10 musicians who need to record a movie soundtrack

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Post-rock bands don’t half love to take us on grandiose instrumental journeys, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor is probably the ultimate example. Take Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven, and you can’t go wrong with an epic build towards a towering, beautiful crescendo, which is what they do with extreme precision. Deeply emotive, GY!BE could make the perfect soundtrack to some dramatic film about a disaster, perhaps a fraught family drama, or a life-changing event.

You wouldn’t want to waste GY!BE on just any old film, though, because they would almost certainly overshadow the imagery if it isn’t equally as punchy and loaded with meaning. With their latest album, No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead, they made a staggering political statement, creating some of their darkest pieces yet. For this reason, the rather anti-capitalist band would probably choose a powerful documentary or some subversive indie film to score, and they’re certainly not going to sell themselves to Hollywood any time soon.

Slowdive

Gregg Araki opened his classic 1990s tale of nihilistic teenagers and aliens, Nowhere, with Slowdive’s ‘Avalyn II’, and it was such a dreamy musical introduction to the film, which really makes you question why they haven’t soundtracked a whole movie already. The shoegaze icons have had their music frequently used by Araki, but perhaps for his next film, they could contribute an entire original score? I’m sure if he asked them, they would certainly take him up on the offer.

While My Bloody Valentine have always been the heavier, less accessible shoegaze pioneers, Slowdive have always offered something dreamier, something more appropriate for a movie soundtrack. With romantic and suitably cinematic tracks like ‘When the Sun Hits’ under their belt, they’ve also got a knack for making more ambient and low-key instrumental numbers, which could work well behind some dramatic coming-of-age film.

Kelly Lee Owens

Synth master Kelly Lee Owens knows how to make silky smooth electronic cuts like no one else at the moment, allowing her hypnotising voice to glide across beats that thwack you right in the ears and leave you wanting more and more and more. Addictive and utterly flawless in her production, Owens has exactly what it takes to make the score for a film that requires lots of club-ready music, or perhaps even a cyberpunk or techno-thriller movie.

With the more pop-influenced Dreamstate, released in 2024, the Welsh-born artist showed her versatility, and it’s this skill of hers that makes her the perfect candidate for an interesting soundtrack, whether she wanted to keep the songs more pop-focused or slightly more experimental; instrumental or not, she could no doubt make the perfect cinematic score.

Connan Mockasin

I was obsessed with Connan Mockasin’s 2011 album Forever Dolphin Love, as a teenager, the title track unlike anything I’d ever heard before, with its haunting opening, which sounds like a broken toy, making way for a smooth ascent into psychedelic weirdness. The whole album feels like it could set the tone for a strange low-budget movie, with ‘Faking Jazz Together’ sticking out as another deeply cinematic yet odd piece.

Mockasin has released many fantastic albums, including Jassbusters, which features some more minimal psychedelic pieces which bridge a gap between bedroom pop and something more experimental. There’s an innate strangeness to everything he does, and I think that would serve a full soundtrack well; in fact, the stranger the film, the better.

Beach House

Like Slowdive, the dreaminess of Beach House’s entire repertoire makes them an ideal choice for a soundtrack, and it’s baffling that the French duo haven’t been called up for the job yet. Victoria Legrand’s uncle was literally Michel Legrand, the legendary composer behind the likes of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Thomas Crown Affair, so cinematic brilliance clearly runs in her DNA, and it’s about time that Beach House brought this magic to the big screen.

The band have a knack for making their instruments feel life-like, where the guitars of ‘Space Song’ are akin to crying and ‘Silver Soul’ has pangs of nostalgia running through every chord. They’d surely deliver a spectacular accompaniment to a romantic drama or a moving tale of self-transformation, and we beg someone to make it happen!

Electric Wizard

For many doom metal lovers (and let’s face it, you probably also love retro horror), it would be a dream to have the iconic English rockers Electric Wizard putting their own spin on a soundtrack, preferably for something occultist. The drawn-out, long, fuzzy riffs, practically existing in a haze of smoke and long hair, would make the perfect fit for a low-budget splatter-filled slasher or a ’70s-inspired ode to witches and cults.

The band are self-confessed lovers of exploitation and horror cinema, so really it would be an ideal fit, as lead vocalist Jus Oborn once told Vice, “We love exploitation and sleaze movies in general. We dig women-in-prison films, giallos, rape/revenge dramas, erotic thrillers, Philippine exploitation, etc.; I’m also a big collector of ’60s and ’70s porn.”

Death Grips

In 2015, Death Grips surprise released the instrumental album Fashion Week, an imaginary soundtrack to what would surely become Paris Fashion Week’s most insane show, but it was proof that the experimental group are more than capable of creating richly textured pieces of electronica that don’t require vocals to maintain interest, and perhaps this is something that they could bring to a film score. With that being said, I’d happily take one that featured MC Ride’s vocals, then we might get a line as crazy as “This asshole be at pussy church”.

Seriously, though, Death Grips have long been one of the greatest creators of insane instrumentals; just imagine a movie with something akin to the winding sounds of ‘You Might Think He Loves You for Your Money But I Know What He Really Loves You for It’s Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat’ playing during an intense scene. With the band teasing their long-awaited return, maybe they can find the time to add a movie score to their schedule.

Show Me The Body

If you think that a banjo has no place in a post-hardcore band, then you’ve clearly never listened to Show Me The Body, who offer a mix of thrashy metal-inspired riffs and elegant tendency towards building tension (‘Camp Orchestra’ is a prime example), such that it’s not hard to imagine a tense thriller or perhaps even a horror movie being soundtracked by the band.

With recent track ‘Spit’, which features vocals from Princess Nokia, the band showed their capability for making something more sensual and low-key; it’s brooding and dark, so maybe they’ve even got it in them to lend themselves to an erotic thriller. Bringing a rather terrifying energy to their live shows, Show Me The Body know exactly how to get audiences fired up, and that’s surely a great quality to bring to a soundtrack.

Mandy, Indiana

Blending noise rock and electronica, Mandy, Indiana is one of the most exciting British bands currently on the scene, and their second album, URGH, is more than enough proof. The scuzz of guitars collides with thumping beats, and sometimes they pull you into such intense soundscapes that it feels like you’re trapped. Just listen to ‘Drag [Crashed]’ which could easily soundtrack an intense sequence, probably set at night, and maybe with someone getting chased; it’s terrifying.

The first song on i’ve seen a way, ‘Love Theme (4K VHS)’ sounds like it has been lifted from an ‘80s sci-fi soundtrack, while the building terror of URGH’s ‘Magazine’ sounds suitably nightmare-inducing, which makes the case for giving Mandy, Indiana a chance to score a whole movie, for I’m sure they’d come up with something absolutely bonkers and terrifying, but ultimately unforgettable.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have been so prolific over the years that, really, it’s insane that they haven’t recorded a proper soundtrack album for a big film, and while members of the band performed a live score to Dario Argento’s Suspiria in the past (something I’d do anything to witness in the flesh), we need a full score from the Australian rockers, which I’m sure they could pop one out on the tightest of deadlines, too.

Even better, they could do practically any genre under the sun as they have already shown their storytelling capabilities with albums like Eyes Like the Sky and Murder of the Universe, but there’s certainly room for them to take this one step further and fully soundtrack a film. Perhaps some thrash metal instrumentals for an apocalyptic sci-fi film? Now that sounds very King Gizzard to me.