Nicolas Barnes

Nicolas Barnes is a DJ, producer and label owner from Riga with a long Discogs discography and little published press. By his own Bandcamp bio he plays minimal house with a touch of dub, and he runs a dub-oriented label of his own, ECOUL SND. Discogs lists his releases from 2017, and in 2025 he added two entries to the RTS.FM label catalogue.

Early life and path into music

Nicolas Barnes lists his base as Latvia on Bandcamp, and Discogs describes him as an electronic music DJ and producer from Riga, a description echoed by MusicBrainz. His Bandcamp bio says he started in underground music about five years ago, with no date attached to that statement, and Discogs shows its earliest credits in 2017, on S6A Music and Time 2 House. No birth date, birthplace or interview is published in the sources we could open.

Sound and style

His own description is minimal house with a bit of dub. The Bandcamp page lists albums such as Unreleased Dub Tales vol.2 and Hueco Mundo, and edits of other artists' records, among them Sven Väth's "Cala Llonga", Ricardo Villalobos's "Hansup", Cerrone's "Supernature", Claude VonStroke's "Who's Afraid Of Detroit" and Giorgio Moroder's "Chase". The Sven Väth edit connects to our profile of Sven Väth.

Labels and releases

The Bandcamp bio names releases on Conceptual Records, MixCult and Simple Things Records, and ECOUL SND as his own label. Discogs shows ECOUL SND as the home of many of his releases from 2020: Nuvos, Ecoul and Embrace in 2020, 25th Frequency (an album) and Context in 2021, and the albums Year Since LP and End Of My Journey in 2023, plus the compilation Meet Nicolas Barnes the same year.

Other labels on Discogs include MixCult, which released the Arel EP, Conducere EP and Gringo EP in 2021 and the Mixcult Experience LP in 2022, Greyscale, spclnch, Simple Things (Closer To Me EP, 2021), Crossfade Sounds, Dubwax and Vuo Records. A string of self-released numbered "Special" and edit releases appears under the Not On Label heading from 2021. In 2026 Discogs lists Whispering Together on Blackinstock and MixCult Digital and a contribution to an Adlibitum 12-inch, Escaping Sunset. Another RTS.FM label artist, Genning, also releases on MixCult.

On the RTS.FM label

RTSFM009 was released on 9 May 2025 as a digital release, according to the RTS.FM Bandcamp page. The label calls it a four-act dub story narrated by Nicolas Barnes. The tracks are "Tunel", "Echo Blade", "What Ever You Do" and "First Contact". Bandcamp tags it deep house, minimal house, house, electronic and dub techno, with Moscow as the label's location.

On 17 October 2025 he also contributed "Increase Range" to RTSFM011, the compilation of resident artists from the label. It also features Victor Polo, Genning and Nemec.

RTS.FM Connection

RTS.FM's archive holds six videos with Nicolas Barnes in the title: one for each of the four RTSFM009 tracks, uploaded on 7 June 2025, one for "Increase Range", and a full set, "Nicolas Barnes @ RTS.FM Riga", uploaded on 22 August 2021. Its description says it was recorded at ONE ONE club, and it runs about an hour. The wider archive is covered in our look at what RTS.FM has recorded.

FAQ

Who is Nicolas Barnes?

Nicolas Barnes is a DJ, producer and label owner from Riga, Latvia, who plays minimal house with a touch of dub and runs the label ECOUL SND.

How old is Nicolas Barnes?

Nicolas Barnes has not published a birth date or year in any source we opened, so no age can be given.

Where is Nicolas Barnes from?

Nicolas Barnes is from Riga, Latvia, according to Discogs and MusicBrainz, and his Bandcamp page lists Latvia as his location.

What genre does Nicolas Barnes play?

He describes his sound as minimal house with a bit of dub. RTS.FM tags RTSFM009 as deep house, minimal house and dub techno.

What is Nicolas Barnes's real name?

No real name is stated by the artist. Discogs lists the alias Nikolass Balas on his profile, without further explanation.

What label does Nicolas Barnes run?

He runs ECOUL SND, a dub-oriented label, according to his Bandcamp bio. Discogs lists many of his releases on it from 2020.

What is RTSFM009?

RTSFM009 is a four-track release on the RTS.FM label, described as a four-act dub story, released on 9 May 2025.