From early electronic pioneers like Wendy/Walter Carlos, Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder to mainstream mega-stars Depeche Mode, the new BBC Four documentary, Synth Britannia, surveys the origins and escalation of British electronic music and what is now considered “modern dance pop”. Watch the trailer above.

Since Comcast doesn’t offer BBC Four in my current package (surprise surprise) and the documentary isn’t available online for people in the States and other countries, I was forced to track this down on a torrent. I’m glad I did. It was fun to listen to ground-breaking musicians like Daniel Miller, Philip Oakey and Throbbing Gristle reminisce about the early days of synth-pop and industrial music–not to mention seeing all the great fashion!

Despite the fact that the film totally neglects Eno’s brilliant and influential solo work, it covers a nice amount of ground and is a great primer for folks looking to be both educated and entertained on the subject.

BONUS: If you are looking to go back further on the German side of things, check out Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution, which you can stream for free, in it’s entirety using Veoh’s new web player.