Sound Check — Geoff Carter: ‘Finished Symphony’ epic finish for Hybrid

Friday, Oct. 13, 2000 | 10:40 a.m.

Geoff Carter's music column appears Fridays. Reach him at carter@ vegas.com.

Thank you, Shawn Fanning. Without Napster -- the file-sharing service you created to promote and distribute bootlegged Metallica tracks -- I might never have discovered Hybrid's "Finished Symphony." I was searching for John Digweed's club mixes because while my tired old carcass won't fly at discotheques anymore, I like to listen to the remixes and, you know, pretend that my looks haven't gone and that my muscles haven't completely atrophied.

To make a long story short, I saw the title "Finished Symphony," thought that a lovely title for a techno composition (my ears are going, too) and ... well, it resulted in my purchase of Hybrid's "Wide Angle" at my favorite local record store. Call me crazy, but I refuse to admit to anything that could land me before a congressional subcommittee.

At any rate, "Wide Angle" is the goods -- well worth the record industry's unholy retail markup. Taking a cue from Massive Attack associate Craig Armstrong, Hybrid says its piece with strings. The best parts of "Wide Angle" are those that involve the Russian Federal Orchestra, layering Hybrid's skeletal tracks with warm, soundtrack-like flourishes.

Try "Dreaming Your Dreams." It doesn't promise anything new at the outset -- standard techno beats, vacuum cleaner-like bleats, a chirpy Julee Cruise vocal -- but suddenly, the Russians come on with an evocative wash of strings, and what was mechanical becomes deeply haunting.

It's a neat trick, and to Hybrid's credit, "Wide Angle" never wears it out. The streetwise breakbeats of "Snyper" don't really need orchestral assistance, which makes the track all the more luminous when the Russians sneak in at the halfway point. The strings slowly build on "Snyper's" already-thick tension and emphasize parts of the electronic backing that previously seemed atonal. By the time the brass punches through, they've got you right where they want you.

If the band seems to bide its time before rolling out the album's crown jewel, it's perfectly understandable. The hip-hop noodlings of "Sinequanon," the BT-style trance of "If I Survive" and the straight-up house beats of "Theme from Wide Angle" are fine; they would be standout tracks on any album that didn't have "Finished Symphony" lurking near the end.

The monster "Symphony" is everything its name promises. It's a gorgeous track -- a sweeping, nine-minute cinematic epic that feels strongly enough about its momentum to stop dead at the five-minute mark. The Russians stick to the beats as if glued to them, watching every upturn and downbeat for an opening to fill.

The way the two ensembles weave around and through each other is inspiring. "Symphony" speaks to the other, lesser-used definition of the word "concert" -- a near-melodious agreement of opinion or design. If the recording industry could familiarize itself with the meaning of that word, there could be a lot more Hybrids out there, just waiting to be discovered through somewhat less-litigious means.