The Hybrid guys return with their third full artist album after having released dozens of single tracks, remixes, collaborations and such over the past decade. Their orchestrally backed 'progressive breakbeats' has taken over the world by storm, and with this album containing a total of 11 brand new productions they're still on fire like they've always been...

'I Choose Noise' is the official follow-up to the albums 'Wide Angle' from 1999 and 'Morning Sci-Fi' from 2003. In between albums, the guys have done numerous other projects, including a mix compilation called Y4K, lots of classy remixes and of course massive amounts of singles taken from their albums.
The Hybrid sound is typified by the use of orchestral elements next to the overall production. On this album you'll find contributions from the renown 36-piece Seattle Orchestra, known for their work on numerous movie scores. Also, Harry Gregson Williams provides his scoring talents to complete the picture.
Let's find out what exactly this new album has become.

'Secret Circles' serves as a beautifully crafted, cinematic intro. It's length is under a minute, but it does immediately engender a mystic, intelligent vibe by bringing lengthy chords and sharp yet polished sounds. 'Dogstar', which includes great vocals by Perry Farrell, engenders a slightly dark atmosphere with its meaty breakbeats and soothing orchestral intermezzo's. Hybrid are once again totally showcasing their ability to create a truly cinematic experience. Listening to this isn't like listening to ordinary electronic music: instead, this takes you on a gigantic ride with its smoothly fitting instrumental parts, working on your mind constantly while retaining the energy that the breakbeats engender. Perry's vocals fit in wonderfully, being backed by multiple guitar arrays and them great, emotive strings performed by the Seattle Orchestra.

While the album isn't really a 'mix' so to say, the tracks do blend into eachother by using subtle sound effects. This isn't really notable at first listen, but it does give the flow of the album a nice boost by accentuating the 'ride' (how cheesy it may sound) that 'I Chooise Noise' brings forth. The often misspelled 'I Chose Noise' is a somewhat calmer production with its serene broken beats. It's epic beyond words, though! Beastlike, throbbing basslines and an amazing use of rapidly played violins create an unimitable, almost heroic sounding feel during the first part. Peaceful intermezzo's become energetic without even noticing it, followed by different yet amazingly well fitting portions of powerful orchestral mania and them chilly breakbeats. Top notch!
With 'Falling Down', we get treated with the first 4/4 track on the album. It includes vox by Judie Tzuke, and it's quite the pounding affair with its powerful drums and slick percussion. Compared with the previous tracks, this one shines out a more sturdy structure and sound. Rock guitars are a key ingredient, while Judie's vocals take on a leading role supported by cool string quartets here and there.

Now for a track which fits its title perfectly. Right from its first bars, 'Last Man Standing' engenders an almost apocalyptic sound and feel, accentuated by raw as hell basses, catastrophic SFX and a great use of orchestral parts. Driven by them ever growing massive basses, it crushes ahead without any hint of remorse... Dark, glooming entractes serve as a moment of peace here and there, but this is crushed away instantly by the obscure atmosphere that the combination of fast breakbeats, badass basses and fast melodic structures bring forth. One of my personal highlights so far!
The dark mood is set further in motion by bringing 'Hooligan Spirit', another 4/4 influenced composition. At first sight, this one's of the somewhat more minimal type with its rugged drums and percs, but this is washed away by the intricate build-up that it encompasses. Think of a good thriller film and you'll know what I'm talking about. While the chords are kept quite 'simple', their sound creates an extraordinary ambience which fits this slightly more minimal sounding production like a charm.

Back to the breakbeats. 'Choke' contains lead vocals coming from John Graham, and it has a more downtempo mood glowing over it using relatively peaceful broken beats. The basslines do give this one a lot of power, though: they're of the stabbing, stomach stirring type, expanding the tune's strength greatly. One of the best things hearable here is a repeating lil' riff playing a set of sharp, eerie chords, enhancing Graham's vocals to a great extent.
Now for what is the best instrumental production on this album in my opinion. 'Keep It In The Family' is a downright magnificent composition. In one way it's fast during its build, accelerated by fast violin sections, and in another way it is utterly soothing because of a fantastic breakdown filled with emotive chords that work on your senses instantly. The swift violins and wonderful string chords go together brilliantly, cleverly enhanced by clear-cut piano lines. A truly magnificent piece of work.

John Graham picks up the mike once again in 'Until Tomorrow'. This is what could be described as the most 'poppy' track on the album. It could also be typified as your perfect Sunday morning chill-out music. At least, for the first part of it that is. This shows just how hard it is to typify Hybrid's sound: most of it is a classy mixture of genres, very hard to describe yet so pleasing to listen to. Slick guitar rhythms and John's nice vocals take up the first sections of this track. Very gradually, it brings in energy using powered up guitars, gaining strength very very subtly. At all of a sudden, it explodes into a powerful, monstruous climax driven by superenergetic, razorsharp beats and fast percs along the way. Definitely one of the most surprising tunes on the album!
'Dream Stalker' is another guitar-driven piece. At first it seems poppy, but this changes soon enough by bringing in a very rough, coarse bit of wicked sounding basses and some utterly slick percussion. This has 'funk' written all over it! Grooving along greatly, it eventually comes to a temporary halt when a male voice shatters out some lines about dreaming and such. Luckily, it channels on greatly afterwards using that cool rock-guitar b-line and thick drums. Nice!

Kirsty Hawkshaw is one of EDM's most requested vocalists, and so she provides her voice in the single most hyped (and final) track from this album. 'Just For Today' is a full-on epic journey through everything Hybrid has to offer: great melodic, sweeping elements are intermixed with fast breakbeats, with cinematic soundscapes evolving continously on top of everything. Kirsty's influence is limited to beautiful up and down going portions of her voice, creating a very full atmosphere. Energy just splatters out of this! To conclude the album, an amazing orchestral piece is showcased, playing parts of the melodies heard during 'Just For Today'. A truly massive ending.

Conclusion:
To be honest, I hadn't really concentrated on Hybrid's productions before getting this album in my hands. One of my biggest musical mistakes, I guess. All eleven tracks on 'I Choose Noise' are top notch. Harry Gregson Williams and the Seattle Orchestra blend amazingly into Hybrid's structures, creating wonderful compositions. I won't say much more about this, you just have to experience it by yourself!