Morning Sci-Fi [ENHANCED]

Hybrid

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 22, 2003)
• Original Release Date: October 14, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Dist. Breaks [Stu]
• ASIN: B0000AYL1U
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #94,978 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From URB Magazine
2000 was the year of trance, and Hybrid's progressive breaks hit a chord with all the top DJs of the time thanks to the lush sounds of debut album Wide Angle. For the follow-up, Morning Sci Fi, they've pared their production numbers down to a duo and picked up a full-time male vocalist. So if you're expecting the moody nature so cleverly accented by WA chanteuse Julee Cruise, look elsewhere. The new Hybrid is still emotive, but they've gotten feistier, leaving those epic, expansive numbers behind in favor of orchestral cuts with a chunky flare. "We Are In Control" is punchy to say the least, full of echoing synths and a most determined breaks drive. "True to Form" hints a return to old form, before New Order's Peter Hook comes in with a resounding, distinctive bass line atop a cruising melody. Morning is more active than WA, so expect an even bigger dance floor splash this time around.

Jolie Lash

Product Description
Formed back in 1993, Hybrid is Mike Truman and Chris Healings. Their debut LP Wide Angle and its sister release Wider Angle (repackaged with remixes and live recordings) has sold a total of 33,000+ copies to date in the US. This led to Mike and Chris DJ’ing and performing live around the world, including 48 dates supporting Moby on the Play US Tour.

Now in 2003, these UK Progressive House favorites have delivered a powerful opus with Morning Sci-Fi. Equally exquisite and menacing, the group's second proper full length combines its signature progressive house/breakbeat fusion with cinematic, orchestral flourishes and sturdy rock inferences.

The marriage of live instrumentation and electronic experimentation evident on Morning Sci-Fi is by no means accidental, having wowed this year’s Winter Music Conference, Glastonbury Festival and Fabric with their astonishing new live show complete with groundbreaking visuals, and it eventually provided for some of the album’s truly inspired collaborations.

Recorded in Russia and at Hybrid’s studio in Wales, Morning Sci-Fi features appearances by legendary New Order bassist Peter Hook, drummer Richard Thair (Red Snapper), NY-based DJ/remixer John Creamer, The Hermitage String Orchestra, and vocalist Kirsty Hawkshaw (Opus III, BT, Way Out West) joining band members Alex Madge, Tim Hutton (Groove Armada) and new discovery, vocalist Adam Taylor.

The album title Morning Sci-Fi points to the band's effective presentation of emotional technology. It offers a knowing nod to the sound effects and deft production these accomplished architects have painstakingly created over the last two years and also acknowledges that slightly twisted hour of day between darkness and daybreak which purposefully evokes the feel of the album.

The included Bonus DVD has 40 minutes of footage including clips from the 1999 Moby US Tour, interviews with Hybrid and Peter Hook, and live concert footage from Dublin, Ireland filmed in May 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Serrated-Edged Symphony for the 21st Century, April 11, 2004

By	Ian Vance (pagosa springs CO.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When, in the early spring of last year, a virtual-whisper reached my ears about Hybrid's second album, I instantly set about the task of acquiring a copy for my immediate gratification and aesthetic examination. I've been a fan of the Welsh-based breakbeat group from the moment I heard their storming debut `Symphony' in 1998, and in the years following, I scoured the windswept heights of elitist import-only shops and plumbed the depths of cyberverse filebanks for special releases, lost tracks, secret remixes; when Hybrid's symphonic zeitgeist *Wide Angle* was released overseas, I bought the Japanese import regardless of the cost. Thus: after contacting certain `sources,' I acquired a promotional copy of *Morning Sci-Fi,* Hybrid's long-delayed sequel/follow-up. Could it meet expectation? Would it shatter the mold and usher in a whole new era for this unbelievably talented group?

Alas! Expectations are ever destined to bring disappointment. To my pleasure, I found that Hybrid had retained many of their core elements: synthesized soundscapes of the highest quality; organic instrumentation including guitars, strings, horns and woodwinds; all underpinned by some of the sickest breakbeat percussion ever committed in the genre. Moreover, there was a newfound darkness to the material - the album sounded like a natural extension of and artistic shift from *Wide Angle*. And yet, to my chagrin, I also heard elements that were initially disruptive to the Hybrid experience, most notably the group's new vocalist, Adam Taylor. "What were they thinking?" I muttered to myself, displeased with how Taylor's tone clashed with the music. The delivery came embarrassingly close to histrionic, and those lyrics. . .! The angst-y, juvenile subject matter induced many a cringe in my first dozen-or-so listening-sessions.

Eventually I adjusted to Taylor's voice and came to enjoy *Morning Sci-Fi* for what it was, consoling myself with the opinion that *Wide Angle* had had its share of horrid guest vocals as well: the bland `Fatal Beating,' the hilarious-in-a-bad-way "frog-hop" of `Sinequanon' - truth be told, none of Taylor's tracks could match that French-rap-wannabe atrocity (...I'm an American and culturally biased in this regard). Upon my twentieth listen I decided that this was a great album, vocals notwithstanding; and when *Morning Sci-Fi* finally received a stateside release, I plunked down the cold cash for it, happy to never again have to hear that English voice announce, over the peaks and breakdowns, "HYBRID: PROMO COPY." So imagine my surprise to find that the boys behind the racks had decided to further tinker with their second outing, adding electronic dimension to Taylor's limitations (explicit use of echo and reverb), editing several of the tracks that had overstayed their welcome (Know Your Enemy, Gravastar). Also included was a bonus track of almost pure symphonic form, the exquisite `Lights Go Down, Knives Come Out,' though its placement in the mix - or rather, lack thereof - is one of the factors that made me lessen my rating by a star.

The music: Morning Sci-Fi begins with an amalgam of reverse-engineered strings and drunken rant courtesy of the notorious DJ John Creamer. After its short duration, a high-hat emerges, chattering insistently; bass-synths churn and growl; and Taylor's electro-tweaked Taoist blather slowly insinuates itself into the mix - a much-improved alteration on the stark vocals of the promo-copy. Hard 4/4 drums and the recognizable bass of New Order's Peter Hook dominate the mix soon after. The song ends on a slow, melancholic note, and flows nicely into the futuristic breakbeat of `Know Your Enemy.' The Arabic-influenced `Merrikech,' drenched in reverse-sampling, is another standout, while `Visible Noise' and `We Are In Control' serve to kick the album into high gear, the former with its pounding riffs and rippling breakdown, the latter with a funky bass/break combo and vocoder announcements of the Orwellian vein. `Higher than a Skyscraper/Steal You Away' peaks the album - a smashing combo - and `Gravastar' levels it with industrial clang and lockstep 4/4 kick-hammer. `Out of the Dark', Taylor's fourth vocal cut (!) maintains the tension. Finally the mix exhales with `Blackout', featuring the lovely-piped Kristy Hawkshaw and some truly epic string-work via The Hermitage Orchestra of St. Petersburg.

*Morning Sci-Fi* also comes packaged with a supplement DVD, featuring two documentaries and two live performances. The first documentary concerns Hybrid's 2001 tour with Moby (who comes off as a bit, well, `egocentric'), while the second chronicles the process of making the album, though for some strange reason one of the key factors - the studio break-in that changed the entire course of *Sci-Fi*'s artistic synthesis - is totally omitted in favor of band members patting each other on the back. The less said about the live performances, the better . . . though it is rather amusing to see Taylor try to occupy himself with rock-star poses while the band slowly saws toward the vocal sections.

My biggest gripe with Morning Sci-Fi (the reduction of a star) is the fact that one of the best tracks on the entire album, `Lights Go Down, Knives Come Out,' is "cleverly" hidden: one has to spin the album back from the first track to access it. This doesn't work on many CD players, however, including the Gemini CD-2000x I DJ with for my professional occupation. Also, I'm somewhat disturbed by the implied notion that Hybrid plans on continuing to work with Taylor - after hearing him mangle `If I Survive' during a live performance for One World, I am utterly aghast at this notion.

In conclusion: Hybrid has shown their technical/experimental chops with this album, and for the most part I'm pleased with their artistic decisions, having a healthy respect for ambition, even if it isn't fully realized. Change and experimentation are necessary for continued growth and better craft. I only hope they hire new (and better) vocalists for their future sci-fi symphonies. _Then_ we might hear the masterpiece these boys are more than capable of.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not copy protected, and very good to boot., October 27, 2003

By	Michael Henderson "technology slave" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable!, October 14, 2003

By	Bricolage "function zero" (New York) - See all my reviews

This is probably the most difficult review for me to write because I consider "Morning Sci-Fi" to be so damn good, I don't even have the words to describe it!

I got hooked on these Welsh guys after hearing their remix of Filter's "Take A Picture" about two years ago. I was blown away by their remixing style. They totally re-worked the song into something extraordinary.

Those of you who have not heard Hybrid's debut album, "Wide Angle", are seriously missing out. Their music can be best described as "visual electronic". Sounds corny, I know, but the songs are so melodic, so layered and textured, that you can't help but visualize them.

When comparing this album to Wide Angle, I can say that it's actually even more polished and ambitious. It's also darker and relies less on vocals and more on Hybrids distinct sound. To me it seems that the guys have definitely taken a step in the right direction. The sound is dark but has enough light underlining texture to keep it easy to listen to in any mood.

Adam sings vocals on four of the songs, and personally, I like his singing style. One Adam song, "I'm Still Awake", is mellow and almost sounds like depeche mode but the production is so great that you don't even care about the non-traditional Hybrid sound that it holds.
Tracks like "Visible Noise" and "Know your Enemy", which were released some time ago, are polished up here. They both work very well in conjunction to the album. "Higher than a skyscraper" is a stand out track for me. It's one of the songs to feature the Hermitage Orchestra and it evolves and expands into an emotional roller coaster ride.
Actually, most of the songs expand and evolve. For example, "True to Form" (the official first track, after the intro), starts out slow and then builds up into layer upon layer of guitars, breaks and grave-deep bass.
I can honestly say this is the best electronic album out today. I'm so glad to see it #169 on the sales rank. It's pretty damn good for an electronic album, these guys deserve it. Listen to this album from beginning to end and you'll see why it's so difficult to review.

And also, I'd like to comment on how well they mixed the songs. As the songs end, bits and pieces of them merge with bits and pieces from the next song. I really dug that.