Fluke – The Second Bite
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Many of my favourite electronic groups seem to come from England, and Fluke is no exception. The group was formed in Buckinghamshire (could that possibly sound any more English?) by trio John Fugler, Mike Tournier, and Mike Bryant in the late 1980s. Over their four main album releases, which came out between 1991 and 1997, the band became a founding member of a slew of different subgenres under the electronic music umbrella as well as a key part of the mainstream British Electronica boom in the 1990s.
Fluke is a band I have been meaning to feature quite a while now. I have enjoyed their music since I first heard Atom Bomb and Absurd in the mid-1990s. Then I purchased Risotto – the album the two tracks are on – and it quickly became one of my desert island discs. The best track on the album – out of an album full of great songs – is Kitten Moon. The track has a long, slowly building yet subversive tempo change in the middle that is almost imperceptible except for how your body starts bouncing quicker along with your head bobbing more aggressively, to keep up with the pace. This has been one of my favourite tracks on any album for nearly three decades now.
I would have talked about Risotto a long time back, except it sadly is not available in its entirety on Spotify or YouTube or any of the other streaming services from what I can see – at least within Canada. I have tried to piece it together on Spotify myself, with a playlist, from singles and tracks on compilations and other sources, but one song named AMP is just not on the service at all.
But I am not here to talk about Risotto, or Puppy, the last full album Fluke released in 2003. I may still feature that album some day. I am also not going to elaborate on offshoot bands like Syntax and 2 Bit Pie which have spun off from Fluke’s own absence and contain much more than just a modicum of the band’s legacy and talent.
There is also no time to mention the devoted curation and creation done by diehard Fluke fan and gifted artist Justin Credible, who has compiled and remixed a substantial amount of Fluke’s oeuvre over the past decade or so.
For a long time, I assumed there would never be any new material from the group. The trio of Fugler, Tournier, and Bryant have never been known to shout their intentions from the rooftops, or do interviews, or perform much in the way of live shows except for a brief stint in the late ’90s. The band seemed to fall of the face of the internet after their last release in 2003. There was no band website, not interviews, no nothing.
But, two years ago now, Fluke dropped their first new tracks in more than two decades, starting with the mesmerizing Insanely Beautiful. This was followed by singles Real Magnificent and I WANNA BE. Exciting times!
That brings us to now. The Second Bite was released just last week. This album is not all new tracks by the resurrected band, but I am okay with that. Hopefully, a new album will come sometime in the future. Instead, The Second Bit is Fluke’s revisiting and reworking of some of their classic tracks from their main working period of 1988 to 2003.
This album was released on June 19th, 2026 and serves as both a fantastic jumping on point for those that have never listened to Fluke’s music before. It is also a great and nostalgic travel through time, with tracks that have been given added layers and a new feeling of freshness thanks to light and subtle tweaks of the originals.
There is nothing revolutionary here, but it does not need to be as Fluke’s style is timeless. These tracks could have come out now or five years from now, or, 20 to 30 years ago. Man oh man does it feel good to have this music showcased in one place, and to have Fluke back at it again.
Could this be the first in a succession of releases from the band? Or will it be another two decades (or a cold day in hell) before we hear anything else from them?
Who knows.
Cheers,
Evan
To think it easy as simple a, b, c
No magic spell
No mystery
Assuming everything is well
As can be
Dreamed about it
Longing for it
Ain’t we all but doing it
Takes something more than better is the best
Requested
Now let’s get it right