Further investigations into syncing music hardware to software lead to new creative possibilities... Sync about it!

Those looking for the tracklisting and notes about my recent Afromantic mix, click here.

"... and it's funky in a most peculiar way" Dude, you said it! Check my remix of a track from his great 1982 album "Killer On The Rampage" (which sports a cover that is completely non-apropo, and intriguing), famous for his big hit single "Electric Avenue" of course, but I've tackled one of the album tracks...

It accompanied entertainers in untold cocktail bars and clubs around the world throughout the early seventies. It was the first Roland drum machine, the Rhythm TR-77. I was curious as to what made it tick (and hiss, and clunk etc)....

Nile Rodgers: "When WALKING ON THIN ICE came out I played it nonstop. Whenever anyone would get in my car, I would blast the song and say 'This shit is incredible'. It's a great piece of work and to this day it remains one of my favourite songs." Check out my edit for DJs...

Not much music being made, but lots of behind-the-screens tech work. One collaboration that has surfaced though is the Mrs. Pood'fy remix of Kinetic by the Golden Girls. Just add it to the existing 700-odd remixes of this track that are out there! Early-nineties-flashback warning!! I'm pushing for it to get an airing at the Aeroplane gig tomorrow night, ha ha, we'll see...

Over to the left is a link to a new area for sharing some of the more technical explorations I make in the studio. It will include DIY stuff, electronic modifications, and investigating obscure functions and features in vintage instruments.

Caught the Buzzcocks last night at The Zoo. Good sweaty singalong fun! And they played my favourite, "ESP" - I think my love of this was an early indicator of my penchant for repetitive riff cycles - which clearly manifest in electronic dance music, but maybe just not as much fun as in punk!!

Further to my dynamic range comments below, somebody just pointed me in the direction of this article from a couple of years back, and I just had to share this great quote from producer Sandy Pearlman..."the ubiquitous platform known as MP3 — which is really good at promiscuity but not good at fidelity." Ouch! And spot on!

Ha ha - a couple of months ago I was gushing over a new track I'd heard, "Carlos The Jackal" (see below), only to find out it is a fairly straightforward edit of an old Gary Numan track "Music For Chameleons". So that's why I liked it so much! Gazza - what can I say? He's a legend! Those synth textures he gets just lift you up... Well to live by my motto "Originality is overrated" I've had a go at another one of his tunes from this period (about 81 or 82 I think). "White Boys and Heroes" has some great afro percussion and funky bass runs thru it. I've taken it up to 120 bpm and beefed the backbeat with a laid back house groove. The 606 gets a drum solo, and the jupe sprinkles its pretty notes over the top. Let me know if you play it out..

Disco delish! Better than chocolate! Check out the DJ Tools page for a new treat..

I've got some good news. Soon music will sound as good as it did in the seventies and eighties! Well, if this organization has their way it will. Since the early nineties, the dynamic range of most recorded music released commercially has decreased steadily. Generally, the reason has been to increase the "loudness" of the music - that is, make it sound bigger on lower power hi fi systems, or in cars or on personal players. The record companies apparently thought that if their CD sounded louder than the competition, it would sell more. Unfortunately, the result has been the degradation of the quality of music we listen to at all levels. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, tune in with your iTunes or media player to one of the zillion internet radio stations out there. Most of them have heavy compression of the dynamic range, and to make matters worse, are streamed at low bit rates. The music sounds like it's being squeezed out of a toothpaste tube, and you'll find yourself mentally tuning out after a few minutes. To contrast this, find a well recorded album on vinyl or CD, and listen to the difference between the softest and the loudest parts of the track - the audio-processing parts of our brains respond to this dynamic range, and the music will hold your attention and just sound "better". Download the DR meter plug in and test your music to see and hear for yourself!

Sometimes, rarely, you hear a piece of music that speaks to parts of you in subtle, forgotten ways... Audun turned me on to an amazing track recently. It's called "Carlos The Jackal" by someone called Bonar Bradberry. The fretless bass line reminds me of Japan, the sliding synth wails remind me of Gary Numan. Searching this out, I found Red Music Records who released the track. Check out their myspace to audition some spaced out funk from a parallel disco dimension. This label is run by Ilija Rudman, who has played at gigs with our friends from Pizzico Records and maybe even done a remix or two for them. Certainly he seems to be making a name for himself. Can Italy and Croatia really be as "cool" as these labels would have us believe? Who cares - enough of the sycophantic name dropping! Go check out the tracks and prepare for the head-nods, followed soon by the hip-sways!

So much for that vow of silence. All was quiet until I put on the Colourbox album from 1985. "Just Give 'Em Whiskey" was the one that 4ZZZ used to flog, but I thought I'd tackle "Manic". Check it out...

I've been asked to share a secret. It's a recipe for a cocktail that is popular around my place, called "The Five Whores". The name came from a drunken mispronunciation of the word "feijoa". Some time ago someone gave me a bottle of feijoa vodka, which I had never tasted before. A feijoa is apparently a popular fruit in NZ, also known as pineapple guava. Anyway, this stuff turned out to be the most vile liquid to ever cross my lips. However, before I threw it out, I thought it might be a challenge to see if I could invent a potion that would make it drinkable. Well, it seems I did it - at the next houseparty I tested it on unsuspecting guests and it proved a hit. So here it is...
• 1 part feijoa vodka
• 1 part apple liqueur
• 1/2 part lemon juice
• 2 parts lychee juice
• mint leaves...
The lychee juice is seasonal and can be tricky to get sometimes, so you may have to make do with the syrup from tinned lychees, which are easy to find. This will be sweeter, so you might not need as much. I shouldn't need to point out that the lemon juice should be freshly squeezed. Shake the ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Depending on whether little bits of mint leaves in your drink upset you, you may need to use a double strainer with muslin etc but seriously, I can't be bothered! An alternative would be to muddle the mint leaves in the shaker with the liquor first, then remove before shaking. Enjoy!

My various music projects are taking their "vow of silence" for a while. New toys to be built, new skills to be learnt, lots of work to do! Check out the new pointypointy tracks on our myspace player for a change of pace meanwhile.

I've got to tell you about this mad Irishman. He goes by the name of DJ GOLDY. He's been the source of some of the wildest, most mental mixes I think I've ever heard, veering from rock to old school hip hop to drum n bass to slow skanking reggae... sometimes in the space of one track!! Phew! And the great thing is there's a new one nearly every month, called appropriately "Goldys Time Of The Month". Go check out his story at his myspace page, and download a mix or two for your next party - it will rock the house!

Well what a response to the Butterscorch debut - showered with chocolate!! That venue is always full of surprises - we are speechless! And thanks to all those that turned out and made us feel so welcome - we're only just starting to recover....

Lucky punters coming to see the 'scorch on this (Good) Friday night at Elsewhere will receive, as well as a warm inner glow, a password to download some exclusive Butterscorch content from a secret website. If that's not enough to entice you, we'll throw in a birthday shout out on our blog ;-)

Butterscorch will be playing Elsewhere Bar, downtown Surfers Paradise, on April 10. Semi-erotic cabaret and euro-trash-disco guaranteed! You have been warned! And that up n coming young DJ, Poodfy, known in some circles as the creator of "minimal- lounge", will be in full effect, er, support. Of course, should the whole shebang come off the rails, at least Audun will be there to save the night! Be there!

Just received the Pizzico compilation in the post (how quaint!). Nice to hear a CD where they paid some attention to the mastering - very easy to listen to. Standouts for me are Sankt Goran and Ule Nakova. Check it at their myspace.

Last night I caught The Stranglers at the Tivoli in Brisbane. First time I'd seen them since sometime in the eighties, so I was a little concerned that without Hugh Cornwell up front they may not cut it. Well, that and their age I guess! I needn't have worried. Their frontman Baz Warne was energetic, enthusiastic, and oozed punk attitude, while the rest were in fine form chops-wise. They tore thru "Get a Grip" "Duchess", "Peaches".. all the greats, and saved their famous ode to Bjelke-Petersen's Queensland reign, "Nuclear Device", for an encore. Air-punching, pogoing, and singing along - hey, dance music isn't this much fun... ;-)

If you're like me you may be overwhelmed by the number of music blogs out there. Well, The Hype Machine may just help you find remixes and tracks a bit quicker... or you may just keep following all those links until you collapse from lack of sleep and nutrition. Anyway, there is one blog you should swing past every now and then if you like your grooves eclectic and tasteful, that's DJ Bwyse's Talking In Stereo, and his related radio show. He's currently featuring tracks from the wonderful Tirk label.

Also, much newer on the blog scene is The Number 20, by my friends Shari and Vari, two girls who love their nu-disco with a Euro flavour!

Butterscorch have a new track up on the player. I've done an eighties-style dub mix of this track as well, it was a blast! Reminded me of buying 12 inch singles back then, the likes of Heaven 17, and wondering how they did those cut-up stutter effects... Also, I have just heard from our friends at Pizzico Records that their highly anticipated label showcase CD will be out very soon, featuring another Enzo Ponzio remix of Butterscorch's "Safety Copy". Make sure you check this out - this label has been on fire lately, with the likes of Enzo, and Ichisan and Nakova getting lots of attention.

It was nice to see a few diehards dancing to my live set on Sunday at the "We Love Sundaes" festival - despite torrential rains from tropical thunderstorms, random yobbos fighting, and swarms of gurning ravers looking for some Justice. Phew, disco can be dangerous...
Thank you to James Canning and the Respect Music crew.

On Friday I caught The Idjut Boys at Don Nadi's 'Surfers Paradise Garage' night (great name!). Their quirky funk quickly filled the floor with sexy mamas, until some testosterone-addled B-boy wannabes yelling "Yeeaa boiii!!" (in their best Flavor Flav accents) started moshing, ramming into each other and generally making the area a no-go zone. (Fellas, when you scare all the girls away from dancing near you, no-one thinks you're big or clever!). Anyway, so what do the Idjuts do? They drop a slice of smooth West Coast seventies MOR that completely stops the boys in their tracks, making their posturing look ridiculous! The track? Crosby, Stills and Nash - 'Dark Star'!
(Note to self, lesson from the masters, you need a versatile tool kit if you're going to avert dancefloor disasters).

I've heard some good things said about the Wire remix - I've put it up on the DJ Tools page for download.Let me know if you play it out!

Check out the spyspace to hear a "new" track - "So Real". Some may recall Don Nadi's brilliant triplet glam remix from the pink record a few years back. It's only taken me about 5 years to get around to finishing the original disco=pop version!

Check out the DJ Tools page where finally we have some of the new tracks for download - sorry about the delay! Supporting radio stations should already have the radio edits, and DJs can always contact me for any other formats.
Adam (at) Adambaby.com

FTP problems are preventing me from bringing you the new tracks - stay tuned. On a happier note, my project "Butterscorch" have a track on the new Global Underground release "Afterhours Ibiza" - it's the Enzo Ponzio remix of "Rubber Balls", and you'll see it's in pretty good company - Headman, Justice, Kris Menace, Silicone Soul... 3 CDs and they're all killer!
Cheers, Adam

It was great to see local funk crew Kwerkshoppe do their quirky thing live at the Arts Centre last night (they're on again this Thursday if you missed them!). Of course two of this crew, Otto and Grant, have their fingers in many different musical pies such as Bowser, Rubber Johnson, and No Siesta. Start exploring their musical output at http://www.myspace.com/kwerkshoppe and go from there! A close associate and collaborator with these guys is James Canning from Respect Music (http://www.myspace.com/respectmusiccomau) who is currently taking the slow boat back from the Miami Music Conference, having secured some new deals for his talented roster of local artists. Nice work mate!
Cheers, Adam