Lackluster is the main stage name of Esa Juhani Ruoho (born October 26, 1978), who has also recorded as Esa Ruoho, Can'o'Lard, Kökö and the Köks and XLLV. Lackluster is 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. Lackluster also ran a Bulletin Board System, Cloudcity, from 1992 to 2000 – utilizing HectoBBS (1992), SuperBBS (1992–1994) and PCBoard (1994–2000) BBS Software.

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 and also spent time in Dublin, Ireland. For the past 23 years he has been lodging in Kontula, a district of Eastern Helsinki.