Search - Fluke :: Puppy

Even with some flaws, Fluke does an excellent job

Vigilante4x | Michigan | 10/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Fluke is beyond any contemporary description. They're very dark, their music is techno laced with industrial laced with trance, and the songwriting is...well, it defies the norms of the electronic genre. "Puppy" is a good example of Fluke's against-the-norm song-making prowess; very good, actually.



The album starts off strong, with the stellar "Snapshot". The song might be about a bunch of dysfunctional teens, but the lyrics lay on the nonsensical side. Better get used to it, as Fluke likes twisting clichés and euphemisms into their own breed of poetic beauty. Take, for example, the second track, "My Spine": my head is spinnin' so my feet don't touch the ground/my eyes is blinded by the light... The lyrics are weird but fun, and they actually point in a generally positive direction (more on this later).



The instruments, however, do not reflect this. The songs are brooding, harsh, and abrasive. They usually rely on pulsing beats and distorted guitars, alongside some of the most twisted synths I've heard. There is "Expo", the Kraftwerk-on-lithium mindbender. There is "Ykk" (pronounced "yick"), with its heavy jungle atmosphere and vocalist John Fugler's moaning (been bold/been brash/been cheap/been trash). And there is "Baby Pain" with synth that sounds like it was ripped from a Sega Genesis title and toyed with by the likes of VNV.



Don't let the menacing instruments fool you. Fugler does a good job of putting semi-positive (though ambiguous) spins on most of the songs (the aforementioned "Snapshot" and the INXS-like "Electric Blue" hang behind). "Hang Tough" has the message of...well, the lyrics speak for themselves: "and when it feels like you've lived too long/dig deep/be strong" "Ykk" speaks in regret of a poor history. Heck, even the disturbingly titled "Baby Pain" is, in a way, a love song that promises to be good for the longing of Fugler.



Make no mistake: Fugler is a lyrical genius, and when backed by two awesome instrumentalists (who go unnamed ¬_¬), Fluke becomes a force to be reckoned with. The band really shine on "Another Kind of Blues", an Andy Hunter°-esque trance track (the best one on the CD), and "Switch/Twitch", another lyrical jumble with one of the most awesome guitar riffs in all of electronic music.



The CD has some flaws (some of the songs are a little long, "Nebulus" is a mediocre attempt at ambient, and "Blue Sky"-choir and all-is unimpressive), but past these, "Puppy" is easily one of the best albums you'll come across this year. If you're a fan of electronica (especially Prodigy, or even VNV Nation), pick this "Puppy" up. And it has one of the cutest album covers ever! You can't beat that!"