Before the glam-tastic clothing, the wolf heads, and the harlequin imagery, there was Alison Goldfrapp in a raincoat scrubbing the interiors of the bungalow she and her musical partner Will Gregory had chosen to record their first album. It’s 1999 and the duo are somewhere in Wiltshire. Along with all the other equipment Gregory brought to the sessions that would ultimate yield the “Felt Mountain” album, was his Model D.

“I (originally) got it so you could put the external filter into the computer and put things through it.

The record which they’d emerge from the cottage with would be called “Felt Mountain,” and Gregory’s Minimoog got put to use in a number of interesting ways.

“(On) ‘Paper Bag’ Adrian Utley (of Portishead) came and played on that track and it’s got some nice little ‘whoop whoop whoops’ effects going on in the background that he played on my Minimoog. We used it for some signature bass bangs as well. On ‘Lovely Head’ there’s a kind of ‘BRANNG’ that comes in. That’s the Minimoog (because) so if you push it, it would actually scream at you.”

“Felt Mountain” would go on to be nominated for a Mercury Prize in the U.K. alongside the likes of Radiohead, PJ Harvey, and Gorillaz. It was a massive achievement and Gregory’s love for the Model D remains undiminished.

“I had one years ago, and sold it when I needed the money, and almost instantly regretted it. (Japanese synths) always had something rather clinical about them. But the Minimoog always had this sort of primal, kind of elemental side to it. The Minimoog just always had the sort of human quality to it…a warm rich thing.”