Hybrid

Hybrid is a progressive breakbeat group from Swansea, South Wales, active since 1993. The group’s main line-up includes Mike Truman, Chris Healings, Lee Mullin and Charlotte James. It works in electronic music across breakbeat, club, dance, electronica, nu skool breaks and progressive breaks.

Career

Hybrid emerges in the early 1990s and becomes known for combining studio production with live performance. The act performs with a band-style setup rather than as a conventional DJ outfit. Mike Truman and Chris Healings form the core of the project and spend many years writing, producing, touring and DJing internationally.

The group builds a large catalogue of productions and releases four studio albums on Distinctive: Wide Angle (1999), Morning Sci-Fi (2003), I Choose Noise (2006) and Disappear Here (2010). Wide Angle is the release that first brings the group wider attention. The later albums show a move from its original dance orientation while keeping a strong electronic base.

Line-up and collaborators

Charlotte James joins as singer and songwriter for the Disappear Here era, alongside founders Chris Healings and Mike Truman. That album also features guest vocals from Tim Hutton, drums by Alex Madge and contributions from the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Style and significance

Hybrid is associated with technically detailed electronic dance music and is noted for a sound that crosses the line between production work and live presentation. The group’s output sits within the UK breakbeat and progressive breaks scene while also drawing on wider club and trance-related electronic styles.