Pulse

A small revolution in film scoring occurred in 1956 with the release of Forbidden Planet, the first feature with a wholly electronic score, courtesy Bebe and Louis Barron. The impact wouldn’t be immediate, but with Wendy Carlos’s switched-on classical in A Clockwork Orange, John Carpenter’s spare, skeletal synth soundtracks, and Tangerine Dream’s lavish soundscapes for William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, the ’70s constituted something of a tipping point, and ever since we’ve regularly been thrilling along to films that move to the faultless timing of the machine. Featuring films by Michael Mann, Dario Argento, and Ridley Scott, among others, and toe-tapping contributions from Moog, Mellotron, Oberheim DMX, Roland TR-808, etc., working alongside their flesh-and-blood friends.