the desert duo life series ep series

The Desert Duo Life Series EP Series will be a mixture of albums of various lengths inspired by the dynamic shared by Grian and GoodTimesWithScar in the Life SMP series. I was completely hooked by these two ever since watching their strangely narratively satisfying arc in 3rd life, and these albums are a tribute to their fun little interactions and weirdly cinematic parallels that happen throughout the life series. My hope is to capture both their raw energy, and draw from fanon interpretations of desert duo as well :)Currently, only one album, "IT WAS A PRANK!", has been released, and is a pre-cursor to the first full album (based on 3rd life) - it's the "Pink Venom" to BLACKPINK's "BORN PINK", the "The Feels" to TWICE's "Formula of Love: O+T=<3"! Release date for the next album was uhhh. Going to be really soon after the pre-release singles. 2024 for sure though!there will probably also be a Christmas remix of at least one track from the life series EP series eventually because sleigh bells are excellent and I cannot be stopped

hermitcraft!

woah!! other stuff beyond my desert duo/life series niche!! (which I promise I will. actually fill soon.)hermitcraft good! And I definitely have some other mini/single albums on the brain. Currently released albums are:- Jimmy's Not A Toy (But Kind Of), a song based on lyrics Scar generated with an AI bot relating to SolidarityGaming during the Hermitcraft x Empires crossover)
- the moon will set, a lo fi hip hop/crane wives/folk inspired track written for the 2023 hermitzine to complement a writing piece :)but many many thoughts for the future, including: a mini album with a hyperpop/pinkcore-inspired sound tied VERY loosely to cuteguy (featuring tracks such as: I'm Agrian With You, SOMEONE TELL ME I'M PRETTY, and ethogirls.exe); moon big. that's it that's the album; an album called "SANDWICH" with 3 tracks: peanut, butter, and jellie <3. These are concepts that float in my head and one day shall rise to the surface and see the light of day. :)there's also a work in progress album cookin' to do with one mumbo jumbolio releasing on Feb 13 2024...kpop inspired because I thought of a silly pun over a year ago lol. The first track, intro: input3x3dooropen is technically already out and was,,, also supposed to be a pre-release single with the rest released shortly after. oops

MY THOUGHTS ON ALL MY MUSIC/BREAKDOWN OF THE DIFFERENT TRACKS I'VE RELEASED SO FAR <3

IT WAS A PRANK!1. it was just a prankmy thinking with this track wasn’t necessarily to just capture the vibes of the moment of the creeper explosion itself — more the sense of “wow, this one small action, this prank gone wrong sparked SUCH a series of events”. It’s about the way fate seems to pull the two of them together again and again from here on, it’s about the energy that desert duo had together in third life, and it’s about how it all started with just a prank. I also like to think that the high energy bit represents the explosion and the moments after, and then as it grows quiet, that’s grian and scar’s conversation that they have off to the side as night falls.The morse code also means something!! it's a signal that this track is about more than just this one moment, if anyone can translate it ;)2. your number twoif “it was just a prank” is the title track for this little single album, “your number two” is the b side! I just think desert duo deserves a bit of an indie pop vibe hehe. A song to ride off into the sunset on a llama to. The bluesy wurlitzer chords also remind me of the desert >:) plus I enjoy the heartbeat detail in the bass drum in the second pre-chorus hehe

Timmy's Not A Toy (But Kind Of)OHHH THIS ONE IS FULL OF LITTLE MUSICAL REFERENCES, we've got You've Got A Friend In Me quotations, we've got cowboy/western guitar sounds, we've got That One Drum Sample That's Everywhere In K-Pop, we've got a bit of a ska vibe (GoodTimesWithSka)! The origin for this song was of course Scar's tweet with AI generated lyrics for a song about Jimmy (totally) not being a toy. There's a version with these lyrics on YouTube, but I decided to just put the instrumental on spotify both for copyright reasons (to be on the safe side), and because I wasn't super confident in my ability to perform vocals in that style/record them/get it all sounding polished enough for me to be fully happy with. But I'm glad I did it for the bit! This track was done basically within 24 hours of seeing the prompt from Scar (with vocals/getting it uploaded on streaming services taking longer) and I'm so pleased with how it came out in such a short amount of time, it was a very impulsive decision but very fun to do :D

the moon will set"And the walls aren’t burning, only the oil.
And the cigarette box is empty of ash.
And the love inside has a place to rest.
And he blows the lantern out, plunging the barge into darkness."OuGH this one was a challenge to be honest, I wanted to infuse some of the sounds/instruments of crane wives (as a nod to the chokehold they have on traffic series fanon lol) but between not having access to solo woodwind samples I liked and the style of the crane wives' percussion being difficult to match with lo fi vibes, ended up using some stringed folk instrument samples and calling it a day. This track was written as a companion to my writing piece for the hermitzine 2023, a grian-centric one-shot depicting his character returned to hermitcraft in the aftermath of Third Life (with a sprinkle of desert duo because of course), letting go of all those pesky angsty feelings and basking in the safety and comfort of home. The idea with the music was it would parallel the writing by taking crane wives esque sounds and placing them in a warm, calm, peaceful musical context, subverting the original songs' typical themes.
If I were writing this one again from scratch there are quite a few things I'd do differently, but it's still a vibe, we live and we learn :)

Q & A

Q: where can I listen to ur music?
A: anywhere! you can listen to it on the bus, while ur studying, play it in your friend’s car so they’re forced to hear it too. maybe not a funeral but could depend I guess (jkjk it's on spotify, apple music, all the places except youtube bc I'm still figuring out how I want to do that bc)Q: what genre is it?
A: yes. but uhhhh, indie electronic? but pulling from all sorts of things like indie pop, video game music, lo fi, hyperpop, k-pop, a whole mixQ: will you make music based on hermits other than desert duo?
A: yes! but not on the same scale as the desert duo life series albums, that project is slightly insaneQ: what about other MCTY SMPs?
A: probably not at this stage. mayyyyyybe something capturing the epic highs and lows of the wilbur soot ace race saga but that's it.Q: other fandoms?
A: quite possibly yes!Q: how can I best support you?
A: primarily on twitter @zipzapzooooooom !! I also have a ko-fiQ: what do you use to make music?
A: I do pretty much everything with just my laptop! LogicX is my DAW, and then at this stage it’s mostly a mixture of the ES2 synth (free with logic! we'll upgrade to serum one of these days), Splice, and Spitfire Audio sample libraries in terms of the actual sounds, and I also record stuff with either my phone microphone or a Blue Spark-SL Studio Condenser Microphone :) I'll record my own uke/guitar occasionally but only more basic lines/progressions lol. I'm happy to do my very best to answer any questions ppl have about music production if you're interested!!Q: who did ur album art?
A: so far, me! occasionally with help from godaddy assets.Q: what does your name mean?
A: whook whook ayy look at the moving e-eyes 봤니 shoog shoog shoooog … zip zap zoom come on come on let me be ur superhero uwuQ: oh so NMIXX is your ult group then??
A: no actually that’s kep1er and ILY:1 lolQ: any other music recs?
A: Park Soeun's "Recycle" is CRIMINALLY unknown she's a k-indie artist go listen to her!!! also grentperez was an absolute joy to see live and a wonderful human being. I also have this whole playlist which I keep updated with my favourites hehehe