Nicolas Barnes: DWXD005 (Dubwax)
The artwork and publicity calls this album Fide, but the Bandcamp page calls it after its catalogue number. So catalogue number it is. I name this album DWXD005, a distant relative to R2-D2, THX 1138 and MDMA.
Barnes hails from Riga, the capital and cultural hub of Latvia. He has built a reputation there as a DJ, producer and label owner. I don't think he is the same as the British thriller writer Nicholas Barnes with an h. It would be convenient if he was. I have more information about him.
So all we have is the music. And my giddy uncle, what music. The most involving and hypnotising dub techno I have heard in a while. Washes of warm electronic fog. Sharp icicles of hissing hi-hats. A constant feeling of twilight overcome by more twilight.
Every track takes its time. The aerated jabs of Gridform were the first sounds to get under my skin. Title(?) track Fide is so persuasive, pulsing away as a grey wash takes over the frequencies. As as with Shinichi Atobe tracks, those rusty cymbals on the funky Feratum are a winner.
I'm sorry I can't help you more with the biography of this artist. Maybe he's a famous figure skater. Perhaps he invented the uni-brow. Maybe he was the first person to pogo-stick to the moon. With work as strong as this, I expect to hear a lot more about Nicolas Barnes in the future, or, as I am now calling him, N1C0745 B4RN35.
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