The next best thing to your favorite artist releasing a new album is hearing they’re going to be score a film. While these single artist film scores sound watered down because of the dramatic gaps sprinkled throughout (that’s where they stick the dialogue), some of them are as tight as a regular release, or great despite their inherent score-iness.
Inspired by Empire of the Sun’s upcoming (and inevitably amazing) score of “Dumber and Dumber To,” we put together our 10 favorite single-artist soundtracks of the last 10 years. Some are questionably multiple artist, some are not, some are collections of past work with fancy new edits. But we think you’ll agree, they all deserve to score a little slice of your life. Most likely a montage of you wearing headphones, but hey. Get creative!
10) “Greenberg,” James Murphy
“Greenberg” isn’t your typical goofball Ben Stiller flick. In fact, it’s only a comedy by a loose definition, scanning more as a character study on its scarcely likable protagonist. While Stiller’s Greenberg may be insufferable, the soundtrack is anything but. None of the tracks here are as unbridled as his disco revival project, , but Murphy brings vigor to the score’s dissociative lounge music. Oh, and there actually is an exclusive LCD Soundsystem track on here, the lowdown “Christmas Blues.” Even without it, the “Greenberg” OST makes for a collection of intriguing outliers in Murphy’s beloved catalogue—wholly worth a listen.
James Murphy, “People”
9) “Where the Wild Things Are,” Karen O
Based on her time with the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, you might think would be an odd choice for a film based on the beloved children’s book “Where The Wild Things Are.” To her credit, she keeps her Ziggy Stardust instincts in check for a folkier, kid friendly flavor. Instead of “heads will roll,” she invites a choir of children along to help with less outré choruses like “all is love” and that of Daniel Johnston’s “Worried Shoes.”
Karen O, “Worried Shoes”
8) “The Life Aquatic,” Seu Jorge
Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic” follows a band of underwater explorers as they plumb the depths in search of the elusive Jaguar Shark — not to study it, but for vengeance. In true Wes Anderson fashion, there’s plenty of wacky subplots along the way, including a kick-ass pirate battle. But the film’s soundtrack is as unmistakably him as any wacky action sequence or stylistic cinematography.
It’s clear Anderson stresses the importance of the soundtrack in his film. His films always come with equally thoughtful soundtracks, typically populated by bands you’d imagine would be costly to license. With songs by the Zombies, the Stooges and , the soundtrack to “The Life Aquatic” is no different. Bowie’s contribution to the film extends to a second, lesser-known soundtrack that features his songs exclusively, all performed by Portuguese musician Seu Jorge, who is seen throughout The Life Aquatic as the guitar-wielding member of Team Zisou. Jorge exchanges Bowie’s flair for subtle vulnerability, and makes an indelible translation in the process.
Seu Jorge, “Rebel Rebel”
7) “Tron,” Daft Punk
“The grid,” Jeff Bridges says over some pinging synths at start of the self-same track. It’s a monologue taken from the film wherein his character talks about visualizing the world of the computer in three-dimensional space, a world ” never see.” Lucky for him, can—and they echo-locate it all on the Tron OST.
It’s not up to the par of their proper LPs, but the Tron soundtrack was water in a time of a five-year Daft Punk drought. Fans would take anything they could get from the enigmatic duo. “Derezzed” is as close as the album gets to an honest Daft Punk single, but there’s plenty of electro flair here — “The Game Has Changed” rocks — it’s just cut heavily with score-riffic ambience.
Daft Punk feat. Jeff Bridges, “The Grid”
6) “Drive,” Cliff Martinez, Various Artists
From the pink cursive title sequence to the chase-ready muscle cars, “Drive” is shot through with ’80s aesthetic, and the soundtrack is no exception. The first sounds we hear in the film is “Nightcall,” a severe synth track backed by a driving beat. The sinister sounding robot vocals that kick in soon after may or may not be those of the robot voice, Daft Punk’s Guy Manuel Homem Christo, who’s credited as co-writer along with Kavinsky.
Aside from a handful of other tracks — College’s “A Real Hero” being the album and the film’s most iconic takeaway — the meat of the OST is handled by veteran composer and ex-Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer Cliff Martinez. Martinez’s chunk is what you’d expect from a film score: subtle, ambient and moody. If the OST’s five initial tracks are radio hits that play during the Driver’s joyrides, Martinez’s score is what you hear in the gruesome bits in between. With names like “They Broke His Pelvis,” “Kick Your Teeth” and “Skull Crushing,” these tracks mark the mood when Gosling’s taciturn Driver is kicking ass. But save for a precious few crescendos, what you hear is rarely as adrenal as what you see on screen.
Cliff Martinez, “They Broke His Pelvis”
5) “We Bought A Zoo,” Jonsi
With the exception of Empire of the Sun and “Dumb and Dumber To”, this is probably the strangest pairing on the list. and his esoteric ambient band Sigur Ros seem better fit to score a Lars Van Trier film than a Matt Damon-driven vehicle for holiday schmaltz.
But Jonsi keeps the fictional language ballads to a minimum through the soundtrack’s 15 tracks in favor of atmospheric singing, and few poppy numbers thrown in for good measure (“Go Do,” “Gathering Stories”). Jonsi hit a perfect middle ground here, with music his fans will be somewhat satisfied with as a quasi-album from one of the Sigur Ros boys and a film score well suited for twee escapism.
Jonsi, “Go Do”
4) “Blue Valentine,” Grizzly Bear
In terms of music, “Blue Valentine” is best known for Ryan Gosling’s version of the pop standard but tender indie balladeers handled almost every other bit of music for the film.
Haunted minor-key ballads from the band’s first two albums set an uneasy tone for “Blue Valentine”‘s disenchanted love story. The unsexy minutia of “Easier,” “Granny Diner” and “Foreground” are the reality of relationships typically not shown in Hollywood romances, but that’s a lot of what “Blue Valentine” concerns. The soundtrack hits close to the messy home the film inhabits, despite being the only one on the list that wasn’t written specifically for the film. Which explains the total lack of drunken abortion clinic fight songs.
Grizzly Bear, “Foreground”
3) “The Master,” Jonny Greenwood
Unlike so many bean-spilling movie trailers, the teasers for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” did exactly what a preview should do to a prospective audience: bait with a representative (but unresolved) chunk and hook with intrigue. The music — enigmatic “Able-Bodied Seamen” — is a big reason why it (not to mention the film) works so well. With just a few plucked bass notes and a wood block, the song captures an unease and danger that’s no where to be seen in the trailer, but part and parcel of the film. The rest of Greenwood’s OST is no less essential, or, ahem, masterful.
Jonny Greenwood, “Able-Bodied Seamen”
2) “Into The Wild,” Eddie Vedder
For the “Into The Wild,” ditched his alt-rock roots in favor of a sound that better reflected the feel of folk hero Chris McCandless. As the film illustrates his life, McCandless veered from the clearly marked path after he graduated from college in favor of life in the Alaskan wilderness. His goal, as he wrote, was to live life “as authentically as possible” by living off the land and learning to depend on himself solely for survival.
With an acoustic guitar, a mandolin, a fretless bass and his pipes, Vedder assumes McCandless’s headspace impressively. In it, he crafts songs that reflects the thrill of adventure (“Setting Forth,” “Far Behind”), the mystery and majesty that McCandless saw in the wilderness (“Rise,”) , as well as the alienation he felt from society at large (“Society”).
Eddie Vedder, “Rise”
1) “The Social Network,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
A movie about Facebook seems like it’d have no right to be anything better than a Sunday night hotel movie rental. But not only was “The Social Network” a Best Picture nominee, it had a Best Original Score-winning soundtrack, courtesy of Nine Inch Nail’s and English composer Atticus Ross.
The dark-ish score—no more than overcast by Reznor’s standards—propels a proportionally dark look at Zuckerberg’s rise to Forbes’ in the world. It holds up without so much as a whiff of Zuckerberg, too, as a bit-crunchy chunk of gloomy atmosphere. Highlights abound, but look for the spots where Reznor and Ross dip into the low end—like “In Motion,” “Carbon Prevails” and “On We March,” songs you feel as much as hear.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, “Carbon Prevails”
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Dylan Owens is Reverb’s indie and bluegrass blogger. You can read more from him in Relix magazine and the comment sections of WORLDSTARHIPHOP.
