dirty agency.

Bob Moog tragically passed on a few years ago. But in the wake of the legacy that was Moog, a few survivors of its old guard remain.

Mike Bucki is one of the last of a dying breed of true analog geniuses. I first met him back when I bought my second Moog (Moog Rogue to be exact). The Moog came to my possession in great cosmetic order but when you turned it on, it made a bunch of noises, none of which sounded like anything in particular. The synth obviously needed a tune up. I called up the nearest electronics guy and dropped off my new toy. After sitting on it for about two months, our anonymous electrician just left me with “Well some people just don’t play notes on them. They just use them for space lazer noises.” Yeah. That’s exactly what I wanted when I dropped it off two months ago.

Looking online, I found Moog Custom Engineering headed up by Mike Bucki, former project manager and engineer at the original Moog factory. For those not in the know, Moogs were actually produced in Buffalo. The factory is now The Super Flea, the largest flea market in all of Western New York, locally referred to as “The Dirt Mall”. Anyhoo, I was surprised this guy was pratically in my backyard as I emailed him my situation and he called me within an hour and told me to bring it in. It was ready and sounded as clean as the day it was first turned on the very next day.

But this isn’t really a charming story about great customer service. Mike is probably one of the most fun guys to spend some time with. I recently visited him again for a power adapter for that same Moog and found his collection of Moogs had now expanded into nearly every possible analog synth you could drool over. Among the piles of parts were snippets of equipment that Moog never released publicly and tons of custom engineered synths. Talking to Mike is even more fascinating. The guy spits electrical jargon at you without hesitation but with a delicate charm. You learn a years worth of synth knowledge for every five minutes of conversation. I have to tell you that for tune ups, I wouldn’t trust anyone else with any of my analog gear. That power adapter I needed? Yeah he built that for me… in an hour… while I was driving to pick it up. It’s not that he’s fast. It’s that he’s fast because he seriously knows and loves what he’s doing.

And as for what he is really doing these days? Mike Bucki runs an extensive business. When Bob Moog came knocking at the door for his Moog name back, Mike changed his company name to Modusonics. He does custom engineering jobs that are made from the world’s most extensive collection of Moog parts, which he inherited from the company. You simply aren’t going to get anything even close real analog Moog sound anywhere else, not even from the newer Moog jobs (Voyager, Little Phatty). And if you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket (say like… ohhhh… a couple grand), his custom engineered modules are remarkable.

For those in the Western New York region, just thought I’d give you all a heads up of a show in Buffalo that will be up for about a month at Big Orbit Galley and Artspace. You may or may not be familiar with some of the artists but it does sound pretty fun.

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Continuing on with today’s unrelated to MP3s or music posts, Dirty Agency officially endorses MONEY$NAKE as its message board of choice. Good friend / often collaborator / mentor, Frank is currently running this board which is pretty much about nothing at all. This makes it full of potential to be completely inappropriate and do the trolling that the internet has meant to be about since the beginning of time. Besides, I’ve posted an exclusive remix to the board that is sure to make you absolutely sick to your stomach. Go!

When it comes to music, no matter what the genre, it’s hard to escape the narcissism of taste. How many times have you met someone who has professed about how they grew up on their parents’ record collection, which, by all accounts, had to have been the most extensive record collection on the face of the planet. As if this nostalgic tale somehow made their taste in music more justifiable or authentic than your own. I’ll tell you one thing, I must have met the most people with the coolest parents ever than anyone I know apparently.

Mom or pre-Vietnam Steve Aoki?

I’m not going to lie. There is so much stuff I never cared for till later in life. I listened to my parents’ music just like everyone else and just like everyone else, it was mostly The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Now, embarking on my first EP, I’m trying to incorporate a little bit of everything but I’m finding a lot of inspiration from older R&B and funk. Now I love my RSS Reader to death but there is something about scavenging the internet for blog electro that only really satisfies the part of me that makes DJ sets and mix CDs because all I can think about is how many people would potentially make out to that song.

On the other side of things, when it comes to recording, I really step back to find the music I really care about. I suppose going on a blog and downloading music really removes a lot from the music itself. There isn’t really much of a story behind any of it. So naturally, I go to the things that really peak my interest about the artist. 

WaxPoetics is a magazine out of Brooklyn, NY dedicated to older R&B, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, and much more. When was the last time you picked up a magazine who solely talked about music without some other gimmick to draw in the readers? Hey remember what was on the cover of last month’s Rolling Stone?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that in my 4 issues of WaxPoetics, I’ve never read a bad or uninteresting article. The style of journalism and storytelling is very unique and anyone who isn’t even familiar with the artists or music can easily pick up this magazine and find an article that they really enjoy. Besides all the great articles, their Re:Discovery section is a gold mine of song reviews that really turn you on to some great music and if you produce music in any manner, it’s pure treasure. The photography is very intimate and the whole magazine from cover to cover reeks of pure passion for the music. Don’t just buy an issue. Subscribe to it. You will have to physically touch a magazine but give your keyboard a rest, friend.

Recent Re:Discovered Favs:

SSO - Tonight’s The Night

Dyke and the Blazers - Funky Bull

The Hoodz - Oo Li Oo