The way that the 'Drive' soundtrack came together was pretty much a perfect storm and it all works so beautifully because its origins lie in a genuine love of electronic sound. To mark the 10th anniversary of Nicolas Winding Refn’s cult thriller, we've spoken to Johnny Jewel, College and Electric Youth, as well as to the film's editor, Matthew Newman, whose iTunes library held an inspired musical journey.
Our feature focuses on the five key songs of the movie, looking at why they are so important to the narrative and how they lit the touch paper for synthwave, sparking a whole new genre of electronica.
We have lots more treats for you in this edition. We’ve interviewed Orbital man Paul Hartnoll and maverick poet Murray Lachlan Young about collaborating on their 'Virus Diaries’ album. We’ve reassembled the original line-up of DJ Food, which includes Coldcut's Matt Black and Jonathan More. We have Ian Parton from The Go! Team, Adi Newton from Clock DVA, and Kevin Martin, aka The Bug. We are also reprinting a 2015 interview with EMS legend Peter Zinovieff, who sadly died in June 2019. His passing is a huge loss to the electronic music community.
We have an amazing seven-inch to accompany this issue of the magazine. 'A Real Hero', a collaboration between French producer College and Canadian duo Electric Youth, is the song director Nicolas Winding Refn considered so important to his 2011 movie that he used it twice.
We first hear it as the theme that unites the character known only as Driver (Ryan Gosling) with Irene (Carey Mulligan), before the line "A real human being and a real hero" is reprised at the end of the film to spark the injured and motionless Driver back to life.