SoundTrax: Cop Chase

posted in: FeaturesReviews & Playlists

One of my favorite cinematic chase scenes is the climax of the ˜99 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. You can check out the scene here. Nina Simone’s Sinnerman layered over the quick-cut shots make for an incredibly fast-paced and tense foot chase through the MET. The claps that never seem to line up, the playful piano melody, Nina’s powerful vocals and the frantic video editing all add up to a beautifully executed piece of cinematic art.

There’s no doubt that the music plays an integral role in providing the needed tension, and directors have burned through hundreds of musical styles looking for the perfect chase music. While I don’t think you can get much better than Pierce Brosnan’s calculated mayhem in the MET accompanied by the lovely Nina Simone, we’ve compiled a playlist of the some of the most adrenaline pumping music out there.

This week at SoundTrax, we’re throwing you a bit of a curve ball by juxtaposing two seemingly unrelated genres into one collection; the head-pounding, alternative rock of some great OurStage bands and the bumping electro-house from some of my favorite national producers. The styles of music lend themselves to something a bit more fast paced than a foot chase, so make sure to have your getaway car ready before you rob the bank.

SoundTrax: Cop Chase from OurStage on 8tracks.

Feed Me, a rising star in the electronic music world, kicks off this edition with a crunchy, industrial-tinged house track that is sure to help you get some distance from the first wave of cop cars. While you whip around the corners of tightly-spaced town roads, these three OurStage bands provide some rockin’ tracks to keep your senses tuned: Dies Drear thrust you into this style change with fury, and a great sense of forward motion. Get Back Loretta throw some music your way that I can only describe as heavy. Take it or leave it. This is some of the best music I’ve heard in a long time, and while the soaring chorus and slower intro are a jarring change of pace, they provide a sense of hope for an otherwise inevitably gloomy scenario. Dive closes out the rock section of this playlist before we launch you into lightspeed and the house music picks back up. Some of the biggest names in the game Deadmau5, Wolfgang Gartner and Mord Fustangare here to provide you with the extra adrenaline needed for the highway portion of your chase. Match up the sudden rhythmic shifts to some careful video splicing and you’ve got an Oscar waiting for you, promise. In honor of the movie clip we used to open this post, our final track is a Felix Da Housecat remix of Sinnerman.” Enjoy!

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