In high school, whenever Wes and I tried to conceive a monetary amount, we would put it in terms of synthesizers. “Her parents gave her five thousand dollars, and she bought a car? Dude, you could buy so many cool synthesizers with that!” Sometimes we’d even insert an couple extra Ts into the word so it would sound even nerdier: “Stynthestizers.”

I just watched the documentary Moog. It’s fascinating, and I suspect it would be fascinating even to someone who’s not a music geek like myself. It’s also especially poignant since Bob Moog’s death earlier this year. The care and wonder that he invested, not only while creating and refining the instrument, but also while working with the musicians who played it, is abundantly clear in every scene.

It’s also touching to see him reminisce with other octogenarian electronic music pioneers, like Gershon Kinsgley and Herb Deutsch, about the early days of the form. It’s like listening to your grandparents tell stories about the war, except these guys are talking about cool synthesizers they invented—which makes them, like, 1000000 times cooler than your grandparents.

Plus, you’ll learn the origin of the word “synthesizer,” which is not really what I thought it was.

The film also features performances and appearances by various musicians, some of them pretty obscure, who’ve used the Moog to various ends. If only they’d included Boards Of Canada and John McEntire … but anyway. Good film. Go Netflix it immediately, especially if you’re the type who gets off on analog synths and corrects people when they mispronounce “Moog.”