Holy cow. I forgot what a damn good album this was, until I played it for the first time this week in probably close to a decade. Last Thursday I featured a single from Lustre, an unlikely entry in the Chapel Hill, NC indie rawk sweepstakes from fifteen years or so ago. Actually, they really couldn't boast much of an indie pedigree at all, considering this self titled platter was delivered by A&M. Proving just how much fun three chords could be, Lustre's penchant for muscular, guitar crunch and penetrating hooks put them in league with Sugar, Fig Dish, Head Candy, and other such saccharine laden riff brokers. A dash of '90s AOR didn't do Lustre much harm (or good) but even with every lick in place they failed to make a pronounced dent at lamestream radio. I mentioned in my original Lustre post that the group's closest claim to fame, "Nice Overalls" turned up on the Empire Records soundtrack, and for the love of straight-to-video, it's also on the album. As a final thought, copies of Lustre are pretty scarce to find without a gold promo stamp marring the cover. In addition to the track list and d/l link, you can also watch the video for "Kalifornia" below.
01. Musta Been Cool 02. Shining 03. Fifteen 04. Wasting Time 05. Stay (How Long?) 06. Nice Overalls 07. Kalifornia 08. Sheer 09. Watermelon 10. Still Seems There
