'New Moon' Music Supervisor Reveals Soundtrack Process

Alexandra Patsavas, the music supervisor for the 'Twilight' films, doesn't want to pick a favorite when it comes to the 15 tracks on the 'New Moon' soundtrack. "Oh gosh, that's like asking a mother to pick her favorite child," Patsavas tells Spinner. After a long pause, she admits, "I'm especially proud that Thom Yorke agreed to be on the soundtrack." For his part, the Radiohead frontman submitted the unreleased, exclusive solo track, 'Hearing Damage.' "The track is physically transcendent, gorgeous and used at a key moment, almost in its entirety, in the movie," Patsavas reveals.

Novelist Stephanie Meyer has sold more than 70 million copies of the 'Twilight,' series, her vampire-tinged, 21st century remake of the quintessential 'Romeo and Juliet' love story. The second film of the series is in movie theaters across the US now and its accompanying soundtrack, which also includes new music from Death Cab for Cutie, Grizzly Bear, the Killers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Muse, Lykke Li and the Editors, has been riding strong on the Billboard Hot 200 for the last five weeks, at one point reaching No. 1.

After putting together the first film's successful soundtrack -- currently Number 81 after more than a year on the charts -- Patsavas was rehired. She began making mixtapes of "sounds that would be appropriate for the movie" after reading the script and meeting with director Chris Weitz. She also went after the music community. "I knew we would be attempting to have only unreleased tracks on the album," she says of immediately reaching out to publishers, managers and labels. "We used already recorded tracks on the first album and on the second album everything was made particularly for the project."

Naturally, the publishers, managers and labels were interested. "There wasn't really a learning curve for the artists. We are in a very unique position coming off a very successful first movie and first soundtrack and being part of Stephanie Meyer's incredibly successful book series. I wasn't pitching an idea that wasn't talked about before," she says of assembling the indie-rock heavy compilation. "I think the artist knew what to expect and were eager to participate."

Bands like Grizzly Bear and the Killers were flown out during the editing process and shown clips of the film to help inspire their scored tracks. Bon Iver even added a bonus, submitting 'Roslyn,' a collaboration featuring St. Vincent. The soundtrack was so indie savvy that it seemed like an attempt to steer the Miley Cyrus-loving crowd that went nuts for Rob Pattinson's Tiger Beat centerfold poster towards Pitchfork's greener pastures.

"It's always great to introduce great art to a new audience ," Patsavas says, noting she is a fan of the indie-rock blog and Brooklyn Vegan, "and if we achieve that on this album it has been an amazing bonus, but it doesn't take place of really working hard to find the very best song for each scene."

For example, take Death Cab's 'New Moon' trailer-friendly jingle 'Meet Me on the Equinox.' "We needed a song that really reflected sadness and separateness and who better than Death Cab to do that?" Patsavas says. And while Ben Gibbard might not be jumping on Moviefone to buy a ticket to see the flick this weekend, Patsavas says Death Cab "were very familiar with the book series and the script."

For Patsavas, who will also helm the third 'Twilight Saga' soundtrack, the 'New Moon' comp is another check in the right direction in career that has bridged music and film for two decades. Her name is responsible for bringing music to a forefront in television, with her soundtracks to T.V. shows like the 'O.C.' and 'Grey's Anatomy' being a gateway for major success for band's like Snow Patrol and the Fray. So on point is her musical taste that she now reigns over her own Atlantic Records subsidiary, Chop Shop Records, whose artist Anya Marina also appears on the 'New Moon' soundtrack.

"I didn't spend my life making mixtapes," Patsavas admits, "although I do now."