FRENK DUBLIN レコード& CD

Review: Once again, Frenk Dublin dabbles in dub and muses on spacetime hardcore continuums with his latest release for the highbrow techno collective Arts, based in Rotterdam. From the off of 'Chord Dancer' and 'The Lost Realm', we feel only lightly electromagnetically convected, with tonic melodics and pleasing phonic physics rattling against and past our ears. It's only at the turn of the B-side that we hear anything remotely less salutary, with 'Time & Space' preferring a mood of deep-space vacuity, and 'Sapphire Dub' advancing, at an ever glacial pace, through ejected fields of chord residua and rimshot-kick impact events. Closer 'Inspected' unsettles rather than resolves any remaining tension, its monotone echo blurts suggesting more to come.

Review: Dutch artist Frenk Dublin is evidently a master of minimalism and sublimation, with his new EP for Echo Ltd. here somehow managing to convey abyssal levels of depth, all while not seeming to reveal too much or indulge too many complex parts. It's this paradox that rests at the heart of dub techno; like dubstep, the trick is to emphasise weight and space, while layering things subtly enough not to betray the mystery. It's a well-deserved release for the esteemed label, following up priors on Dub Communication and Planet Rhythm. The most polished gem? 'Static Dub', which uniquely blends both high and low chord stabs, and gets them to take up wholly different rhythm- and freqspace.