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12 killer film soundtracks

From Blade Runner to Trainspotting, electronic music has left a huge mark on the big screen

  • DAVE TURNER AND PATRICK HINTON
  • 19 May 2016
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BLADE & BLADE II

When New Order released 'Confusion' in 1983, the Manchester fellas would've been completely unaware that, 12 years on, it'd receive a vicious acid techno remix from The Pump Panel and be played as a load of bloodthirsty vampires get soaked in their liquid of choice. That scene in the Wesley Snipes-featuring Blade proved such an inspiration that there was a Blood Rave in Amsterdam last Halloween. The whole Blade trilogy smacks it out of the park with tunes by Roger Sanchez, KRS-One, Gang Starr, RZA and Massive Attack. You didn't get them with its vampire counterpart, Dracula, did you?

HUMAN TRAFFIC

If you checked out our list of top 10 Human Traffic scenes yesterday, you'll know exactly why this one is included. With music supervised by Pete Tong and tortilla-spinning Matthew Herbert pitching in, something would have had to go drastically wrong for it to be flop. Jip and the crew party away the weekend to the sounds of Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox, Armand Van Helden, Orbital and Dillinja, with a heavy dose of trance perfectly accompanying the many ecstasy-fueled moments.

ATTACK THE BLOCK

Joe Cornish’s 2011 film depicting an invading alien race meeting their match with the residents of a south London council estate is one of the most fun sci-fi films in recent memory. “That’s an alien bruv, believe it.” As well as handing Star Wars: The Force Awakens main man John Boyega his debut feature role, Attack The Block was scored by Basement Jaxx. The duo composed tracks that were intense but with a cosmic and slightly silly edge, providing a backing well-suited to shots of gangs escaping aliens on BMXs and fighting them off with fireworks. For en example, check out ‘The Ends’ which is surging and expansive, but also sounds like it was written on bagpipes.

METROPOLIS

Years ahead of its time in its complex vision and use of special effects, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made and a bonafide classic of the sci-fi genre. Of course, due to its 1927 release it was a silent film. Who better to score such a seminal work than pioneering electronic musician Giorgio Moroder? In 1984 he oversaw a restored and colourised new edit of the film, contributing a synth-pop soundtrack with help from contemporary stars such as Freddie Mercury, Adam Ant and Bonnie Tyler.

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