Future Twist, an eclectic and genre-transcendent dynamic duo sent from the future to disrupt the sonic landscape. We go behind the scenes to learn more about their New EP, Merch and Sample Pack.

Congratulations on the release of Everything is Fine in Arcadia!  How much time did it take for you to complete the EP and what is the EP about? 

The initial track ideas were all completed in just under a month, but the final revised versions that you’ll hear on the EP took about 9 months to see their final mix/master versions. The full EP narrative tells a story about getting sucked into a Virtual Reality video game, where you discover that your style and looks matter more than your in-game skills and EXP. Depending on which version / remix of Robot Fight Night you listen to in the EP changes the final ending screen. The last track is Game Over, but did you win? Did you lose? In the original, it seems like a pretty eventful fight, pretty ambiguous, but Squidot for example probably beat you pretty badly in his remix. 

How do you translate a narrative idea into the DAW?

A lot of the times when we write tracks with a story already in place – Like words on a page with characters and a narrative and everything, the main reference point will come from the story and world built in the text. So a lot of the time is spent thinking about what kind of space the story is in, what kind of sounds the environment would make, and the track sections are then based on how the written story flows as well, if there’s a part in the story where people are bursting through the door guns blazing then that’s definitely the drop. In Robot Fight Night for example, you hear the crowd cheering, the “FIGHT!” chants in the background, and lots of metal clashing. In another track we’re working on, a superintelligent AI speaks to the listener character, and that’s represented through super melodically incoherent vocal chops – A normal person could never understand the communication between these two AI beings, but their cadence speaks for itself.

What other mediums do you reference in your work?

We reference a lot of video games, books, movies and various types of art in our music. We’ve used samples from games like Smash Bros Ultimate, Cyberpunk2077, borrowed ideas from video game lore like Watch Dogs, and Quake, we’ve referenced books like William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter. Of course everyone watches movies, our favorite has to be We Are Your Friends! (hahaha. ironically of course), but Dune was great, Akira was intense, and even some anime like Redline or Ghost in the Shell all provide super interesting themes and stories to take inspiration from when building the narrative of a track. Another really cool artform we’ve been diving into is AI-generated graphic art from NightCafe Studio, where a bot can generate a work of visual art based on a word or sentence you give it. It’s super cool stuff, would 100% recommend checking that out sometime.

What’s it like working as a duo?

To put it simply, we couldn’t have it any other way. We work super well together, each of our weaknesses are covered by the others and we tend to really excel at our strengths. Until we started the 100 day track challenge both of us were 50/50 in pretty much the entire project, but as the years have progressed Kris has heavily focussed on the business, brand, and marketing of the project and Quin has taken over the majority of the music writing and creative process. Of course both of us have input on everything that happens as Future Twist, but we’ve taken a lot of time to learn about ourselves as people and as creatives to develop a functioning flow of our combined skill sets. Of course it has its ups and downs, there’s moments where we’re absolute best friends and then there’s moments of fighting and conflict. At the end of the day, we’re both just focused on what’s going to be best for Future Twist, so we get through it together.

Tell us about your Limited Edition Merch Run available in the Producer DJ marketplace.

Oh man, we’re so excited to be announcing our first ever merch line! Growing up, every local artist had a shirt with their logo in white printed on the front of a black shirt. We had dozens of them and never wore them. So we really wanted to make sure our first merch line looked awesome even if you had no idea who Future Twist was. All the art on the merch is based on what we think is the hottest single from the EP, Robot Fight Night. The art and quality of the merch speaks for itself and as stated in the question it is a limited edition run, so make sure to get the piece you want before it’s sold out! We’ve got front only Tees, front and back Tees, and hoodies.

Who are you listening to for inspiration these days?

Quin has been listening to the Dune soundtrack on repeat while Kris has been living in Virtual Riot’s Simulation. Some of our top artists right now are Muzz, Space Laces, Pixel Terror, Teminite, and Reaper

What can we expect from you in 2022?

2022 is going to be HUGE! We’re going to be releasing nearly every month and this EP is just the start of it all. We have a ton of collaborations with a bunch of incredible artists that we can’t wait to share as well.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us?

Disruption is coming. Which future will you choose?

Stream/Download Everything is fine in Arcadia EP here

Stream/Download Everything is fine in Arcadia The Remixes here

Purchase T-Shirts and Hoodies here

Buy the new Arcadia Source Code Sample Pack here

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