If synthesizer’s were superheroes, Captain Moog would be fluffy, shapeshifting and beanie-clad, with secret powers no doubt including close-range lightning and other forms of wobbly terror. With an impressive Moog breeding program in place since 1963, an eventual documentary film was inevitable. ‘Moog’ by Hans Fjellestad is that film, now being distributed on DVD in Australia by Stomp Films.

Theremin-itis
The theremin was invented in 1919 by Russia’s Leon Theremin, as the first musical instrument designed to be played without being touched. The instrument consists of a box with two projecting radio antennas around which the user moves his or her hands to play, and tra-la : instant spookiness of sound. Watching performers such as Jon Spencer perform with a theremin, it can be observed that moving the left and right hand between each antenna controls either the pitch or volume of the sound, and even small movements of the hand can create a tremelo or vibrato effect. Smitten with the elegant engineering ingenuity of the theremin, one x Robert Moog constructed his own theremin in 1949, then later published a DIY theremin kit, and from such inspirations grew aspirations for creating a musical device capable of being played in the widest variety of ways. And so in 1963 Moog created the first modern, realtime playable and reconfigurable music synthesizer in 1963. Today, Moog Music not only makes the infamous Moog synthesizers, but is also the leading manufacturer of performance-quality theremins.

Dr.Robert A.Moog
“It rhymes with vogue. That is the usual German pronunciation. My father’s grandfather came from Marburg, Germany. I like the way that pronunciation sounds better than the way the cow’s “moo-g” sounds,”
— from the horses musical mouth, Dr. Robert Moog.

One of the joys of the Moog film, is seeing the fluffy white-haired creator of the machines, every bit the mad but noble scientist, interacting with a wide variety of contemporary musicians, very obviously overjoyed with seeing Continue Reading →