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Biography:
| QUOTE (William Ruhlmann (Allmusic.com)) |
| Hybrid is a trio of remixers based in the Welsh city of Swansea: Mike Truman, Chris Healings, and Lee Mullin. Meeting while going to clubs in the early '90s, the three made their own remixes of recordings, eventually earning assignments from record companies to pursue their hobby professionally. Finally, they were signed to Distinct'ive Records and embarked on making an ambitious first album, Wide Angle, in Moscow, using such talents as singer Julee Cruise and the 90-piece Russian Federal Orchestra. "Finished Symphony," which reached the U.K. singles charts in July 1999, featured the orchestra. It was followed into the charts in September by "If I Survive," featuring Cruise on vocals, and by Wide Angle itself. Picked up for release in the U.S. by Kinetic (distributed by Reprise, a division of major label Warner Records), Wide Angle was reconfigured for its American appearance in September 2000. The group then served as the opening act on Moby's U.S. tour that same fall. A host of full-length material followed during the next three years, including two volumes of the compilation series Remix and Additional Production By as well as the mix album Y4K. The proper studio follow-up to Wide Angle, Morning Sci-Fi, followed in 2003. |
Review (for Wide Angle, the first CD):
| QUOTE (John Bush (Allmusic.com)) |
| Though the late '90s witnessed the advent of dozens of progressive-trance DJs and producers, few attempted to record a production LP. They preferred instead to release scads of mix albums, most of which purported to take listeners on a journey but did little more than offer frequent breakdowns and same-sounding tracks. Finally, the British team Hybrid delivered the goods with their full-length debut Wide Angle. Befitting the cinematic nod in the title, Hybrid often bedrocks their productions with film-music flourishes indebted both to traditional orchestration and the rock-based John Barry school of soundtracking; even when they're spinning through futuristic, warped trance with a roster of cutting-edge effects to impress even the most callused Global Underground fan, there's an undeniably cinematic grandeur to these productions. Hybrid utilizes slow-moving strings and gradually building chords, straight out of Gorecki's "Symphony No. 3" but surprisingly effective in this context. They also do well with collaborations, recruiting Julee Cruise for three beautiful tracks, the album highlights "I Know," "If I Survive," and "Dreaming Your Dreams." In similar fashion to the way Orbital -- another team with a good grasp of symphonic techno -- warped acid house and techno so they'd make as much sense on headphones as on the dancefloor, Hybrid bends the template of progressive trance to fit on the full-length realm, and with equally impressive results. (The American version of Wide Angle differs from the British one issued a year earlier in that two tracks featuring Cruise, "High Life" and "Fatal Beating," are missing, and three tracks, "Kill City (Edit)," "Kid 2000 (Edit)," and a second version of "Altitude," have been added. The tracks also seem to have been mixed and edited differently.) |
| QUOTE (thntbm) |
| After hearing Hybrid's remixes of several tracks of prominent other artists (Carl Cox - Phuture 2000 and BT - Never Gonna Come Back Down), I decided to look them up and buy their studio album. It wasn't what I was expecting (mostly dance), but it ended up being one of my most favorite albums in that, true to their name, they have a "hybrid" of styles mixed together that surprisingly mesh well: live orchestra, jazz influences, turntable-ism, breakbeat, soulfull vocals (think Massive Attack / Morcheeba). Their next album, True to Form, that I pre-ordered (and came with a limited edition DVD) changed up the formula a little in that they added a full-time vocalist that wrote the lyrics and essentially is the 'front-man' of the group. They also perfected their use of live orchestra to create mood and rythm sections mixed perfectly into the rest of the composition. The orchestra sections weren't added as afterthought either, they are essential elements to the songs and don't sound out of place at all. They also got New Order's Peter Hook to do guitar work on a few songs. Hybrid's True to Form is my next planned upload. I really hope everyone gives this a try, whether you like just electronic, like jazz, or like classical, I think this could be enjoyed by all. Though, these very seperate genres might not have crossover fans, I think they did a respectable job mixing them together to create something unique. |
Moods
- Earnest
- Nocturnal
- Sophisticated
- Literate
- Stylish
- Theatrical
- Exuberant
- Hypnotic
- Sensual
- Provocative
- Wintry
- Passionate
- Ethereal
Tracklist:
/CD1 (Wide Angle)/
1. Opening Credits
2. If I Survive
3. I Know
4. Beachcoma
5. Dreaming Your Dreams
6. Snyper
7. Theme From Wide Angle
8. Sinequanon
9. High Life
10. Fatal Beating
11. Finished Symphony
12. Altitude (Red Square Reprise)
/CD2 (Live Angle)/
13. Kid 2000
14. Burnin'
15. Snyper
16. Accelerator
17. High Life
18. Finished Symphony
19. Kill City
20. Altitude
21. Kid 2000 (12" Original Mix)
Красивая электрическая музыка, достигающая местами симфонического размаха. :)