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Hybrid Symphonies
9 years ago
General
It's no secret I like Hybrid's album "Wide Angle". Get a breakbeat duo to team up with the Russian Federal Orchestra and the results are pretty amazing. I mean, sure... "strings" are a pretty stock synth pad these days, but when it's played by real strings... violins and violas and cellos all playing in unison (and backed by the brass section), it's so much more expansive and expressive than even the best sampler can manage.
"Wide Angle" is solid from start to finish... it plays like a movie soundtrack, complete with opening credits and a final song to fit an end credit roll. And it never really stops... there's always some sort of segue from track to track, making it an album to be experienced and enjoyed as a whole. The climax of the whole thing is "Finished Symphony", a 10-minute exercise in what happens when electronica meets with classical symphony, they shake hands and get down to work.
What I didn't know until recently is that "Finished Symphony" is really a remix of sorts... from Hybrid's earlier tune "Symphony". The two tunes parallel each other at every turn, but "Symphony" is a little more dance club, a little more breakbeat, swinging its glowsticks in wide arcs and using orchestra samples while "Finished Symphony" performs it's movie soundtrack at the theater with a live orchestra backing it up.
Two of a kind, walking side-by-side, each doing it their own way.
The opening credits to "Wide Angle" is a rather nice bit of music... something to welcome the listener in and let them settle for the journey that's about to take place. And if you think the end of that cut sounds strange... remember what I said about how almost every track in the album segues into the next. Perhaps you should give the whole thing a listen.
Finally, I have to give credit where credit is due: all this started because of the video game SSX. "Finished Symphony" was used in the untracked snowboarding stage and while I'm not sure I ever heard the music while in the game, later when I would get an unofficial rip of the music from it I would find "Finished Symphony" mesmerizing. It put Hybrid on the map for me and pretty much guaranteed I would pick up a copy of "Wide Angle".
"Wide Angle" is solid from start to finish... it plays like a movie soundtrack, complete with opening credits and a final song to fit an end credit roll. And it never really stops... there's always some sort of segue from track to track, making it an album to be experienced and enjoyed as a whole. The climax of the whole thing is "Finished Symphony", a 10-minute exercise in what happens when electronica meets with classical symphony, they shake hands and get down to work.
What I didn't know until recently is that "Finished Symphony" is really a remix of sorts... from Hybrid's earlier tune "Symphony". The two tunes parallel each other at every turn, but "Symphony" is a little more dance club, a little more breakbeat, swinging its glowsticks in wide arcs and using orchestra samples while "Finished Symphony" performs it's movie soundtrack at the theater with a live orchestra backing it up.
Two of a kind, walking side-by-side, each doing it their own way.
The opening credits to "Wide Angle" is a rather nice bit of music... something to welcome the listener in and let them settle for the journey that's about to take place. And if you think the end of that cut sounds strange... remember what I said about how almost every track in the album segues into the next. Perhaps you should give the whole thing a listen.
Finally, I have to give credit where credit is due: all this started because of the video game SSX. "Finished Symphony" was used in the untracked snowboarding stage and while I'm not sure I ever heard the music while in the game, later when I would get an unofficial rip of the music from it I would find "Finished Symphony" mesmerizing. It put Hybrid on the map for me and pretty much guaranteed I would pick up a copy of "Wide Angle".
Remember how we were going to cut an album length anime video to go along with "Wide Angle"? I still think about that little pet project when I listen to tracks on the album. I think we actually got about halfway done.
I had the mostly finished cut of "Cowboy Bebop" to "Unfinished Symphony", and I have got to do "Magnetic Rose" against "Dreaming Your Dreams"... I've got the pivotal scene all set in my head. And I think now that I've seen "Dimension W", it's got a place in the project somewhere. It fits the futuristic theme.
I even had basic ideas on the Intro and the end credits (to the remix of "Altitude" at the end). I don't think the project ever died... just is on a really long hiatus.