The opening cut by this long overdue release from electronica second runners Fluke does its best to sound like 1999 Prodigy with its dark rock vocals and gritty breakbeats. A little investigation reveals that much of this album was in fact, first recorded as a set of demos, entitled Xmas Demos in, you guessed it, 1999. Fortunately, Fluke doesn't simply mimic the Prodigy's platinum-selling template, although very little of this album feels modern by any stretch. In fact, Fluke seems to have dug farther back, staying true to the trance-inducing sound of early rave music on dance thumpers like "Another Kind of Blue" and "Hang Tough," which seamlessly blend together à la DJ mix. Additionally, occasional vocalist John Fugler goes even farther back, with a tone and cadence that points to old industrial acts, most obviously Nine Inch Nails, although without the scream in Trent Reznor's patented scream/moan dynamic. Fluke will shoot for the sky at times, with closer "Blue Sky" incorporating an entire choir on the chorus, although its effectiveness will depend on where your histrionics threshold lies. Of course, the notion that two studio boffins can produce overwhelming sonic crescendos via their computers is by now a well-established fact, hardly worthy of a double take. The real test will be when NIN and the Prodigy release new albums, and we can then see where (and if) the true players will take their sound, and if Fluke can keep up.
© Joshua Glazer /TiVo