Introducing Barac and his fabric Promo Mix

The RPR Soundsystem members Raresh, Rhadoo and Petre Inspirescu have become firm fixtures of our programming over the last couple of years and the music coming out of their native Romania has proven to be indicative of a hotbed of talent. Bucharest’s intimate creative scene is dotted with artists who are now being welcomed to the international stage. Just last weekend we welcomed Alexandra to Room One to spin for the first time alongside Craig Richards and Ricardo Villalobos and at the end of this month we’re inviting Barac, whom Inspirescu himself got us hip to, to make his Farringdon debut. Even though Barac’s been hard at it, making music for over a decade, there’s very little information out there concerning the emerging producer so we dropped him a line to find out more about what we can expect from his debut live set in Room One on 29th March. He’s also taken the time to put together an exclusive mixtape so we can hear what he’s all about, including a few of his own productions alongside material from his Romanian peers to indicate a little bit of the journey he’ll be taking us on at the end of the month. So the first and only release we’ve found from you is your Voyetra EP from last year – when was it you started producing exactly? It is my only release indeed and I would like to thank the people who helped me to put out this record, Razvan (Naural) and ourown.ro. I started producing music 10 years ago with other music genres, but the sound that defines me at the moment I've been making for 5 years now. Can you give us a picture of what first drew you to making your own music? Did you get into electronic music at an early age and get involved in any local events that drew you in? The desire to making music came out of curiosity. A curiosity that I still have today…precisely what is hiding behind the music. From my point of view, music is a form of communication between people, a continuous exchange of emotional states, energy, attitude. I find myself in lots of musical genres and I feel happy that I can experience different feelings when I am listening to music. The first contact with electronic music I had was at the age of 14, when I was working at a local radio station playing electronic music, and after that it followed the residency in a club and all kinds of electronic music parties. At the moment there seems to be more and more talented individuals emerging from what’s been going on in Bucharest, in the company of people like Rhadoo and Petre Inspirescu who you’ll be playing with in Room One when you join us this March – how much have these individuals helped you on your own path? I would like to mention Raresh as well, I’ve known him for lots of years now and from the start there was a friendship relied on respect and honesty, an aspect which exists in the friendship with Rhadoo and Pedro as well. They've changed my perception of DJing and producing music towards a higher level of maturity. Because of their kindness and personality, the way they DJ and produce music .. Yes, I must say they helped me a lot on my own path. Are you originally from Bucharest? I’m not from Bucharest originally, I moved to the capital one year ago and I’m happy that I made that move. There’s a lot of important stuff happening in Bucharest in terms of music, parties (lots of parties and very, ver y long ones!). You get to become close to the people who share the same passion for music that you have and you get to evolve professionally speaking, these aspects are really important to me. So your live set let’s talk about that – what machines are involved? The live act...I wasn't expecting to be asked to do one to be honest. There was nothing prepared or thought about before the day Pedro called me and proposed I put together a live set for fabric. I am trying to create a setup that's as easy and efficient to use as possible. I will not use a laptop though, the setup contains 4 drum machines, samplers and effect processors. What’s your approach going to be to playing live is it something that’s purely improvised on the stage or have you worked out a flow and to play out the tracks you’ve previously written? Everything is being prepared here in my studio. All the percussion, melodic lines, bass lines, voices, etc. are my creations. I have recorded and sampled everything into the drum machines where I've built the tracks to be the most complex that I can make them. There is a flow that I will follow during the set. Regarding the way I will build this set or the elements which I will use in the tracks, all this will be happening live, with all kinds of improvisation by using effects processors. I proposed to myself to make a live act which will be very special I hope, a musical journey, lot of energy, percussion elements, strong bass lines, melodic and trippy synths. What’s been your journey like so far? What experiences has your DJing and producing given you as you’ve been playing out more? The journey has been, is and will be amazing. Even though it's hard sometimes, to be a DJ and producer in the same time asks for many sacrifices, lots of financial efforts and a lot of time allocated to the music. I feel lucky because I am one of the people who are solely doing music. All my activities come down to music, DJing and production. I am not looking for material satisfaction, my passion for making music is so big that everything I earn from music goes into music. I’m very happy when I can buy records and then wait anxiously to play them out at the club as well as when I manage to buy equipment for studio to make music with and play it out at the club, to make people happy. This is satisfaction for me. We also asked you to record a DJ set for us, to show us a bit more about what you’re about musically – can you talk us through it? I would like to thank you for asking me to record this mix. I've used tracks from Romanian producers and international producers but my own tracks as well. I've just mixed tracks which I like, I've made the set as I've felt at the moment. Nothing was thought about before. In my DJ sets and my recorded mixes I just try to create a journey with a variation of many musical styles, I like to surprise people with every kind of track that you wouldn’t expect to hear. The tracks which I've used in this mix are from close friends wwho are making music and have sent it to me. I never go from the premise to make a set exclusively with Romanian tracks or from a particular musical style, in this way I think you are conditioning the listener. And that is not what I want to do, I want the musical journey to be as pleasant as it can get, full of emotions, surprises and full of good music. And finally what do you have upcoming in the year ahead, do you have a follow up release planned? In the year ahead I’ve got several releases planned. I can’t say now exactly when they will be out. One thing I can say for certain is that I will have 2 releases with 2x12'' plus a remix. As well, I intend at the end of the year to start my own label where I will have as a first release a very interesting collaboration. One of the tracks on this released will be played in the live act at fabric on the 29th of March.