Sci-fi/ambient movie/series soundtracks that are fantastic

I’ll start. Netflix’s German series: Dark. Ben Frost’s soundtrack often conveys this feeling of mystery and suspense with a Sci-fi feel. Every thing sounds purposeful contextually and doesn’t sound like a sample pack.

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Hackers is only barely sci-fi, and the soundtrack is emphatically not ambient, but I love it.

The sci fi fit that comes to mind with a great soundtrack, though, is Until the End of the World. It’s my favorite film, and the soundtrack fits it well, especially the Criterion edition. Wim Wenders produced it in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and it’s set in 1999. When he went to artists for music, he told them to write music they thought would be hit music in 1999. Talking Heads, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Julie Cruise, REM, Jane Siberry, U2, and then some. Until the End of the World (soundtrack) - Wikipedia has it all.

Again, not ambient, but an amazing body of work in my mind that fits the movie like a glove.

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blade runner is the trope as well as the apex.

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Fifth Element

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Agree! And I love that outro music - pure banger! Side note: I dislike how with these streaming services you have mere seconds to grab the remote to cancel the next episode autoplay. Let me vibe on the end credits!!

The library-music-esque music to Look Around You is always a fantastic listen, even without the visuals.

Mr Robot has it’s moments of sci-fi audio bliss.

Not quite sci-fi but I’ve been enjoying the soundtrack to Hannibal - like the cinematography it gets more experimental as the series progresses.

The soundtrack to Upstream Color is really good and made by the writer / director.

And not a tv show/movie, but the soundtrack to Mass Effect 1 is very good.

Beyond The Black Rainbow has a killer soundtrack. Retro vibes from Sinoia Caves.

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Oh, yeah, another one. For more ambient, Arrival. Johann Johannsson… Someplace around here I’ve got a podcast that dissects one of the sounds he designed for one of the alien communication bits. Good stuff, especially with good headphones.

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If I can be allowed to add one anime film title to this, I find the original score to mamoru oshii’s ghost in the shell extremely captivating.

kenji kawai is a master.

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aronofsky’s pi has a great soundtrack with lots of 90’s electronic idm type stuff
trent reznor’s score to the social network has some great ambient tracks reminiscent of NIN’s ghosts
onehotrix point never’s score to uncut gems was unique, i didnt care much for the movie but the soundtrack was interesting and reminded me of vangelis

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It was an episode of Song Exploder, if I recall.

Arrival soundtrack is the GOAT. Jóhannsson was an incredible talent.

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I’m old.

Malcolm Clarke on the Synthi 100:

Brian Gascoigne;

And one of the all-time greats, Gil Melle:

And the one that started it all (and in my opinion has never been bettered):

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Not ambient but the original Terminator soundtrack is very close to my heart. “Future Flashback” is an example of how powerful and emotional it can be at times. Will always be one of my favorite sci-fi soundtracks.


Sometimes, less is more.

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Thank you for the recommendations - should make a good soundtrack during… work… tomorrow…? :thinking:

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+1

Anyway, this is a weird and unofficial one, but someone made a “soundtrack” off of the The Vast of Night movie and it’s kinda neat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI3cFdbp6NE

If you by chance work in a vast subterranean laboratory. With ants. :flushed:

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The Solaris remake (2002) soundtrack is next level.

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I do work in the basement, but the only creatures around are the occasional inquisitive squirrel at the window and fcuking cave crickets. Living horror movies, they are!

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Came here for this comment. Cliff Martinez at his best. It’s so, so good. I think that the movie is really good, solid, but the soundtrack is one of my favorite of all time:

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Once you say Ghost in the Shell you gotta say Akira

Personal Inspiration

Incidentally this movie sparked a life long interest in both anime/manga and electronic music in an impressionable 14 yo. I was mesmerized by the xylophone (?) rhythms, but was aware I was never going to be able to learn to play them by hand. A few years later I realised I might use sequencers to program such rhythms and my journey of “programming” music begun

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This just makes me so happy. Pure nostalgia from childhood, but it’s still a bit of a strange vibe for a futuristic science fiction show. I mean, it was the 70s and a lot of things were a strange vibe back then, which is probably why I enjoyed that period of time in my youth. Great show.

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