as it ever Was blog-post".
  17. ↑ "Retro4 game". Archived from the original on 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2017-04-10.
  18. ↑ "Headfooters".
  19. ↑ "Korg DS-10 Synthesizer – arvostelu". Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  20. ↑ "Suomen kuumin peliaiheinen podcast on täällä". Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Suuri koralliriutta -event". Facebook.
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