For those that don’t know the Welsh based duo of Mike Truman and Chris Healing AKA Hybrid, then it’s time you became acquainted with them. Their futuristic, melodic breaks have filled the record boxes (or should that be CD cases) of the world’s greatest DJs for well over a decade now. Their productions have gone from strength to strength since that fateful day back in 1994 when Lee Burridge handed a copy of their first unofficial release Symphony to Sasha. He proceeded to place it on his hugely popular second Northern Exposure outing that he compiled with John Digweed, and provided the launch pad they needed to make it onto the world stage. 14 years on and the duo are still producing (three albums under their belt and over 250 remixes and productions to date), DJing and performing live the world over. Back in Melbourne for the first time since Jan 2007 when they performed live for the Summerdayze festival, they are currently touring Australia to promote their new upcoming double CD release Soundsystem 01 which is due for release in July, and playing the We Love Sounds events across the country. Having heard Hybrid perform back in the UK some years ago, I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see them rip it up in a four-hour set at the consistently brilliant Darkbeat night at Brown Alley.
Arriving at about 11 the cue to get in was already pretty long, but the security moved us all through as quickly as possible and we entered the spacious main room which was being progressively warmed up by the deep throbbing sounds of Gavin Keitel. Gavin did a fine job of helping build the anticipation for the approaching 12am start for the Hybrid boys, and from the first moment that Chris Healing hit the crowd with his first dose of scorching techie breaks, you knew this was going to be a juggernaut of a night. Deep and dark driving rhythms pushed out through the speakers as the duo moved effortlessly between their trade mark synth-driven breaks (enter Hybrid’s own classic remix of Future Sound of London’s Papua New Guinea) into new areas such like minimal (*Booka Shade’s* In White Rooms and Deadmau5’s Community Funk), showing that after so many years they still know how to keep their sound fresh and keep the crowd interested.
As the hours moved on they covered a multitude of sounds: breaks, prog, house, minimal, electro, trance, all fitting in perfectly to their tapestry of music and always managing to keep the revelers both entertained and educated. As it neared 3am I decided to check out the other room where I caught Citizen.com literally destroying the Garden Bar with remixes of The Prodigy’s Narcotic Suite and Dizee Rascal’s Flex. Plenty of places to rest a little in there for about 20 minutes while I prepared myself for the last half hour of Hybrid. Reentering the main room for the remainder of their set, the music had taken a turn towards the dark side. The beats had gone dirtier, the breakdowns had gone longer and the thinning crowd now had space to stretch their legs and break out some moves as the 4am deadline approached.
As the night reached its crescendo and Chris Healing spun Hybrid’s last track of the night, it was clear that both the crowd and the DJs had enjoyed the night and had relished the journey over the last four hours. Their set never really ever peaked, but that’s not to say that it wasn’t constantly exciting and involving throughout its duration. At 4am it was time to hand over to the very capable Danny Bonnici from Nubreed, but for me however it was also time for me to make my move home.
Ifd you’re heading out to any of the events they’re playing at, it’s worth making the effort to check Hybrid out because I said earlier, if you don’t know who they are, then it’s time you got yourself acquainted. Big ups to the Darkbeat crew for making it happen!
missmlp says...
wow, how very polite of you vinyllicker. I have never heard such a messy, all over the shop set. it was as though they had no idea what to play so they decided to go lucky dip ie, whatever we pull out we play. I am a big hybrid fan but this was just one big disappointing mess.
gaffa101 says...
Cheers for the mention bro!!!! It was a killer gig huh!!