Risotto (album) explained

Risotto
Type:Album
Artist:Fluke
Cover:Risotto (Fluke album - cover art).jpg
Released:26 May 1997
Recorded:1996–1997
Genre:
Length:73:22
Label:Circa, Astralwerks
Producer:Fluke
Prev Title:Oto
Prev Year:1995
Next Title:Progressive History X
Next Year:2001

Risotto is the fourth album by British electronica group Fluke. The album was released on 26 May 1997 by Circa Records and 30 September 1997 by Astralwerks. It was the band's last album recorded with Mike Tournier.

Overview

The album is named after the dish risotto (pronounced as /it/). The album artwork was designed by The Designers Republic and features a chrome-plated KitchenAid mixer.

Many of the tracks that brought Fluke to a larger audience are featured on this album, including "Atom Bomb", used on the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack,[1] [2] [3] and "Absurd," used in many films/trailers, including a 1998 Volkswagen Beetle commercial, Sin City in 2005, and the episode "Chaos" from the show Spaced. "Absurd" is also used as the main theme for Sky Sports Monday Night Football program first from August 1997 to May 1998 and since August 2010 to the current day.[1] [4] [5]

When Fluke was touring for Risotto they were joined on stage by Rachel Stewart who acted as a personification of the band's official mascot, a character from the Wipeout series named Arial Tetsuo. Stewart continued as lead female vocalist and as a dancer for all of Fluke's live performances between 1997 and 1999.

After touring for a year with Risotto on the American "Electric Highway Tour", and having made two appearances at the Glastonbury festival in 1995 and 1998, Tournier decided to leave the group to pursue a different project named Syntax, with the band's long standing friend, Jan Burton.[6] In 2002, The Fluke DJs were formed, a live-show pairing of Jon Fugler and Hugh Bryder. Bryder was a DJ who had assisted Fluke in their live performances since 1993 as well as working with other DJs such as Seb Fontaine while holding a DJ residency at MTV's special event parties.[7] This seemed to indicate further rifts within the band as this DJ combination included neither Mike Bryant nor Tournier.[8] However, Fugler denied these rumours shortly after they surfaced claiming that the band merely needed some time away from each other after their intense work on Risotto.[9]

Critical reception

Risotto was perhaps the most favourably reviewed of all Fluke's albums with David Bennun of The Guardian writing:

Writing for Melody Maker in October 1997, Neil Kulkarni gave Risotto a very positive review, singling out the album's lyrics as a highlight; "[Fluke] have the dumbest greatest deepest lyrics in dance – "Baby's got an atom-bomb/a motherfuckin' atom bomb" is the greatest heavy metal lyric never written; "Anybody with a heart votes love" is a chorus Stevie Wonder would be proud of; "Think big that's only half as large/Bigger, better, twice as hard" is Ooompah-Loompah haiku made pop poetry."[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Marcolphus's Fluke Discography. 9 November 2006.
  2. Flick, Larry . Sweden's Robyn is poised to take U.S. by charm . Billboard . 1997 . 109 . 25 . 34.
  3. Atwood, Brett . Dance music energizes 'Wipeout XL' . Billboard . 1996 . 108 . 37 . 72.
  4. Web site: Amazon listing for Sin City. 9 November 2006.
    - Bouley, Charles Karel . NIN, U2 Rock For Elektra's 'Lara Croft.' . Billboard . 2001 . 113 . 25 . 14.
  5. Paoletta, Michael . License To Dance . Billboard . 2002 . 114 . 13 . 34.
  6. Web site: Astralwerks Fluke Biography. 9 November 2006. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20061015231626/http://www.astralwerks.com/fluke/bio.html. 15 October 2006. dmy-all.
    - Web site: Glastonbury Festival Artist List for 1995. 9 November 2006.
    - Web site: Glastonbury Festival Artist List for 1998. 9 November 2006.
  7. Web site: Fluke Official Website: Bio. 9 November 2006. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20061108020553/http://www.zedigitalhub.com/fluke/fluke_full.html. 8 November 2006. dmy-all.
  8. Web site: One Little Indian Records: Fluke . 9 November 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060929025608/http://www.indian.co.uk/fluke/ . 29 September 2006 . dead . dmy .
  9. Web site: Progressive Sounds Interview with Jon Fugler. 9 November 2006.
  10. Neil . Kulkarni . Review: Fluke - Risotto, Virgin . . . 4 October 1997 . 51.