Progressive house, big beat, trip-hop, UK rocktronica - whatever had delicious critical buzz in Britain, Fluke were at the forefront of it. Hell, they dictated where the trends would go as much as any Chemical Brother or Underworldler. In the end though, they just couldn't shake their '90s-ness, but it's not their fault they got stuck with the 'electronica' tag like everyone else. T'was simply a price paid for signing with the mighty Virgin – bigger exposure meant being marketed how they wanted you presented. Sweet deal for the time though it was, folks in the new millennium were quick in turning their backs on any musical group that reminded them of cyber-thriller action movie soundtracks. Matters probably weren’t helped either by having a new single associated with one of the more ludicrous scenes in Matrix: Reloaded. Zion’s a great track – really, it is! – but man was that ever dumb in the movie. Not that Juno Reactor cut though, that one’s totally dope. Hail Ben Watkins, the only producer to escape action movie soundtracks with dignity intact!
Speaking of Puppy (finally), it really is a shame this never caught on, most likely for all the stupid reasons I rambled on about above. The great production and craftsmanship from Fluke can’t hide the fact it still sounds like a ‘Nineties’ electronic music album. While some of that is simply down to the group’s style, there aren’t any trendy, (then) new genre bandwagon jumps either. Fluke was known for progressive house, but the stuff on here is of the groovy, chugging sort (Electric Blue, My Spine, Another Kind Of Blues, Hang Tough, Switch/Twitch) that defined early Sasha and Digweed sets, not dubby ‘dark prog’ or poppy crossover fluff. Breaks are here too, though are reminiscent of big beat (Snapshot) or proggy ethnic-fusion (Nebulus), fashionable stuff years prior but not as buzz worthy as nu-skool was in 2003. And what’s this? Nary an electro house/clash/anthem cut found? No wonder so few gave Puppy a damn!
I wonder though, has this caught any retrospective love? Has Puppy lately earned the respect it deserves now that we’re far enough removed from the days it was mostly ignored? Fluke has their die-hard followers, sure, and those I know who’ve heard it do sing its praises, but my sampling size is small. Hell, even when Fluke were at their commercial peak, the most my peers could immediately namedrop was Atom Bomb (because obviously). At the least I’d assume those weaned on ‘90s progressive house have come around to it, as it has everything they could hope for in a ’00 album, a natural evolution of that sound without succumbing to flash-in-the-pan genre bandwagon jumps. Well, okay, maybe the gospel-leaning closer Blue Sky has shades of Faithless, but even that sounds more at home in the UK acid house era than anything post-2000.
Damn, that’s another ‘90s reference. Wait, isn’t that decade in the midst of a retro-return? Best excuse to get Puppy if you haven’t, then!
ACE TRACKS:
My Spine
Switch/Twitch
Expo
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