We caught up with emerging Prague-based producer badfocus who released his staggering EP realities on 29 November. His music is a powerful concoction of hip hop meets alternative electronica, while he draws inspiration from the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Jon Hopkins. The title track from his EP premiered on globally renowned tastemaker Electronic Groove, and is accompanied by a striking music video.
In the interview, we chat to badfocus about his approach to music production, what inspired him to start producing and what he’s got in the pipeline.
1. Tell us about you, how long have you been making music? What inspired you to start?
I started playing the piano when I was 5 years old. During my teenage years I would spend hours behind the piano, improvising different melodies. It was very therapeutic, letting it all go into the thing that you’re playing at the moment. I think it was at that point I knew I wanna really make music.
2. The music industry is super competitive these days, was there a moment in your life that you wanted to give up on music? How did you manage to stay focused and achieve what you want?
Yeah, I think there are a lot of people in the industry who based their value on their career or amount/quality of work. When I started making living with music I think I was subconsciously doing that as well. Back then I felt that it’s not sustainable to do it long-term, I stepped back a bit, started doing therapy, reflecting on different insecurities and facing them rather than running away to the studio. So ironically the thing that helped me the most to stay focused was to go away from it for a bit, then get back much fresher.
3. How would you describe your creative processes? Are the music and lyrics written in conjunction, or separately?
I always start with the vibe. I don’t really care about particular elements, the vibe is always the most important thing within a track. So when I get the right vibe, find some sample/melody that portrays the same feeling, I start the process. I think that this vibe keeps me in the flow and I can instantly feel if I’m getting somewhere or not, much more intuitively than rationally.
4. Where did the inspiration come from?
For me the inspiration always comes from being fascinated by the world around us. Lately I’ve been lucky enough to meet loads of inspiring people, so I think the most inspiring moments have been all those small random conversations, when someone tells you their point of view on something, that’s completely different from yours.
5. What’s next for you?
I will be releasing an album in the beginning of 2025. For me it’s the most sincere project that I’ve ever did, it has loads of different collaborations, for me there are a lot of memories connected with the friends we did the songs with, with all the travelling I did during the process. So I’m very much excited about that, I feel like there’s really a piece of me inside that album, so I can’t wait until you’ll listen to it.
