released March 28, 2021
All sounds originated on Mars, recorded by NASA's Perseverance Rover. Filtered and re-arranged

When I heard the first recordings sent back of the sound of the Mars rover they instantly brought to mind some of my self-made drum machines. Even before looping, there was something of a lumbering swagger in these mechanical and percussive sounds of the Perseverance rover making its lonely way across the Martian terrain.
Originally I thought I’d combine some samples with my machines/ instruments.

But then I challenged myself to come up with something using ONLY the source sounds from Mars, combining some looping and layering in pursuit of making something robotic but groovy. I sampled and transposed them onto a keyboard to construct some simple phrases. Aside from the rover itself, there is Mars wind and the clicking of a laser.

I used a little EQ, some gates, filters and reverb but I held back from anything that would alter the sounds too extremely as I didn’t want stray too far from the original feel.
I'll post a video of my process soon.

There's something magical about playing sounds genuinely captured from another planet on your keyboard back here on Earth. I hope you enjoy this experiment.