"Rapper T.Relly and producer Andy Spaceland's gripping debut plays stylistic hopscotch in Bristol's low-end dance history. Peppered with old-school film lifts, their electro-hop wriggles and writhes" ~ MOJO

"Their music is uncompromising, fired-up, rough around the edges and equally flies in the face of the powers that be and vile elements of modern-day society... their use of rap, electronica and rhythm wind together seamlessly, demonstrating a deep textural palette that also draws on club / house, dub and EBM" ~ Amplify Music Magazine

"Combines the energy of rave culture with reggae’s penchant for social commentary... vibrant, full of life, socially aware, and infectious to its core" ~ The Big Takeover Magazine

It's always appreciated when two talented artists create something innovative, bringing their own wonderful sonic domain to a cross-genre experimental music kaleidoscope. The single in question here involves a Transatlantic collaboration between the US collective NØISE (made up of Joe Cassidy, Shepard Fairey, John Goff, Merritt Lear) and Bristol's innovative electro-hop duo Ree-Vo (rapper T. Relly with DJ / producer Andy Spaceland a.k.a. Andy Jenks).

The new NØISE track ‘Automatic (Ree-Vo Remix)’ appears on Ree-Vo’s new limited edition 10" vinyl, which also features collaborations with Object Object, Dälek and iconic industrial dancehall artist The Bug. Limited to 500 copies, the cover artwork is a tribute to Lee Perry. The 10” vinyl is being released together with Ree-Vo’s debut album ‘All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo’, pressed on turquoise-blue gatefold vinyl (and also released on CD and digitally). The 10” release was released on orange vinyl.

Andy Spaceland explains, “NØISE had done a fantastic remix of our track ‘Spacebox’, and Shepard had done the very cool artwork for the 7”. Joe (Cassidy) got in contact and asked us to do a Ree-Vo versions of the NØISE track ‘Automatic’, with Relly adding new vocals. The original is fantastic, incredible vocals and production. we just wanted to take it further down the bass music road. Relly’s vocals are perfect for it, we mixed it big and heavy, and Joe did the final master to add the sprinkle of magic. Shepard treated some photo’s to use in the video - we laid them over footage of Merrit and Relly. We couldn’t have been happier with the results of the collaboration.”

This album could only really have been made in one city steeped as it is in Bristol's decades of less conventional hip-hop and bass music. Andy recorded, produced and mixed at Bristol's Christchurch Studios, the home of Mezzanine-era Massive Attack. The Bristol music mavericks also recently reveals their fun and vibrant video for 'Spacebox',

"Our sound has the life blood of sound-system bass culture carried through veins of hiphop and rave. I describe it like that BCuz it’s a live and living thing not just a sound, though essentially it is Bristol Dirt," says T. Relly.

As apparent from the slow boiling cooker that is Bristol’s musical heritage, this track has evolved into a bass-heavy thunderstorm of dub, post-punk and hip hop. Merritt Lear’s original hypnotic, siren vocal is perfectly poised against Relly’s roll call of injustice and misinformation. It’s a contrast that could easily trip over itself but Andy Spaceland has had years of working on bass music, having been signed to Massive Attack’s ‘Melankolik’ label (and brought on board as their tour DJ), making an album with Horace Andy, and more recently working with The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart.

His musical roots run deep. After art school (where Brian Eno was his examiner), Andy Spaceland got involved in bass music with Bristol's Static Sound System and a collaborative 12” with Rudy Tambala (AR Kane) as Sugarboat Vs Sufi. He has collaborated with Smith and Mighty, Elizabeth Fraser and Madonna, and has released music on Dj Die’s label Gutterfunk as White Bully. Andy is also part of 5 Billion in Diamonds with LA producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Garbage).

T. Relly is Bristol hip-hop royalty – known in the community variously for his links to all of the city’s major club nights, his passion and support for the most disadvantaged (through his work with the youth and prison leavers), through to compering stages at St Paul’s Carnival and his seminal 2018 album with DJ Rogue ‘Let Them Know’. He collaborates with many crews including Innalife and Killer Crab Men.

The ‘All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo’ is out now – digitally, on CD and vinyl – via Dell’Orso Records and Southern Record Distributors (SRD), It can be ordered at https://lnk.to/Ree-VoEDDA52 or via Bandcamp and is available in North America via Forced Exposure. The 4-track 'Dial 'R' for Ree-Vo' EP can be obtained on vinyl as a bonus when ordering the album, but is also available for digital download via Bandcamp.

CREDITS
''Automatic' original version written and performed by NØISE (Joe Cassidy, Shepard Fairey, John Goff, Merritt Lear)
Vocals and lyrics for 'Ree-Vo remix' by Merritt Lear and T.Relly
Remixed by Ree-Vo
Video by Andy Spaceland
Other songs on the 10" EP by T.Relly and Andy Spaceland
Released by Dell’Orso Records - EDDA52LP/CD
Distributed by SRD