Juha-Matti Rautiainen: The Endless Now – Music for Stagnation

Composed, produced and performed entirely with bass guitar by Juha-Matti Rautiainen

Recorded by Janne Torvikoski (2, 3, 4, 6, 8), Juha-Matti Rautiainen (5, 9) and Seppo Santala (1,7)
Mixed and mastered by Seppo Santala

Layout by Jani Korkiakangas
Photos by Joni Virtanen

J-M’s photo was taken on 7th March 2015 by Samuli Valo, using 19th-century Emil Busch Portrait Aplanat 6/350mm lens with 8×10 inch Fomapan 100 film, and printed with early 20th-century bromoil print process.

Acknowledgements:

Aija, Vilja & Selma (for loving, supporting and giving me the space and time)
Janne, Seppo, Samuli, Joni, Jani, Mikko Rautiainen & Hilkka Rauhala (for making things happen)
Antti Huntus, Ami Hassinen, Jukka Mikkola & Christer Lunder (for their faith in me)

Contact:

juhamattirautiainen@gmail.com
facebook.com/mr.randomizer
juhamattirautiainen.bandcamp.com

Losing the tip of my right index finger in an accident started it all. I had to slow down. My accident gave me the opportunity to examine the aesthethic of focusing on the present – the moment right now. That is something I really need in this hasty world of ours.

I think the most intriguing music is born when you set limits to yourself. Besides my broken hand, the other limitation in this particular project was also its initiator – the bass guitar. I’ve tried to use my bass guitar as unorthodoxically as possible. Accidents, mistakes and the effects I’ve used to shape the colour of my instrument have been the source of inspiration for my soundscapes.

The compositional process was bipolar and it resonated with the outcome. In the beginning, there were the original musical ideas which I was trying to conceive, but often failed. The other end was the chosen instrument: the bass guitar, the restriction, which very often mingled with my original ideas and kept me concentrating on the things I could do – the essence.

In the end, I’ve tried to keep in mind the initial idea of ambient: something that can be ignored as well as listened to actively. Despite that, I noticed that I wanted to create evolving soundscapes instead of static ones. The music was originally conceived and played live. Nevertheless, I did compromise to make some overdubs for this album in order to gain the quality standards I would like it to pertain.

I hope you can now take the time to sit down, close your mobile devices and eyes and listen to The Endless Now.

Juha-Matti Rautiainen October 2016

Weight	85 g
Genre	Electronic
Style	Ambient,Berlin-School,Experimental
Condition	Near Mint (NM or M-)
Format	CDr