Before the Flood (Music from the Motion Picture)

The creative partnership between composers/producers Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross reached award-winning highs in the 2010s, kicking off a high-profile scoring career outside of their band, Nine Inch Nails. With a lengthy history spanning their early industrial goth rock days, they eventually became synonymous with electronic-based film scores, winning a Golden Globe and an Academy Award in 2011 for The Social Network. After winning a 2013 Grammy for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, they set off on a prolific run in the decades that followed, crafting anxiety-provoking, emotionally-resonant atmospherics for film and television alike, including the Jon Batiste collaboration Soul, which won the trio a Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe.

The pair first got together in the late '90s, when Ross and his band 12 Rounds released their sophomore effort on Reznor's Nothing Records. As part of the Nothing family, Ross was in a prime position when Reznor's band Nine Inch Nails issued their first effort of the millennium, 2005's With Teeth, joining him in the studio as a programmer and producer. In addition to working on each subsequent NIN release (and eventually becoming a permanent member in 2016), Ross also formed a side group, How to Destroy Angels, with Reznor, Reznor's wife Mariqueen Maandig, and Rob Sheridan in 2009. As they worked on these various NIN-related projects and production for artists such as Saul Williams, Zack de la Rocha, and Jane's Addiction, the pair took their first steps into the world of film scoring, which would prove fortuitous.

Applying the digital dread that they had been specializing in for much of the decade, they crafted the critically acclaimed soundtrack for David Fincher's 2010 film The Social Network. When the pair won a Golden Globe for their efforts in early 2011, it came as a shock to those who knew Reznor and Ross primarily as industrial rock musicians. An even bigger surprise arrived weeks later when they took home the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Having infiltrated Hollywood, the pair entered a fertile production period for both NIN and their collaborative work, with sounds and influences bleeding into one another along the way. After a second collaboration with Fincher -- 2011's U.S. adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- won a Grammy Award, Reznor and Ross returned to NIN for 2013's LP Hesitation Marks. Swinging back to the movie screen, they reunited with Fincher for a third time, contributing the score for his 2014 thriller Gone Girl. After a brief hiatus, the duo returned in earnest in 2016 with Visions of Harmony, Patriots Day, and Before the Flood, composed with Gustavo Santaolalla and Mogwai. They also released the first installment of a trilogy with NIN's Not the Actual Events EP. In addition to the short film The Black Ghiandola, 2017 found them reworking John Carpenter's Halloween theme, as well as providing the backdrop for Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's somber documentary series The Vietnam War. NIN's Add Violence arrived that summer. The next year, they closed out the NIN trilogy with the band's ninth studio album, Bad Witch, which joined the soundtracks to Mid90s and Bird Box on their 2018 roster. Their very NIN-like work for HBO's reimagining of the graphic novel Watchmen was unveiled in late 2019 (split into three volumes), just as the news broke that the pair would be partnering with Disney for 2020's Pixar film Soul, which secured an Academy Award, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe for Reznor, Ross, and Jon Batiste. Work for Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All and Sam Mendes' Empire of Light followed in 2022, with another Fincher collab (The Killer) and the wild soundtrack to an animated Ninja Turtles flick landing in 2023. In 2024, they reunited with Guadagnino for the Zendaya tennis drama Challengers, turning in a techno-flavored score that was also mixed by Boys Noize. ~ Neil Z. Yeung

Gustavo Santaolalla is a globally renowned multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and composer. He has enjoyed a multi-phased career that took him from his home in Argentina -- where he founded and led the influential psychedelic folk-rock band Arco Iris in the early to mid-'70s -- to Los Angeles. His storied journey includes recording and producing records in genres ranging from folk to punk to tango and ambient electronica. In addition to producing rock en español and Latin alternative acts including Cafe Tacuba, Julietta Venegas, and Juanes, he is an award-winning film composer whose scores include Brokeback Mountain, The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel, and August: Osage County. His self-composed soundtrack for the video game The Last of Us won acclaim across the international gaming industry. Santaolalla received Grammy nominations for his solo albums Ronroco and Camino. He is co-founder and leader of the electro-tango supergroup Bajofondo. His score for the eight-episode Hulu series Monsterland was released in 2020.

Born in 1952 in a suburb of Buenos Aires, Santaolalla began taking guitar lessons at age five without learning to read music. During his teens he formed the band Arco Iris with Ara Tokatlián and Guillermo Bordarampé; Santaolalla served as singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Fusing rock with Latin American folk music, Arco Iris released several acclaimed albums -- Arco Iris (1969), Tiempo de Resurrección (1972), Sudamérica o el Regreso a la Aurora (also 1972), Inti Raymi (1973), and Agitor Lucens V (1975), his last with the band.

Santaolalla next formed Soluna, a band that also included Alejandro Lerner and Mónica Campins. Soluna released one album, Energia Natural (1977), and toured sporadically before he decided to leave Argentina for Los Angeles in 1978. Santaolalla's exodus was in response to the murderous reign of military general Jorge Rafael Videla, who "disappeared" some 30,000 citizens.

Santaolalla knew no one in Los Angeles and no one knew him. He started from scratch. Enamored with the fledging punk and new wave scenes of the time, he started Wet Picnic with fellow ex-pat Argentine Anibal Kerpel. The band played loads of gigs and eventually released the EP Balls Up (1982). The collaboration between Santaolalla and Kerpel in Wet Picnic established a working relationship between the two that endured into the 21st century.

Santaolalla also began his work as a producer. His U.S. production debut came from helming three songs for Argentine folk legend León Gieco that appeared on 1981's Pensar en Nada. He and Gieco often worked together afterward. That year, Santaolalla composed the soundtrack for director Robert Dornhelm's film She Dances Alone. He also produced and played on Better Luck, the second album from garage band the Plugz, led by Tito Larriva. A couple of its songs ended up on the Repo Man soundtrack. Santaolalla still enjoyed popular and music industry support in Argentina. In 1982 he recorded a self-titled solo album with keyboardist Alejandro Lerner, bassist Alfredo Toth, and drummer Willy Iturri. It charted at home.

Santaolalla returned to his homeland in the wake of the country's 1983 presidential election, which brought Raúl Alfonsín to power. The producer reunited with Gieco for an ambitious project that would be documented in various mediums. For roughly two years, the pair traveled from the southernmost region of Argentina to the northernmost, recording and playing with folk musicians in their own environments; Santaolalla produced the results using generators to power his recording equipment. De Ushuahia a La Quiaca was released in 1985 and proved successful enough to spawn two follow-up volumes, as well as several documentary television programs. The project was beneficial to Santaolalla in a more important way too: He was introduced to his future wife, the award-winning photographer Alejandra Palacios, who documented the project.

Emboldened by the success of De Ushuahia a La Quiaca, Santaolalla dedicated himself to production work. He turned his focus to Mexico, which was undergoing political, economic and cultural upheavals during the late 1980s following 1985's Mexico City earthquake. Santaolalla knew from personal experience that great art and artists often emerge from conflict and crisis, and he revealed his appetite for rock music, especially given the influence of Soda Stereo so prevalent across Latin America at the time. Santaolalla began to produce rock albums. In particular, he helmed the boards for Maldita Vecindad's Y Los Hijos del Quinto Patio (1989); El Circo (1991), and Caifanes' El Diablito (1990); all greatly inspired and facilitated the emergence of the rock en español movement. His work wasn't exclusively devoted to Mexican artists, however. He also produced albums by Los Prisioneros (Chile) and El Divididos (Argentina), but he was primarily interested in Mexico; partly because of its proximity to Los Angeles, but more importantly, because of its cultural atmosphere at the time, which was reminiscent of Argentina's during his youth. In the midst of the rock en español uprising, Santaolalla heard the fledgling Café Tacuba, the band his production work would forever be associated with. He arranged a contract for the band with WEA Latina, and produced their 1992 self-titled debut effort.

In addition to producing three more Café Tacuba albums that decade (Re, Avalancha de Excitos, Reves/Yosoy), Santaolalla produced many popular acts during the '90s including the Gipsy Kings, Julieta Venegas, Molotov, Fobia, Peyote Asesino, Bersuit Vergarabat, and Puya.

He also recorded a pair of solo albums, G.A.S. (1995), a rock album, and Ronroco (1998), an acoustic instrumental offering that showcased the ronroco and charango, traditional Andean string instruments from the lute family. Ronroco, issued by Nonesuch, attracted the attention of producer/director Michael Mann, who requested to use "Iguazu" in his 1999 film The Insider, and Santaolalla found himself with several scoring and soundtrack opportunities.

First came the 2000 score and soundtrack for Alejandro González Iñárritu's Amores Perros. It offered original music by Santaolalla, as well as newly recorded songs from Venegas, Control Machete, Illya Kuryaki & the Valderramas, and Ely Guerra. Both the film and soundtrack earned international accolades and charted. In 2001, Santaolalla co-founded the South American supergroup Bajofondo Tango Club (later Bajofondo) as a studio project that created a contemporary version of tango and other styles from the Río de la Plata region. Their self-titled debut appeared that year. Santaolalla scored and wrote the soundtrack for Iñárritu's 21 Grams in 2003. The following year, his production on Cafe Tacuba's Cuatros Caminos resulted in a Grammy win for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album.

After being introduced to Brazilian director Walter Salles by Iñárritu, Santaolalla was invited to compose the soundtrack for the former's 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries. His score won a BAFTA Award (British Academy Award) in February 2005. The year proved fateful. He won a Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year for work on no less than seven albums, including helming the sessions for Juanes' Mi Sangre.

In 2003 Santaolalla met Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee, who had been hired to film Brokeback Mountain, based on a short story by Annie Proulx. After reading the script, Santaolalla composed the score and recorded the soundtrack before the film was even shot. It opened in late 2005, and garnered Santaolalla massive media attention. He won a Golden Globe for "A Love That Will Never Grow Old," an original song co-written with Bernie Taupin and performed by Emmylou Harris, and a 2006 Oscar Best Score.

Santaolalla used his clout to unite a who's-who of Argentine tango legends for a documentary film and a recording and performance project by Salles. It featured 18 legendary musicians and singers, including Emilio Balcarce, Carlos Garcia, Osvaldo Berlingieri, Virginia Luque, and Lágrima Ríos. None were under the age of 70. Most of the participants performed at a filmed, sold-out concert at Buenos Aires' Teatro Colón on August 24, 2006. Subsequently, Santaolalla released a two-volume compilation from the show. Café de los Maestros won that year's Latin Grammy for Best Tango Album. He continued to work in film and pop. For his score and sountrack to Iñárritu's 2006 film Babel, he learned to play the oud in order to provide the film's soundtrack with a Middle Eastern flair. It earned him an Oscar.

Over the next six years, Santaolalla produced and played on many recordings. They included including Marisa Monte's O Que Você Quer Saber De Verdade, Calle 13's Tango del Pecado, Mercedes Sosa's Cantora, Venegas' MTV Unplugged, Cafe Tacuba's Sino, and Juanes's La Vida… Es Un Ratico -- the latter won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. Further, he either scored or wrote songs for no fewer than eight films, including Iñárritu's Biutiful (2010). In 2011 he wrote the soundtrack to Thierry Klifa's Les Yeux de Sa Mère and Salles' cinematic adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road and, with Kevin Kiner, wrote the soundtrack and scored the first season of the AMC television series Hell On Wheels. In 2013, Santaolalla made his first foray writing and recording soundtracks for video games with the globally acclaimed, award-winning survival horror title The Last of Us.

In 2014, Santaolalla collaborated with songwriter Paul Williams on a theatrical musical work based on Guillermo del Toro's film Pan's Labyrinth, as well as the animated feature film The Book of Life (produced by the director). Santaolalla continued to record and tour globally with Bajofondo; the former also taught master classes. In July, Santaolalla released the solo instrumental album Camino through Sony Music Masterworks. In 2015, he was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame and provided the score for the Netflix-exclusive documentary series Making a Murderer. He also contributed a score and cues for Argentine filmmaker Damián Szifron's Relatos Salvajes.

The following year, Santaolalla contributed several compositions to the collaborative soundtrack for Fisher Stevens and Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary Before the Flood, and released the album Qhapaq Ñan, featuring the song "Desandando el Camino."

In 2017, Santaolalla issued the live full-band recording Raconto, and scores for the films Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars, To End a War, and Thierry Klifa's Tout Nous Sépare. In 2019, the video game soundtrack The Last of Us, Vol. 2 was released to universal acclaim and streaming chart success.

Santaolalla scored and wrote the soundtrack for Hulu's limited-run series Monsterland, based on Nathan Ballingrud' s short story collection North American Lake Monsters; it saw only an acclaimed streaming release at the time. In addition, remastered editions of 1982's Santaolalla and 1995's G.A.S. were issued by Ditto Music. In 2021, he and Alfonso G. Aguilar recorded scores for both seasons of Amazon Studios' series El Cid, and Santaolalla followed solo with El Cid: Themes and Inspirations. He also contributed to the soundtrack for Netflix's animated series Maya and the Three, and scored the film Finch for Apple Studios. In 2022, a physical release of Monsterland's soundtrack was released by Death Waltz Recording Company via Light in the Attic. ~ Jason Birchmeier & Thom Jurek

Formed by longtime friends who wanted to create "serious guitar music," Mogwai have done much more than that in their decades together. Their long, sweeping tracks and experiments in extreme dynamic shifts, both exemplified on 1999's debut album Young Team, built on Slint's legacy and helped define the sound of post-rock (even though they disliked being associated with the style). Mogwai's music grew more ambitious and diverse, spanning the electronic-enhanced introspection of 2001's Rock Action and 2014's Rave Tapes to the heavier sounds of 2008's The Hawk Is Howling and 2017's Every Country's Sun. On 2021's As the Love Continues -- the band's first chart-topping album in the U.K. -- and 2025's The Bad Fire, they integrated all these sounds ably. Mogwai's mastery of atmosphere made them a natural fit for soundtrack work, and their scores for Zidane (2006), Les Revenants (2013), and Black Bird (2022) were just as vital as their own albums.

Formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1995 by guitarist/vocalist Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist Dominic Aitchison, and drummer Martin Bulloch, Mogwai added another guitarist, John Cummings, before debuting in February 1996 with the single "Tuner." A rarity in the Mogwai discography for its prominent vocals, it was followed by a split single with Dweeb titled "Angels vs. Aliens" that landed in the Top Ten on the British indie charts. After appearances on a series of compilations, Mogwai returned later in the year with the 7" "Summer," and after another early 1997 single, "New Paths to Helicon," they issued the compilation Ten Rapid. That May, they released the 4 Satin EP.

Former Teenage Fanclub and Telstar Ponies member Brendan O'Hare joined the lineup in time to record the band's debut studio LP, Young Team. Recorded at Hamilton, Scotland's Gargleblast Studios, with a lone vocal courtesy of Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat, it featured some of the most striking examples of Mogwai's sudden dynamic shifts. Following the album's October 1997 release, it reached number 75 on the U.K. Albums Chart and won widespread acclaim.

O'Hare exited Mogwai a short time later -- returning to his primary projects Macrocosmica and Fiend -- to be replaced by Barry Burns. The band next issued 1998's Kicking a Dead Pig, a two-disc remix collection; the No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) EP appeared a few months later. That year's Black Sabbath covers split single with Magoo reached number 60 on the U.K. Singles Chart, marking Mogwai's debut on that chart. For their second album, the band took a more minimalist approach informed by Slint and the For Carnation. Recorded with producer Dave Fridmann at his upstate New York Tarbox Road Studios, March 1999's implosive Come on Die Young built on the success of the group's debut album, hitting number 29 on the U.K. Albums Chart.

Mogwai continued to evolve in the 2000s. On April 2001's Rock Action, they once again worked with Fridmann, adding electronic and textural elements as well as vocal cameos by Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys and Slint's David Pajo. Peaking at number 23 on the U.K. Album Chart, it was eventually certified gold in Europe in 2009. Late that year, the band released the My Father, My King EP, a single 20-minute track that often closed Mogwai's shows during that era. On June 2003's ironically titled Happy Songs for Happy People, the group added strings and pianos as well as synths to their palette, making it one of their lushest-sounding albums to date. It reached number six in the U.K. and was their first significant success in the U.S., peaking at 182 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and number 13 on the Billboard Independent Albums Chart (like its predecessor, Happy Songs was certified gold in Europe in 2009). Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 arrived early in 2005. The band continued the reflective direction of their 2000s output with March 2006's Mr. Beast. Peaking on the Billboard 200 at number 128 and on the U.K. Albums Chart at number 31, the album also spawned a U.K. Top 40 hit with the single "Friend of the Night." The following year, Mr. Beast was certified gold in Europe.

In the middle of the 2000s, Mogwai began their soundtrack career, which became an important part of their music in the years to come. The band collaborated with Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet on the soundtrack to Darren Aronofsky's 2005 film The Fountain. Mogwai also crafted the score for Douglas Gordon's documentary Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which was released in the U.K. in 2006 and in the U.S. in 2007. Late that year, Mogwai started work on their next album, recording at Chem19 Studios for the first time since the No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) EP. Preceded by the Batcat EP, which featured a collaboration with garage-psych legend Roky Erickson, September 2008's The Hawk Is Howling marked a return to a heavier rock sound. The band's first completely instrumental album as well as their first self-produced effort, the set reached number 35 on the U.K. Album Chart, number 97 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold in Europe in 2012. Following their appearance in the 2009 post-rock documentary Introspective, Mogwai released their first live album, 2010's Special Moves, as a package with the Vincent Moon-directed concert film Burning on their own Rock Action label.

Mogwai kicked off the 2010s with February 2011's Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, a more streamlined set of songs that reunited them with Young Team producer Paul Savage. Peaking at number 25 on the U.K. Album Chart, the LP reached number 97 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart in the U.S., where it was the band's first record to be distributed by Sub Pop. That October, it was certified silver in Europe. Later that year, they followed up with an EP of unreleased material from the Hardcore sessions, Earth Division, released on Sub Pop. In December 2012, the group issued A Wrenched Virile Lore, a collection of Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will remixes by artists including Justin Broadrick and the Soft Moon.

Early the following year, the first taste of the band's acclaimed score to the French zombie TV series Les Revenants (which was based on the 2004 film of the same name) arrived as a four-song EP; in February 2013, the full-length album appeared. Mogwai filled the rest of the year with live performances of their Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait score in Glasgow, Manchester, and London, and with recording their eighth proper album at their Castle of Doom studio. The Krautrock- and electronic-influenced Rave Tapes arrived in January 2014. Produced by the band and Savage, it peaked at number ten on the U.K. Album Chart and reached number 55 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart in the States. That December, Mogwai issued the Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. EP, a collection of Rave Tapes remixes by Blanck Mass, Pye Corner Audio, and Nils Frahm, as well as previously unreleased tracks.

In November 2015, Cummings left the band to work on his own projects. Mogwai's first release after his departure was 2016's Atomic, a collection of reworked tracks from their music for Mark Cousins' BBC 4 documentary Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise. Later that year, Mogwai, along with Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Gustavo Santaolalla, contributed music to Fisher Stevens and Leonardo DiCaprio's climate change documentary Before the Flood. On September 2017's Every Country's Sun, the band reunited with Fridmann and balanced the electronic leanings of their 2010s output with the heavier sounds of their work in the '90s and 2000s. The album reached number six in the U.K. and number 17 on Billboard's Independent Albums Chart in the U.S.

In 2018, Mogwai scored their first feature film, the sci-fi crime thriller KIN. Another soundtrack, this time for the Italian crime drama TV series ZeroZeroZero, followed in May 2020. The group returned with their own music in February 2021. Working remotely with Fridmann due to lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic, As the Love Continues also included contributions from Atticus Ross and Colin Stetson and was one of the band's most diverse yet accessible efforts. Topping the U.K. charts, the album was nominated for the Mercury Prize and won the Scottish Album of the Year Award. The group's soundtrack for the first season of the series Black Bird was released in 2022, the same year that Braithwaite's memoir Spaceships Over Glasgow was published. By the time the documentary Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound appeared in 2024, the band was at work on their 11th album, collaborating with producer John Congleton for the first time. Arriving in January 2025, The Bad Fire continued the eclectic, ecstatic direction of As the Love Continues. ~ Heather Phares & Jason Ankeny