"Relly & Haze City are pairing up to release their forthcoming ‘These Sounds EP’ on Cassé Records, and it’s such an interesting and intriguing collaboration indeed.
The duo hailing from Bristol, a city with such a fertile musical soil, having forged countless sonic trends and amazing artists, succeeds in mixing up their creative minds to give birth to a unique and very personal sound: broken rhythms, Ragga soul, a hint of Bruk and some Hip-Hop stylistic features. The two, both prolific artists (Relly is pivotal figure of the Bristolian scene and Haze City being active in more recent years in the Broken Beat milieu) seem to have reached a perfect balance, which is never obvious when it comes to artistic collaborations, especially between such inspired and productive minds, therefore their four-track EP stunningly reflects their harmonic inspiration. Their affinity shows since the intro ‘Come Now’ and the first track ‘Steppin On A’, with its solid, yet extremely detailed rhythm section, combined with the frenetic (and perfectly chained) lyrics, whereas the title-track These Sounds, with its wobbly bass and an evolving harmonic explosion represents the more vintage side of the EP. ‘Sound Boy Goes to Addis’, the only track without vocals, closes it in style with some East African melodic virtuosities, a Grime-ish beat and its strong Dub soul, taking the listener to a journey back and forth from Bristol to Addis Abeba (Ethiopia), another land of thousand sounds.
‘These Sounds EP’ by Relly & Haze City, out the next 26th of March 2022 on Cassé Records (Haze City’s very own imprint) is surely one to wait for; being dense of old & new sonic inspirations, a dazzling display of talent by this new combo duo and -most importantly- a different, original, contemporary record, which puts some spice in the -often trite- modern music recipe. A big thanks from the Apparel Music team to the artists and the label, Cassé Records, for sharing their music with us and for providing a new, fresh and unique EP, the ninth gem of their catalogue."