Drive (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

iTunes Review

The soundtrack to the 2011 thriller Drive was compiled and composed by Cliff Martinez. After drumming for The Dickies, Captain Beefheart, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers (among others), Martinez turned his focus to film scores. He’s since set music to a myriad of projects, including Pee Wee's Playhouse, Grey’s Anatomy, The Limey, and Solaris, to name a few. French DJ Vincent Belorgay (a.k.a. Kavinsky) sets the tone here with “Nightcall,” a sexy slice of perfect Parisian electro-pop in the vein of Air, Darkel, and Phoenix. The Chromatics’ “Tick of the Clock” manages to work in palpable tension within a minimal krautrock framework reminiscent of Neu! and Kraftwerk. Martinez’s own compositions sound similarly inspired by late-‘60s German experimental music, as well as Vangelis’ breakthrough 1982 score for Blade Runner. Check the icy synthesizer soundscapes of “Rubber Head,” where pulsing analog keyboard repetitions recall those of Popol Vuh. Ambient topographies are also explored in the Brian Eno-influenced “I Drive.”