Donato DozzyAstro Vinyl 2LP

Astro, the new double LP by Donato Dozzy, is in many ways a culmination and intersection of life-long interests. Donato Dozzy is beloved for his way of blending synthesized sounds into seamless, deep, hypnotic works, whether as a DJ or in the studio. So it might come as a surprise that at the root and source of Dozzy's musical inspiration is Japanese children's cartoons and toys. In the late '70s into the '80s, Italian youngsters, including Dozzy, were captivated by a wave of Japanese cartoons featuring Jumbo Machinders, awe-inspiring robots on adventures beyond the solar system. Every episode came dubbed into Italian, and had its own specially written Italian theme song, each pressed onto a 7" single. This was the launchpad for two lifelong obsessions: vinyl records and vinyl figurines, and still kept in his home today in immaculate, carefully tended collections. In 2025, Dozzy took a sample from the first of the Japanese themes he ever owned, Astro Robot Contatto Ypsylon. Marking the first time he had directly sampled a song for his own work, later to become the track "Astro," this created an impulse to begin a series of new music, sparked by the robots in his collection. Dozzy's meticulous respect for his collections is reflected in the precision of these tracks. Elements within each track are harmoniously organized together while ever retaining a sense of space that reflects the cosmic subject matter. Much like the human characters in the cartoons who piloted the Jumbo Machinder robots, on "Astro," Donato takes control of mighty machines such as the EMS Synthi AKS to create sonic journeys. The whole collection is rounded out with "Ryoma (Lò Song)," a gigantic trance anthem that could easily be the closing credits of your favorite childhood cartoon. With Astro, Donato Dozzy pulls together threads in his life: the warp of music and synthesizers intertwining with the weft of childhood memories. A tribute to that freedom to dream, and to the sounds that, from the turntable of his childhood, led him toward alien and technological musical territories.