Lackluster

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Lackluster is the stage name of Esa Juhani Ruoho, who also records as Esa Ruoho, can'o'lard and XLLV.

Born 26th of October 1978 in Helsinki. Son of Aimo Unto Olavi Ruoho and Seija Kyllikki Ruoho (maiden-name Kaplas). Two older sisters, one older brother.

Esa has lived most of his life in Helsinki, Finland, but has also, since 2000, travelled to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and spent time in Dublin, Ireland. For the past 18 years he has been lodging in Kontula, a district of Eastern Helsinki.

He started making electronic music in the mid-1990s and, after 2000, has released recorded music (remixes, compilation-tracks, original work) on dozens of labels, full-length CDs on such labels as deFocus records (Great Britain), Merck Records (Miami, Florida, USA), U-cover (Belgium), Psychonavigation Records (Dublin, Ireland), New-Speak Records (Stockholm, Sweden). He is currently working with SLSK Records.

Esa has had several prominent IDM artists mention his name as an influence on their work (including Miss Kittin & Bogdan Raczynski), and he has influenced and been influenced by both the IDM as well as the tracker scenes.

Since 2000, Esa has played numerous musical performances, in various countries. He has made some available for free on his website.

Esa's records on deFocus and Merck are available on Bleep, Itunes as MP3 downloads. Esa also has a personal webshop, the income of which is directly used towards living costs, purchasing various books, natural science documentaries, and various contraptions.

Esa also has a striking interest in the thoughts, discoveries and concepts of Nikola Tesla, Viktor Schauberger, Buckminster Fuller, Leo Tolstoy, Gandhi, Walter Russell, his wife Lao Russell, and any related nature and intuition-based information. He is a-religious and a-political, preferring to go towards the underlying, interconnected truth that all these organizations/thoughtviewpoints are a splintered reflection of - instead of settling for a party line. He believes there should be a way to move out into the country, to live in a conceptual collage, a medley of technical, and spiritual inventions of said people. Esa has thought about the concept of Guinea Pig E, a way to disconnect from society, and move back to nature and the earth, to exist in harmony with natural frequencies, and attaining greater integrity within one's own mind (and the universal Mind (see Russell)). He believes that the Hopi Indians, are exactly right in their concept of there being two roads, a rocky technological road, and a smooth earth-based road, and that the smooth earth-based road (cultivation of plants, animal husbandry, living close to the earth and respecting mother earth and nature with your whole existence) is perpetual. He is yet to be shown incorrect in this way of thinking - however, he is also not yet living in an Earthship

[edit] What's in a name?

Esa is the modernized finnish version of Isaiah. Juhani is the modernized finnish version of John.

The origins of both first names are from the Holy Bible. Both names were picked by his father Aimo Unto Olavi Ruoho.

According to |behindthename.com the explanation of Isaiah is:
From the Hebrew name יְשַׁעְיָהוּ (Yesha'yahu) meaning "YAHWEH is salvation". Isaiah was a major prophet of the Old Testament, supposedly the author of the Book of Isaiah. He was from Jerusalem and probably lived in the 8th century BC.
And the explanation of John is:
English form of Iohannes, which was the Latin form of the Greek name Ιωαννης (Ioannes), itself derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan) meaning "YAHWEH is gracious". This name owes its consistent popularity to two New Testament characters, both highly revered as saints. The first was John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ and a victim of beheading by Herod Antipas. The second was the apostle John, also supposedly the author of the fourth Gospel and Revelation. The name has been borne by 23 popes and eight Byzantine emperors, as well as kings of England, France, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Hungary. It was also borne by the poet John Milton and the philosopher John Locke.
Ruoho is the picked name of Esa's great-grandfather, and was changed from the Swedish sur-name Gröhn (Green). Ruoho, translated, is grass, lawn, or weed.