Mother of Mars is the latest musical incarnation of New Yorkers Vito Roccoforte & Gabriel Andruzzi.

Having cut their teeth as the rhythm section of The Rapture—who were at the forefront of the late nineties post-punk revival scene—they took to channeling their mutual love of disco, house and techno, into the production and DJ duo Vito & Druzzi. After years of sharpening their skills, rhythmic acuity, and workflow in their rooftop Brooklyn lab, the duo accidently stumbled across a hidden preset in an ancient Japanese synthesizer. This discovery reoriented the lives and was akin to finding Shangri-La after schlepping across the Himalaya in search of a McDonalds. This fortuitous event led to the Mother of Mars project, which sees them shift focus from club orientated productions (aka bangers) towards Avant-Garde, New Age and Experimental influences (aka rituals of possession).

2018 saw their first exploration as Mother of Mars releasing their Seed 2 Sky 12” on Ransom Note Records. These synth-laden tracks, both 10 minutes in length, were lovingly crafted from their shared Brooklyn-based studio and cast a midpoint between each of their wide reaching influences. This time around, with their new work Space Without A Shadow, they are joined by Japanese expat and songstress Jaiko Suzuki—who brings her heavenly voice, keen insight, and bufo laden life.

Space Without A Shadow is the first outing from this new incarnation of Mother of Mars and is in many ways considered by the group to be the missing track from their Seed 2 Sky release. Although both refreshing and exciting, the track unfolds in an eerily familiar way; betraying the groups mastery to both the perennial and the novel. The result is a beautifully-strange fusion of genre and culture alike. Over a beating kick and layers of driving percussion, repetitive synth riffs swirl in and out of focus clearing the way for Jaiko’s multi-tracked airy vocals, subtly playing off of one another in the foreground.

“Space Without A Shadow had its genesis shortly after the writing of the first Mother of Mars release, Hera in the Valley, which came out on Ransom Note Records the 19th of January 2018. This release also marks the wonderful and talented Jaiko Suzuki joining the Mother of Mars universe. Space Without a Shadow was always intended to be the next record after Hera in the Valley and now 2+ years later or a mere fraction of a second in cosmic time, which Mother of Mars prefers to work in, we give you Space Without a Shadow.

In this song we (Vito, Jaiko and Gabriel) all seemed to be moving through convergent musical lyrical and ethical lines (or possibly cycles/spirals) that passed through a space of negating the popular modern idea of the individualized objectified self. Not an annihilation of self, but the dissolving of a particular and common conception of self. As part of this process we hope to make space for something else altogether and possibly rid ourselves of a sense of delimited space all together. Maybe….just maybe this comes across to the listener.”

On remix duties is long-time friend Willie Burns who weirds up the dancefloor while still being respectful to the original, and Glasgow’s rising star MR TC who progs the whole thing up utilizing the bassline to reinvented effect.