Thursday 23 October 2008

Review - Hybrid (Wales) - The Formula Of Fear (Single)

Hybrid (Wales) - The Formula Of Fear (Single)

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7 out of 10

Hybrid are a breakbeat outfit who have grown over the last 9 years into a powerful 7 piece live band and are pushing their musical boundaries by having 2 singers.

They have always wanted to be different to the rest of the dance scene and this single shows off their skills.

The original mix is a 7 minute epic, starting off with an 'exorcist' piano intro launching into a growing pulsating dark beat. I can really see this work when played live. Charlotte James' vocals then enter into the track, she sounds so emotional and her sound works so well with the heavy drums and big bass.

The 5 mixes each bring something to the original tune. Grafiti's first take on the tune is a slower minimal sound and makes me think of an intro to a Sasha DJ set, slowly building before being mixed into a bigger tune.

That bigger tune is the Steam Punk remix, which takes a bongo and thick heavy dark synth sound and really gets the song going. This is definitely the best mix of the song and I can see it being used more than the rest in DJ sets all over the world.

The Uberzone mix goes all 4/4 on you, and sounds good using most of the vocals. Then the Longrange mix comes along, Phil Hartnoll taking on his LR guise and getting all messy over this track. His beats are powerful and don't really use the vocals to their full capability but in this mix they aren't missed.

Grafiti comes back at the end with a dub version and it really is a spacey sound and I can also see this being used at the start of a DJ set.

Overall, this is a great set of tunes, some loosely based around the original mix, but all should and will be used in DJ sets and getting the crowd going.

Listen: www.myspace.com/hybridsoundsystem

Tracklist:
1. The Formula Of Fear
2. The Formula Of Fear (Grafiti Remix)
3. The Formula Of Fear (Steam Punk Remix)
4. The Formula Of Fear (Uberzone Vocal Mix)
5. The Formula Of Fear (Longrange Mix)
6. The Formula Of Fear (Grafiti Dub)

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