Introducing: Foreign Concept & His Critical Sound Mix

Embroiled in his own world of bedroom production, Foreign Concept, aka a producer from Brighton who was formerly known as Mad Rabbit, has ties with many quality labels and drum & bass print houses – namely one of our favourites, Kasra’s Critical label. Over his two monikers he has released music on labels like Broken Audio, Ingredients, Commercial Suicide with forthcoming singles scheduled on Shogun Audio and Critical. Ahead of his appearance here on the 24th in Room Two, where he’s going back to back with Nottingham’s Transit Mafia, we got in touch and asked him to introduce himself and his style by answering a few of our questions and putting together a mix. This is how it went down... Download: Foreign Concept – FABRICLIVE x Critical Sound Mix (Tracklist after the jump) You were formerly known as Mad Rabbit, when and why did you decide to change your artist name to Foreign Concept? Basically when I first started getting local gigs as a DJ a few years back, I wanted a name that would stand out from the usual. I carried the name over when I began producing and had a few releases under that name. However earlier this year I was advised from a business point of view, that the name didn't really work with the type of music I was making, and could potentially be a hindrance. I changed it to Foreign Concept at the beginning of this year, and it seems to have also tied in, to some degree, with my sound changing as well as the level of production becoming higher. So all in all I'm happy that I changed it! You recently featured in a very interesting documentary which has been circulating online, about the rise of the bedroom producer - is that how you started making music? Can you tell us more? A guy I know in Portsmouth approached me a while ago about the documentary. It also features a guy called Macca who is just starting out, and Lynx who is fairly established within the scene, so I guess I was asked as I'm somewhere in the middle of those two. I don't use a professional studio, and have always made tracks at home so it fitted in with what he wanted. If you can bare with my rambling, then it's a decent watch. It’s interesting to see how different people view music, and how it affects them personally in their day to day life. What is it about d&b that got you hooked on producing that style? I guess the unrivalled energy coupled with the variety of the different types of sound within d&b. Its open to all types of influences, and because of this there's a lot of diversity. And with the speed being 170bpm +, whatever the vibe is, nine times out of ten it’s going to make people dance. And there's nothing better than seeing people vibing to your tunes. What have you been working on at the moment? Production wise I'm currently sorting out the Critical and Shogun release B sides. I changed my set up four months or so ago, and it’s taken a while to get used to it. I've made a few things but I'm not happy enough with them to release them so I'd rather wait until the right tracks are made. I've been at the end of my uni year as well so that's also taken up a lot of my time, but I've got 3 months off now so am looking to get those sorted asap. I'm going to have to give a big thanks to Kasra for his patience, and also anyone waiting for the releases! How did your involvement with Critical come about? I had sent a couple of tunes to my mate James who runs Detonate in Nottingham (who I’m also going b2b with in the Critical room on the 24th). I think he passed them on to Kasra at one of his nights, and James called me the next day to say Kasra had played them and I think they had got rewound. I thought it was a wind up, but low and behold I got call shortly after that from Kas asking me to meet him in London. He wined and dined me over a Costa Coffee, and that was it really. I've always been really into the label and what they do, so I was pretty chuffed when it all happened! Can you tell us about the cuts you've selected for your guest mix? Have you included a favourite track of the moment in there? Its a bit of a mixed selection with some new bits from some of the producers I'm really into at the moment: Villem, Enei, Basher and Xtrah etc... as well as a cheeky Dillinja classic thrown in for good measure. There are quite a few Critical tracks on there as well, the one in particular that I'm really into is Enei and Riya – ‘No Fear’. No doubt that will get played a few times at fabric! Foreign Concept – FABRICLIVE x Critical Sound Mix Tracklist: Basher & Xtrah - Reflections (Subtitles Dub) Villem - Solar Plexus (Dub) Enei - Stonehead (Critical Dub) Foreign Concept - Mob Justice (Critical dub) Anile - Igneous (Dub) Dillinja - Unexplored Terrain ( V Recordings) June Miller - Snapcase (Critical Dub) Ulterior Motive - Featherweight VIP (Subtitles) Enei (Feat Riya) - No Fear (Critical Dub) Basher & Xtrah - Hubble (Subtitles Dub) Foreign Concept - Jaipur (Ingredients) Villem - Heart (Ingredients Dub) Photo: Fredi Brinkworth