This weekend, perpetual angry man Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails won a Golden Globe for his and Atticus Ross' original motion picture score for The Social Network. (You know, that Facebook movie that sounded really fucking dumb when the project was announced, but actually turned into a fine film that swept up awards.)
In more batshit-crazy film-score news, Wham City electronic artist Dan Deacon revealed that he is scoring a new film for Francis Ford Coppola. Though electronic scores have been present in films for more than 50 years, most filmmakers tend to favor string orchestras. The recent rise in filmmakers working with electronic artists -- and the high profile of these collaborations -- suggests a trend. We at The Pitch thought it appropriate to examine five great electronic film scores by popular electronic artists.
1. Fight Club (1999)
For his film about the founding of Facebook, Fincher called in Trent Reznor, a musician he had frequently shot music videos for. But this wasn't the first time the director hired an electronic musician to score one of his projects. For the soundtrack of his film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's angsty novel, Fight Club, Fincher hired producers E.Z. Mike and King Gizmo, the Dust Brothers. Known previously for producing classic albums like the Beastie Boy's Paul's Boutique and Beck's Odelay, the Dust Brothers' score wonderfully matches the anarchic spirit of the David Fincher film, presenting high testosterone tracks that meld perfectly with the film's visual rhythm.
2. Tron: Legacy (2010)
The original Tron featured a score by electronic artist Walter/Wendy Carlos, who made the creepy, synth-heavy music for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. Both film scores synched masterfully with the films' themes and ideas. Leave it to Disney to requisition French electronic duo Daft Punk to score the sequel to Tron. Daft Punk's score represented the first new, original material from the band in five years and was thus highly anticipated, with a trickle of soundtrack teasers and fake leaks entering onto file-sharing networks months before the soundtrack and the film were released. The actual product is less Daft Punk than it is a serious attempt at a film score.
3. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Sofia Coppola loves her Frenchmen. Now the wife of Phoenix singer Thomas Mars, Coppola has employed Mars and his crew for a variety of songs for her films. But for her debut film, an adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides, Coppola called upon French duo Air to create the score. Air 's cerebral, and nostalgic score features one of the band's strongest songs ("Playground Lover"). It matches Coppola's painfully sensual direction.
4. There Will Be Blood (2007)
This score may not be as electronic as the others on the list, but it does incorporate much of Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's electronic experimentation that he honed in his band and his own projects. Unfortunately, this incorporation is very literal -- borrowing tracks from his solo project Bodysong and Popcorn Superhet Receiver disqualified his score for an Academy Award. That's a shame, because the final product is a masterful synthesis of angular electronic music and traditional orchestral scoring. Greenwood's music is perversely anachronistic, making its creepy, repeating themes perfect for the dark lurch of P.T. Anderson's ode to American greed.
5. Sunshine (2007)
Like Fincher, British director Danny Boyle has fostered a great relationship with his musical collaborators. Beginning with Trainspotting and The Beach, Boyle called upon UK electronic band Underworld for the soundtrack to his sci-fi film, Sunshine. Created in collaboration with composer John Murphy, Underworld's soundtrack does its job as a film score, evoking mood and emotion, while displaying resolutely Underworld-eque touches.
Comments (0)