Electronic Sound Magazine Issue 80 Back Issue

"Film scores are one thing – where would we be without Wendy Carlos’ ‘The Shining’, John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ or Vangelis’ ‘Blade Runner’? – but soundtracks are an art form in themselves.

We don’t mean the cobbled together collections of chart hits that often feature in Hollywood blockbusters. We’re talking about the kind of care and attention that Danish director Nicolas Riding Refn put into making sure the music he used for his 2011 movie ‘Drive’ was a glowing example of how soundtracks should be done.
When ‘Drive’ first hit the screens, you’d have needed to be pretty clued up to know who Johnny Jewel was, let alone that Desire was one of his side projects or that Italians Do It Better was his record label. College? Electric Youth? Kavinsky? Tracks like ‘A Real Hero’ and ‘Nightcall’ are synthwave totems these days, but back then, well, not so much.

This month’s cover story focuses on the five songs that appear in Refn’s classic movie. Why are they so important to the film and how did they end up spearheading an entire new genre of electronic music? The way that the soundtrack came together was essentially a perfect storm. It works so beautifully because its origins lie in a genuine love of electronica – and it certainly shows. To mark the 10th anniversary of ‘Drive’, we’ve spoken to Johnny Jewel, College, Electric Youth and the film’s editor Matthew Newman, who all shed new light on this fascinating tale.