Hybrid Album: “Morning Sci-Fi”

As a slight defense/correction of another review below: This disc is not copy protected. The problem lies in a "hidden" track included on the disc. If you put the disc in a standard audio CD player and do a reverse scan from the start of track 1, you'll find a hidden track. This hidden track does cause grief for some CD-ROM drives.

As for the album itself -- At first listen I was really not enthusiastic about it. It was not the same gritty, dancy breakbeat I'd come to associate with Hybrid. However, after a half-dozen listens, every track has grown on me to the point that I now prefer it greatly to Wide Angle. "True To Form", despite somewhat out-of-place bass work by New Order's Peter Hook, is top-notch composition, nice lyrical work, and overall a fantastically orchestrated and understated piece. And, happily, the album improves from there.

Rather that sit back and formulatically churn out the next dance floor stomper, Hybrid has absolutely _composed_ a complete album, using carefully designed melodies, rich environmental context in each song, and an overall sense of a well-tuned musical machine hitting its peak. Now, after that run-on sentence, let me say that while it's not a dance-floor oriented album, it's also not some repetitive, droning ambient collection, nor rambling abstract IDM work -- it's the best of what I've grown to love about Hybrid: Fantastic writing, and terrific orchestration, no set formula, and no pretentious overtones.

Hybrid, the welsh duo of Mike Truman and Chris Healings, has done it again with their followup album to Wide Angle with an amazing array of new beats and vocals to keep you bopping you head. All though this album isn't as upbeat and energetic as the first album back in 2000, the feel and creativity of Hybrid is still very much present.

Starting out with "True To Form" gives a good varity of beat and vocals to start off the album. People argue that the vocals on the track aren't fit, but I think it adds to the orginiality of their sound. The darker sounds gives some mystery to their collection of songs and numerous remixes.

Songs like "Know Your Enemy", "We Are In Control", and "Visible Noise" bring back Hybrid's hard breaks, which is what most know Hybrid to do best with. They sound at the top of their game when you listen to this beautiful haramonized songs and always leave you waiting for more.

This CD Is a great addition to your collection if you are a longtime breakbeat fan or someone who is looking for a good start to the world of electric music alike. A very rare find these days!

I'm grading harsh to bring the customer average down to a reasonable level, but let's be frank: this album is not great. It reflects the disappointment I felt upon hearing BT's new work, as he and Hybrid now appear to travel along the same vein. Both employ embarassing lyrics on subjects of not-too-far a departure for this genre of escapists. Sure Wide Angle was like that. But Wide Angle had Class. Remember If I Survive? That song was compelling and explosive; in no way the teenage-angst wailed away by this Adam Taylor guy. Sasha's Airdrawndagger had the sense and maturity enough to omit vocals completely. Coe knows all about the majesty of electronic music through its obscurity in interpretation. Hybrid should have taken note of this, especially since they have apparently terminated their relationship with Ms. Harding.

The string accompaniments are flat and wholly uninteresting, featured on maybe half the tracks that they polished in Hybrid's debut. The cohesion is gone as well, as the first half of the album is a game of hopscotch (think Creamer and K's Bedrock-numbing mix). You'll find no groundbreaking work like Finished Symphony on this album. The strongest (and filthiest) song, Know Your Enemy, has been out on vinyl for a year. Here is your breakbeat gem. The rest can go by the wayside. (Visible Noise, while good, has no place out of a mix. Check Satoshi Tomeii's NuBreed release.) Hybrid has always been pushing the electronic envelope but has now stumbled into a pit of stewing basslines and narrowed pursuit of one-upsmanship.

This is the first review I thought of writing right after a cd purchase. Fermentation allows you time to pick up on the subtle joys of an album. But now is the most poignant moment where I will not tollerate compromise from my expectations. Ok, artists change and I understand that. But the fact doesn't relieve my disappointment.

This album is great. I really don't understand how and why anybody would write a practically three page essay describing what they hate about this album... ludicrous. See I have been a Hybrid fan for years. And this beats out wide angle by a huge margin. I listen to this disc all the time and it never gets old. The songs are all much better than most on wide angle, especially Higher than a Skyscraper and Gravastar. If you like Hybrid or if you are new get this, then try wide angel you wont be disappointed, I guarantee it!

I'm surprised to see so many negative reviews for this album. I thought it was a great progression for Hybrid in general.

Basically, I liked Wider Angle for Hybrid's apparent knowledge of and artistry with Sub-frequencies along with sweeping melodies and an enveloping sound.

With this new album I can definetly say that Hybrid has harnessed the frequency spectrum even better with tracks like Gravastar, Out of the Dark, and Higher than a Skyscraper. With any of these tracks I can put a person in my car and have them intranced in seconds of listening to the earthquake-type rumblings at the beginning of Higher than a Skyscraper or the 'everywhere' bass at the beginning of Out of the Dark.

With any Techno, half of the game is the instruments that you are able to create, and the other half is what you do with those. I believe that in both of these aspects, Hybrid has grown considerably and I can't wait to hear what is to come.

I like this CD more every time I pop it in.