- See all the Ratings
- Add my Rating now
(Distinctive Records/DMC)
Side A: I’m Still Awake (Planet Funk Vocal Mix) 7.39
Side B: I’m Still Awake (Gray Area Mix) 9.03
Swansea, UK-based progressive breaks outfit Hybrid’s latest longplayer ‘Morning Sci-Fi’ showed them shifting into a more band-oriented configuration, pushing the guitars, live bass and vocal contributions of touring singer Adam Taylor to the forefront. ‘I’m Still Awake’ is the third 12” to be lifted from ‘Morning-Sci-Fi’ and follows on the heels of previous singles ‘True To Form’ (also featuring Adam Taylor on vocals) and ‘Higher Than A Skyscraper.’
In its original album incarnation, ‘I’m Still Awake’ is one of the more downtempo moments on ‘Morning Sci-Fi’, with Adam Taylor’s wearily resigned yet powerful vocal (“I’ve taken all I can just to stay awake…”) propelled by a backdrop of midtempo breakbeats, epic strings and strummed acoustic guitar. For this 12” however, both remixers involved have retooled the original track considerably, with a view to pushing it back towards the dancefloor. On the A-side of this 12”, Planet Funk’s Vocal Mix places what sounds like a live funk bassline over a crisp 4-4 house beat, retaining pretty much all of Adam Taylor’s vocal while also throwing in some interesting twanging disco-guitar elements. While it’s a perfectly capable house reworking that manages to inject a welcome dose of funk into Hybrid’s epic orchestral sweep, there’s perhaps a sense that by removing most of the hooks, Planet Funk have removed a lot of the original track’s bite.
On the flip, Welsh progressive breaks outfit Gray Area (perhaps returning the favour for Hybrid’s recent remix of their own ‘Gravity’) rework ‘I’m Still Awake’ into a lengthy breakbeat roller that calls to mind some of Luke Chable and Andy Page’s recent outings in meticulously-programmed breaks, intricate vocal timestretches and digital manipulation spinning around Adam Taylor’s vocal. With tight crisp breakbeats that lean closer to the sort of house-inspired patterns Hi-Fi Bugs and Dark Alley have laid down, and an intriguing tabla-esque percussion track percolating behind the beats, it manages to amplify the epic builds of the original and also features a fantastic acoustic guitar breakdown shortly before roaring back into life.
Another solid 12” from Hybrid, with the Gray Area Mix definitely being the track to chase here. There’s also a Part Two 12” to accompany this release with mixes from Christian J and SUD, which should also be well worth checking out.
Check out: www.distinctiverecords.com
