11 Best Movie Soundtracks of 2011

Why 11? Put simply, the thought of cutting any of the titles from this list caused me to weep uncontrollably. The year in movie soundtracks was a varied one, unearthing new composers and underground acts. Then there were the unexpected gems - the Footloose remake was not only surprisingly good, but the accompanying music was surprisingly addictive. Plus the unexpected failures - say what you want about the films, The Twilight Saga soundtracks have featured some of the best and most beautiful original music in recent years. That is, until the underwhelming collection of songs featured on the Breaking Dawn: Part 1 soundtrack.

All in all, here are 11 movie soundtracks I could not turn off this year:

Blue ValentineAs a massive fan of Ryan Gosling's graveyard indie rock act Dead Man's Bones, it's a shame there's only one song written and sung by Gosling on this album. It's less of a shame that the remaining album fillers are from enigmatic Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear who create music as gorgeous and heartbreaking as the film's story. If you can, hunt down Gosling's original song Unicorn Tears which is in the movie but not on the soundtrack.

Standout track: You Always Hurt The Ones You Love - Ryan Gosling

Red Riding HoodThe prospect of producer Leonardo DiCaprio and Catherine Hardwicke directing a Gothic retelling of Red Riding Hood turned out to be more exciting than the film itself which was, in fact, a huge disappointment. The accompanying music surpassed the feature with Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes creating an atmospheric scored teamed with contributions from some of indie pop's most interesting artists; M83, Fever Ray and The Big Pink.

Standout track: The Wolf - Fever Ray

Drive

Pop, pulp and punchy; Cliff Martinez' acclaimed Drive soundtrack was a prefect reflection of the somewhat polarising film. Forgotten eighties gems from Kavinski, Lovefoxxx, Desire and many more brought this noir action romance to life.

Standout track: Tick Of The Clock - Chromatics

FootlooseIt's fair to say no one expected this to be a good film. It was a jaw-dropping surprise when it turned out to be . . . well, quite fantastic. This was helped largely by the toe-tapping soundtrack which - like the film - tried to create it's own identity while at the same time paying homage to its eighties origins. Keep an eye on Where The River Goes by Zac Brown, which has been shortlisted as a possible nominee for the best original song Academy Award.

Standout track: Fake I.D. – Big & Rich feat. Gretchen Wilson

Beginners

How do you score a profoundly moving film about the nature of love and loss? With profoundly moving artists, that's how. Every one of the dozen tracks on this album paints an emotional picture, making the Beginners soundtrack one of the most hit-repeatable of 2011.

Standout track: The Da Da Strain - Marmie Smith

Fright Night

German-Iranian composer Ramin Djawdi previously worked on Iron Man and Prison Break, but it was his addictive score on the Fright Night remake that saw him emerge as one of cinema's most promising musical stars. Layered and dramatic, few lyric-less soundtracks are as enjoyable as this one.

Standout track: Welcome To Fright Night - Ramin Djawdi

Hanna

If you were to buy only one movie soundtrack from 2011, let it be this. My standout favourite on the list, The Chemical Brothers somehow managed to perfectly capture the suspense and magic of Joe Wright's fairytale parable. Like candy for your ears, this is the kind of spine-tingling music that drove most of us straight to iTunes to download the album as soon as we watched the movie. Ranging from powerful beats to soaring lullabies, it's no wonder tracks from this are already being used in the trailers for some of 2012's biggest blockbusters (see Safe House and Haywire). Truly and utterly mesmerising.

Standout track: Hanna's theme (vocal version) - The Chemical Brothers

Attack The Block

Feature film composer Steven Price has been a part of the teams behind some incredible cinematic soundtracks; Batman Begins, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. However, he really came into his own with Attack The Block. Price poured attitude, style and charisma into each song. He achieved what all great composers set out to - he made the music a character of its own.

Standout track: The Ends - Basement Jaxx

The Muppets

I consider this technically a two-parter because although The Muppets movie isn't released in Australia until January 12, two great official albums are currently in stores. The original soundtrack features all the catchy, Flight Of The Conchords-esque sing-a-long tracks from the movie, while The Green Album hosts a who's who of rad bands singing about the muppets including (but not limited to) Ok Go, The Fray, Amy Lee and more. Wucka wucka, ay?

Standout track/s: Man or Muppet - Jason Segel and Rainbow Connection (ft. Hayley Williams) - Weezer

Sucker Punch

So the movie sucked. The soundtrack, however, delivered a sucker punch to your ear drums. Featuring an eclectic mish-mash of acts - from Bjork to Queen - the real gold can be found in Aussie actress (and the film's star) Emily Browning's haunting vocal work.

Standout track: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) - Emily Browning

The RomanticsSure, the movie might have boasted an interesting cast but in reality it was a film about pretentious white people with pretentious white people problems. Thankfully the music was more redeeming and introduced us to little-heard of talents such as Andrew Willingale, Bedouin Soundclash and Hollywood indie`it' girl Lorene Scafaria.

Standout track: Preparedness (live) - The Bird and the Bee

Related links:

My somewhat dated list of the best movie soundtracks of all time is here.

For the best movie soundtracks of 2010 click here.

Finally, the best movie posters of 2011 are here.