Eerie, Ethereal, Moody, Involving Soundtracks

Phillip Glass did the soundtrack for the horror film "Candyman". Eerie and haunting.

I'm surprised Thomas Newman's work has not been mentioned more. He's sorta the town's king of Etherial Moody. Recent high water compositions include:

AMERICAN BEAUTY
ANGELS IN AMERICA

Those are just two excellent examples. Candidly, most of Newman's work is quite moving.

An older school composer who has that gear in his composition bag is James Horner. He's more varied in style than Newman, but some which fall into your catagory are:

A BEAUTIFUL MIND
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG (I love this composition)

Of course Phil Glass also falls into this catagory, though I find his compositions become a bit repetative after a while.

Finally, if you like Jazzy stuff, Mark Isham is a good call. Not only is he an excellent straight jazz player, but he's getting more film scoring gigs, and some are quite good.

I do find film scores one of the most over looked sources for outstanding modern composition. Far more quality than modern classical composers. Happy hunting.

Best,

I think the soundtrack to "Kafka" qualifies quite nicely. Very spooky and dramatic in that eastern European kind of way. As previously mentioned, I'm also quite fond of the "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" soundtrack - Angelo Badalementi (sic?) got this one right. Good listening.

-Richard

I've been *reminded* of many good movies my wife has been renting from the library thanks to you Audiogoners.
I'll be doin a lot of searching !!

The soundtrack to the movie "Yol" has a Middle Eastern flavor that transports me. Also the electronic soundtrack for "Chronos" by Michael Sterns. For the more adventurous, I suggest the electronic SDTK for the 1956 sci-fi flick "Forbidden Planet" and the Tangerine Dream SDTKs for "The Sorcerer" and "Wavelength". Stomu Yamashta's SDTK for Paul Mazussky's "The Tempest" takes you out there and brings you back with Dinah Washington singing the old standard, "Mahattan".