Goran Bregovic.

Goran Bregovic did the music for the film Arizona Dream. You probably haven't seen it, but there's a scene where Johnny Depp rides a tricycle up and down an upstairs hallway in a house, obnoxiously playing an accordion as Faye Dunaway looks on. He's doing it to antagonize her, but eventually they make up and he builds her an airplane. That's also the film where the guy does a stand up-routine that's meant to be the scene from North by Northwest where the hero's getting buzzed by a spy plane in the middle of a cornfield.

Like I said, you probably haven't seen it. (Back in high school when I was in love with Johnny Depp, I made a point of hunting down every movie he'd been in. *shakes head at wasted youth*)

But Goran Bregovic did the music for it. His stuff is an odd mix of Eastern European instruments/melodies/choirs singing "oi lah lah lai oi", cheesy 80s slow pop-rock beats and some incredibly beautiful pastoral soundscapes... and sometimes he gets Iggy Pop to write lyrics and do vocal tracks. (How can this be a bad thing?) What I like about his music is how it's slightly loopy, slightly cheesy and still makes me smile.

Selections from the Arizona Dream soundtrack

• "In The Deathcar" [sendspace link] - shared this one a while back. It's got Iggy Pop's oddly hypnotic and cryptic spoken word-stuff over the fusion-Balkan sounds.


• "TV Screen" [sendspace link] - Iggy Pop's got a decent singing voice when he puts his mind to it. This song has all the elements of a great crack track: novelty vocals, the word "zombie", social commentary on the role of television, 80s soft-rock guitar solo + big drums and a chanting ethnic choir.


• "Get the Money" [sendspace link] - ditto the above song, but this time with a lusty oompa brass section. It's more upbeat and therefore more likely to get stuck in your head. Also, Iggy Pop is almost rapping at one part. It shouldn't work, but it so does.


• "American Dreamers" [sendspace link] - not technically from the soundtrack album, but it's Johnny Depp's voiceover from the beginning of the film.

And Bregovic bonus tracks, for the heck of it:

• "Le Lys Vert" [sendspace link] - Goran Bregovic + La Bottine Souriante = win. It's from Bregovic's Irish Songs album, which is pretty amusing, considering La Bottine Souriante are French Canadian. Tee hee. It's a nice, meaty folk/celt track in any rate. I think there's even a harp in there somewhere. :D


• "Man From Reno", feat. Scott Walker [sendspace link] - If Arkham Asylum had a lounge night, someone might perform this one. Includes lyrics, "Zodiac killer needs that crack/he wants you back" and "look up, you might even shred the stars".


• "Gypsy Reggae" [sendspace link] - What it says on the tin. Instrumental. Odd but appealing.