Contagion Watertower Music*****

Cliff Martinez, the former rock drummer (Red Hot Chili Peppers) turned film composer, has scored nearly all of Steven Soderbergh's films since Sex, Lies and Videotape. Effortlessly merging simple melodic lines and spare polyrhythms with eclectic instrumentation and ambient noize, his evocative and dramatic scores emphasise mood and feeling over character and narrative. For Contagion, his coolly pulsing electronic score of jittery beats, fragmented melodies and shimmering textures infuses this virus thriller with a dynamic and pervasive atmosphere of dread and menace, gleefully recalling the experimental scores of classic 1970s epidemic movies The Andromeda Strainand The Omega Man. Contagionis the maverick composer at his best, and along with his superb scores for Driveand The Lincoln Lawyer,2011 is looking like a vintage year for Martinez. See contagionmovie.warnerbros.com

Download tracks: Contagion, Handshake, Bat Pig