Not Quite In The Top 20 Albums of 2011: Soundtracks for Submarine / The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

(Almost in the) Top 20 Albums of 2011

Other Great Soundtracks by Rock Stars: Submarine / The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Words by Dirk Calloway

Preface: today, I'll be reviewing my favourite soundtrack of 2011: Grizzly Bear's Blue Valentine. You can read the review (and others) here.


This review is done 'outside of competition'. There are two soundtrack albums worthy of note, alongside Grizzly Bear's Blue Valentine soundtrack. I thought I'd add this post, because they're all so alike that I feel its a good idea to consider them together. They're united together by three things:

1. Each film is well-regarded, directed by a director with a flair for arresting visuals
2. The majority of each soundtrack was composed by a Rock Star
3. Each soundtrack has a consistent 'sound' throughout that makes the record itself sound like a complete album

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Let's start with the most accessible of the bunch: Alex Turner's Submarine

You may recognise that voice as being Alex Turner's. He's the frontman of Arctic Monkeys, and he's also a member of The Last Shadow Puppets. His contribution to the film Submarine was immense, and immeasurable. He provided a consistent 'sound' to the movie, as well as a 'soundtrack'. The fact he looks somewhat like the main character probably helps too. Submarine's director, Richard Ayoade, has a long relationship with Turner, having directed many of Arctic Monkeys' best music videos. This career together has clearly helped the two make collaborative art. The soundtrack is - somehow - whimsical, morose and pensive... simultaneously. Love it, and I love the film too. I find it interesting to hear Turner stripped away from the usual bombast or cynicism of an Arctic Monkeys record - he's got a good ear for a tune and it's nice to see that in a stripped-back environment here.



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Then, there's the least accessible: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross' The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 

A YouTube comment sums this up best: "Dear Trent Reznor: you are not supposed to make the opening credits the best part to a great movie." This is the soundtrack that Reznor and Ross have been working their careers to. They added a 'cool' factor to The Social Network's Oscar winning score a year earlier, and now they've added an 'integrity' factor to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Some of their many innovations included: giving away 6 tracks for free to drum up awareness; selling varieties of the soundtrack (lossless audio, vinyl, 3-discs and 3 hours' worth of CDs, iTunes front-page spots, etc); and a hard-as-nails (ha) tone that just rocks any stereo you play it through. Utterly unmissable for those of us that like a pulsing beat and a grim sense of grime.


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And if you'd like to brush up on Grizzly Bear's soundtrack to Blue Valentine - the 10th best record of 2011 - click this link here.