Mogwai’s 2016 album Atomic was a reworking of the soundtrack they’d written for Atomic: Living In Dread And Promise, a documentary about taking responsibility for nuclear technology. Prog asked the band’s Stuart Braithwaite and Dominic Aitchison to choose five influential soundtracks by other composers – and after a struggle, they came up with a list.
Halloween
John Carpenter, 1978
SB: It’s very ahead of its time. The music is very modern, using early programming, and it’s very evocative of being chased by a c**t in a Captain Kirk mask. And it works as a piece of music as well.
DA: It’s very fat-free, like most of Carpenter’s soundtracks.
The Exorcist II: The Heretic
Ennio Morricone, 1977
SB: It’s a fairly shite film, but the soundtrack’s amazing. Again, it is ahead of its time, and it’s also very proggy. A belter.
Solaris
Cliff Martinez, 2002
DA: It came out on CD on a stupidly short print run and I really wanted it but I didn’t want to spend the money. Martinez got given a set of steel drums, and it’s really hard to produce something like that, but it sounds brilliant. It’s all spread out, but it’s still sparse.
Requiem For A Dream
Clint Mansell, 2000
SB: It’s a classic string motif that ‘dings’ straight away with the movie. He does a lot of great soundtracks as well – High Rise is amazing. But sorry, Clint, you’re not getting two…
A Clockwork Orange
Wendy Carlos, 1971
SB: Wendy Carlos’ Moog versions of Beethoven, and the theme itself, are fucking amazing. Orbital came on stage to that once and it really worked. Plus the film is so strong and so shocking that as soon as you hear any of the music, you’re thinking about maniacs running around causing havoc.
