Astrophonica welcomes Austin, TX-based finger-drumming beatmaker Flobama to the label for the first time with Orion Sound—a raw, undiluted, and psychedelic take on Jungle, infused with shades of classic Hip-Hop, Jungle, and that indefinable celestial fusion underpinning Astrophonica.

With a background in instrumental Hip-Hop, Flobama has performed live alongside Blue Lab Beats, Shigeto, and The Alkaholiks using a Roland SP-404 sampling workstation. He has also built a dedicated online community on Patreon and Instagram, creating official live video content for Red Bull Music Academy and Roland.

Orion Sound takes this U.S. instrumental Hip-Hop foundation and blends it with modern UK Jungle through a cosmic lo-fi lens. The entire EP was crafted using PotenzaDSP’s recently developed Amigo Sampler, which emulates the signature gritty sound of the 1980s Commodore Amiga—the machine that helped define early UK Hardcore and Jungle music.

Despite Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry being part of the world premiere of the Amiga 500 in 1985, the affordable home computer never penetrated the studios of underground producers in the U.S. as it did in the UK. While the U.S. is known for lo-fi beat machines like Akai’s MPC range and the E-Mu SP1200—pushed to the limits by greats like Dilla, Pete Rock, and Madlib—the original Amiga alumni were dominated by a crew of UK junglists such as Bizzy B, Equinox, Urban Shakedown, Dlux, TDK, Zinc, and Paradox. It’s suggested that megastars like Aphex Twin, Calvin Harris, Mike Oldfield, and Kanye West have used Amigas running various pieces of tracker software, but that distinctive sound will forever be linked with raw, DIY bedroom Jungle.

Orion Sound takes all of this and mixes it into a well-seasoned sauce that is as tear-out as it is cook-out—combining the laid-back, loud-pack sunshine of Texas with the wall-slapping intensity of an East London rewind. Low-riding at higher tempos, it’s not Footwork Jungle, but it occupies a similar furtive U.S./UK mash-up space once held by Machinedrum, Om Unit, Rashad, and DJ Spinn.

To celebrate the EP’s crunchy, cosmic origins, Fracture and Flobama have collaborated on the Orion Sound Sample Pack, created with the Amigo Sampler and available separately from the EP on the Astrophonica page. The pack features 255 scratch-built, handcrafted sounds using hardware such as Korg SV2 keys, a Mackie 1604 desk, and more—all sampled and processed in Amigo. It includes breaks, pads, and bass samples drenched in glorious 8-bit, low-sample-rate sonics—go wild.

Orion Sound is available as a four-track 12” vinyl and digital release, featuring a collaboration with label boss Fracture and artwork by Utile Creative.

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As the new year kicks off its time to return to the party bangers and who better to invite for than the awesome Crash Party. After releasing his debut album Everything Happens for a reason on his own Big Beat Sunday label – we were able to convince the busy producer to return for a 2-track party drop for our infamous Toxic-Funk series.Kicking off things with instant intoxicating classic break with some timeless "wonder"-ful groove with an equally legendary rap-flows. Now what does that mean? Instant party classic A-side named Tribe Called WonderOn the flip-side Crash Party slows down the beats a bit but leaves it equally toxic with some big grooves on the Break On jam. Like the A-Side this jam features some legendary rap hooks which goes smoothly with the oldskool vibes.Breakbeat Paradise Recording delivers yet another belter for the crate for the funky DJs keeping it real and keeping it vinyl!

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‘Ice Cream Dream Boy’ serves as a celebratory anthem, an ode to manifesting dreams into reality, and a testament to Shanti's knack for creating infectious and uplifting dance music as she explains: “I wanted to make a happy and uplifting vocal summer tune and I just so happened to be in the peak honeymoon romance period with my now partner (The Ice Cream Dream Boy). He had discovered my love for soft plush toys and decided to buy me a cute little fluffy Jellycat Ice Cream so when I made the instrumental I felt insecure and unsure about what lyrics to write, so I just decided to sing about what I was currently experiencing in my life. I had been a fan of Shivum Sharma for a while and I had just done a remix for his amazing song '7am', so after establishing a cute lil connection I thought I’d ask him to help me write the song as I was very new to writing lyrics!”

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Shaka is a multi-talented DJ / Producer who produces music that crosses several sub-genres of House, and at the highest level of musicality and soul. While well-known in his home country of Switzerland through his 3 decades in the industry, he is now on the verge of gaining much more intensive and wide-spread acclaim with his debut 4 track EP on Nervous Records.

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Lumberjacks in Hell welcomes back the wonderful LYMA to the label with two mesmerising tunes that share a similar origin story.


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Damian Lazarus and Jem Cooke reunite on Crosstown Rebels for captivating new single, ‘Searchin’, featuring remixes from Radio Slave & bullet tooth. Crosstown Rebels founder Damian Lazarus teams up with acclaimed singer/songwriter Jem Cooke for their new single ‘Searchin’, set for release on 10th January 2025. The track marks a continuation of their celebrated collaboration ‘Into The Sun’, featured on Lazarus’ 2020 album ‘Flourish’, and serves as a highlight from Lazarus’ latest long-player ‘Magikal’, which lands just two days earlier. A vibrant and expressive journey, ‘Searchin’ delivers a warming blend of swirling soundscapes and resonant basslines paired alongside Cooke’s stunning vocal delivery, capturing the spirit of the pair’s combined artistry. Marking bullet tooth’s return to Crosstown Rebels this new remix sees the enigmatic talent return to his roots as he serves up a bass-heavy serving of heavyweight UKG rhythms, building on the track’s vibrant, emotive energy with a re?ned blend of intricate low-end rhythms that perfectly complement Cooke’s captivating vocals. Om the flip and adding another layer of allure to the release, Rekids label boss Radio Slave delivers a mesmerising Remox driven by bright keys and shimmering melodies, returning to Crosstown Rebels with a distinctive classy house touch!

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
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‘Ice Cream Dream Boy’ serves as a celebratory anthem, an ode to manifesting dreams into reality, and a testament to Shanti's knack for creating infectious and uplifting dance music as she explains: “I wanted to make a happy and uplifting vocal summer tune and I just so happened to be in the peak honeymoon romance period with my now partner (The Ice Cream Dream Boy). He had discovered my love for soft plush toys and decided to buy me a cute little fluffy Jellycat Ice Cream so when I made the instrumental I felt insecure and unsure about what lyrics to write, so I just decided to sing about what I was currently experiencing in my life. I had been a fan of Shivum Sharma for a while and I had just done a remix for his amazing song '7am', so after establishing a cute lil connection I thought I’d ask him to help me write the song as I was very new to writing lyrics!”

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
Liebigstrasse 2-20
DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore

DIN SYNC DUB is an exploration of communication through sound. Six tightly packed experimental dub tracks use bass-heavy vibrations to rattle both body and mind, pushing the limits of self-expression in the hope of fostering deeper human connection.

The drive for more efficient and precise communication tools—whether between man and machine or machine and machine—has been a foundational force in the evolution of technology. This duality, the way we interface with computers and the way we speak to one another, is at the heart of DIN SYNC DUB. For this album, N1_SOUND looks back to 1980, drawing inspiration from Roland’s Din Sync—a 40-year-old synchronization technology once used to link musical machines in perfect harmony. While connecting machines to produce precisely sequenced music is nothing new, it’s the tension between perfection and imperfection—the mistakes of both man and machine—that gives DIN SYNC DUB its voice, its emotional rawness.

The journey begins with “Horizontal Hang”, which crashes through the door with a relentless bassline and crystalline synths. “Such Love” introduces a throbbing, guitar-driven groove, while “Intuition Dub” channels the spirit of Jah Shaka, offering a rhythmic pulse that echoes dub’s deep roots. “Us All” provides a moment of introspection with its sparse, three-dimensional melodies, before “Joy” reintroduces chaos, creating a post-dubstep soundscape that dismantles everything in its path. The album closes with “Mauzy” , a hopeful yet fragmented conclusion, reflecting the ever-evolving nature of technology and connection.

By the mid-to-late 1980s, Din Sync was superseded by the more widely adopted MIDI, yet obsolescence is built into the nature of all technology. Just as our relationship with machines shifts and fades, so too does our understanding of how those changes shape us. Before we can grasp the impact, the world has already moved on.

DIN SYNC DUB, the first full-length LP from Spiritual World, pulses with energy, on the edge of malfunction—a manifestation of the tension between the digital and the organic, the past and the present.

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WAS - Word and Sound Medien GmbH
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DE - 22113 Hamburg
Germany
Contact: gpsr@wordandsound.netMore