Nov 2, 2012

SINISTER: THE "OTHER" SOUNDTRACK

The most effective tool Sinister had going for it, beyond those creepy, fleeting glimpses of primary boogeyman Bughuul, was its soundtrack, which was a compilation of  composer Christopher Young's score as well as a collection of strange and experimental tracks from different avant garde groups. Like a lot of other Sinister fans, I was left a little underwhelmed by the official soundtrack release, which only showcased Young's score and left all the other, more memorable tracks on the cutting room floor. Because of this, I assembled my own "complete" soundtrack, plugging those avant garde tracks back into the existing soundtrack in the order in which they were used. Sinister director Scott Derrickson did such a good job of combining Young's score, the soundtrack, and the sound design that all of it is nearly indecipherable from one another. However, some tracks, like "Levantation," "Sinister," "Pollock Type Pain," "Don't Worry Daddy, I'll Make You Famous," and "The Eater of Children" don't appear at all (though the latter may be layered over the finale use of "Blood Swamp" - very hard to tell.)

Below is a large portion of those different avant garde tracks -- including their track titles, the artists who did them, and at which points they are used in the film.

Listen to the entire playlist on Spotify.

(Spoilers should be assumed from here to the end of the post.)



Family Hanging Out '11 / BBQ '79
Artist: Ulver
Song: Silence Teaches You How To Sing

Different parts of this 24-minute track are used twice: the first time is when the family is being hung from a tree branch in their own backyard, and the second is when the family is burned in their garage. The BBQ '79 portion of the song contains the infamous and wailing vocalizations.





Pool Party '66
Artist: Judgehydrogen
Song: A Body of Water

A family is tied to lawn chairs and pulled into a pool one by one.




Sleepy Time '96
Artist: Aghast
Song: Sacrifice


Each family member slowly has his/her throat cut.




 

Lawn Work '86
Artist: Accurst
Song: Fragment # 9


The deranged lawn mower scene.





 

House Painting '12
Artist: Sunn O))) & Boris
Song: Blood Swamp


Things don't end so well for Ellison and his family with the final "footage" track that plays as his young daughter paints the house in her family's blood. 




  
Artist: Aghast Manor
Song: Call from the Grave

Ellison discovers the attic drawings.




Artist: Aghast
Song: Enter the Hall of Ice

Ellison sees Bughuul in the backyard.

 




Packing / End Titles
Artist: Boards of Canada
Song: Gyroscope


Ellison burns the home movies and his family begins packing to leave, as well as makes a reprisal during the end credits. This is the song with the very unusual dragging drum beat.


25 comments:

  1. Thanks, nice post! I've been looking for these since seeing the film the other day.

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  2. Great work of blog journalism.
    Thanks for this and keep up the good work.

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  3. Nice work my friend. Now for the hunting!

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  4. Sooooo I see that you have all of these songs (nice work) but I'm looking for one song in particular. I remember from the DVD menu, the background music they play. I can't seem to find the name or even who it's by. If there is someway you could find out, It'd be MAJORLY appreciated! (:

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    1. Mystery solved - it's actually a snippet from Portrait of Mr. Boogie, taken from the official score by Chris Young.

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  5. Where is the super 80s sounding one that comes before the chanting one on the BBQ scene?

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    1. If you mean the somber piano-driven one, that's part of the same Ulver track.

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  6. An excellent article, helped me locate all the tracks and I've given this link to numerous third parties. Thank you!!

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  7. this rules dude, thanks so much!

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  8. Seeing that I'm a follower of the Dark Ambient genre and Ulver is probably my favorite band of all time, this movie was such an unexpected surprise. I got more and more excited as I recognized song after song. Whoever selected the music tracks for the film has excellent taste.

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    1. If your favorite band is Ulver, then you're not a good dark ambient follower, there are DOZENS of better projects than them ;)

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  9. An excellent article. I got so enthralled by the music, that I decided I needed to listen to it again and again. Definitely, gave the movie a darker ambient. Thank you so much.

    (I found an article on imdb which lists some other songs that aren't here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1922777/soundtrack

    But mostly they are on the Christopher Young OST)

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  10. Thoroughly fantastic article. Thank you.

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  11. I had seen the 'footage' music on YouTube but was looking for the 'End Credits'/dragging drum track. Thank you so much. :)

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  12. Do you, or does anyone know of, the music used during the "snake in the attic" scene? Particularly, right after the snake is gone & is playing while Ellison is looking at the 'kid murder drawings' on the inside of that box lid.

    Much obliged,

    genieva

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    1. Might be 'Horror in the Canisters," which is on the official score soundtrack release.

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  13. You are good man props to you. And thank u been looking for this for ever.

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  14. Do you know what music accompanies at least two scenes in which Oswalt watches the 8mm movies?

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    1. Portrait of Mr. Boogie, taken from the official score by Chris Young.

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  15. Thanks very much.

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  16. An excellent site; thanks for putting Sinister Tracks together. Been fascinated with it since hearing the closing credit track and discovering BofCA and Gyroscope AND the shortwave numbers stations. Truly creepy stuff. Now am checking out the other artists listed here, especially Fragments of a Nightmare.

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  17. Hello! I was wondering if you happened to know the name of the song Trevor was playing ( quite loudly ) while he was unpacking, towards the end of Sinister. It was purely instrumental, no lyrics, and I unfortunately cannot find a title or artist for it, nor could I find any acknowledgment that it was even featured in the film.

    Thanks! Great blog!

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    1. Fairly certain that's from Chris Young's score. Can't be certain without seeing the film again.

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  18. What a passion, dedication and great knowledge of music man... You rock dude! Cheers and keep up the Music Flame

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