http://www.lackluster.

org/

http://lackluster.bandcamp.com/

LACKLUSTER
SLICE

It has been more than 4 years that U-cover released the excellent Esa Ruoho Spaces CD/LP (u-cover 005/Inc.us Five). This time Esa Juhani Ruoho strikes back
again under his Lackluster moniker.
After well received releases on Defocus and Merck, his fifth full length album is
selected by U-cover and Lackluster. All of the tracks here are in his well known style
of minimal but soulful IDM / ambient.
With Slice Lackluster delivers thirteen very good tracks full of emotive and rich
sounds.
Reviews:
Textura:
Working from his flat in the nation's capital Helsinki, Finnish electronic composer
Esa Ruoho is nothing if not prolific. Having issued hundreds of tracks over the
years for labels like Defocus and Merck, Ruoho added two full-lengths to his
discography in 2005: What You Want Isn't What You Need (New Speak), a
collection of material spanning 1996 and 2003, and Slice, his fifth full-length and
first release on Belgium label U-cover since Spaces four years ago.
The music's wholly electronic character avoids sounding hermetic by the range of
moods and textures explored within the disc's thirteen songs, whether it's placid
pools of melancholy (Clover) or gleaming cathedrals (Wallow). Not surprisingly,
the subtly percolating Zithertrak2 brings a brooding Far East ambiance to the set
while electronic music rarely sounds as sweet and tender as it does on the lovely
Hugytrak. There's nary a speck of grime dirtying up Lackluster's gleaming IDM,
though a sparkling bounce animates Touches and bubbly, Plaid-like beats stream
throughout Wash; there's certainly nothing lackluster about the Latin-tinged romp
Tumbling Around and the hazy head-nodder Subvert. Much like What You Want
Isn't What You Need, the melancholic, soulful sound Lackluster conjures on Slice

http://www.lackluster.org/

http://lackluster.bandcamp.com/

may not be revolutionary yet nonetheless offers a generous dose of listening

pleasure.
Igloomag:
U-Cover have really been cutting the mustard with many of their recent releases:
albums from Sense, Multiplex, Kettel and Quench among them. One of two
Lackuster albums to be released in the latter half of 2005 (the other being the
collection of archive material released on the Newspeak label) Slice happily joins
their number in surprisingly upbeat style.
Compared to previous works by Ruoho, Slice exudes an uncharacteristically cheery
pop sensibility that frequently engulfs his oft used melancholia. That is not to say
that previous Lackluster material was pre-disposed to be mournful or depressing,
merely that Slice is more emphatically optimistic. Or is that simply an illusion
created by the tone-setting album opener Tumbling Around, a bright and playfully
simple candy-colored melodic hook joined by tumbling, rolling drum patterns?
Theres often something tantalizing familiar about Lacklusters sonic palette and in
the case of the dramatic Wash it is the approachable choice of textures that offset
the skittish percussion and general mood of nervousness and unease. Wallow
follows this pattern too; layers of addictively unclosed, looped melodies intertwining
relentlessly with a hook that Lackluster can only terminate by drowning the synths
in swathes of jumbled ZX-Spectrum loading noise. This has to be one of
Lacklusters most compelling pieces to date.
There are shades of Container in pieces like Clover as droplets of glowing neon
synth tones blossom and burst amidst half muted percussion, while what may be
influences from Orbital are evident in the splashes of Touches and the gothic
Zithertrak2. Like Wallow, Iniquity expertly blends together dry, clonking
percussion with scattershot and skittish waves of infectious melodic hooks.
The moods that appear on Lackluster albums are nothing if not eclectic, and just
when this overall feeling of unease seems ready to characterize Slice, along comes
the cuddly warmth of the loping Hugytrak. And if that doesnt work for you, Ender
and Subvert offer two further diverse styles to close out the album, the former a
vibrating mass of highly charged, fizzy synths and chattering fx, the latter a cold
and almost disturbing looped hip-hop beat underpinning foggy ambience and a
heavily distorted sermon, the dialogue of which is too hard to make out most of the
time.
Meandering missteps like Meanie or Plastic 1 aside, this is a splendid collection
of optimistic and yet bracingly autumnal electronic pop moments that drive the
Lackluster sound in a new and infectious direction. The mixing is bold, confident
and bracing, the melodies alternately uplifting and thought-provoking and the sound
palette typically rich and varied. Slice is quite possibly the finest and most
consistent Lackluster work to date. Highly recommended.