Music / Junkie XL

Tom Holkenborg (born December 8, 1967 in Lichtenvoorde), better known as Junkie XL, is a Dutch multi-instrumentalist, DJ, composer, sound engineer and music producer.

He learned to play piano at four, drums at eight, and bass at fourteen. From the early eightes onward, he made a name for himself as a producer-for-hire, as well as a talented electronic musician. He began working in film music soon after, performing songs like "Dealing with the Roster" in Blade and "Synasthesia" in The Beach.

He frequently collaborates with Hans Zimmer at Remote Control Productions. The two have worked together on Megamind, Inception, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and the DC Extended Universe.

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Original albums:

• Saturday Teenage Kick (1997)
• Big Sounds of the Drags (1999)
• Radio JXL: A Broadcast from the Computer Hell Cabin (2003)
• Today (2006)
• Booming Back at You (2008)
• Synthesized (2012)

Composed soundtracks and appearances in media:

Film and Television

• Dark Fury
• Domino (additional music)
• Inception (uncredited)
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Man of Steel (uncredited)
  • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (with Hans Zimmer)
  • Zack Snyder's Justice League ^note He worked on the score of Justice League on his own after Hans Zimmer left, including producing a cover of The Beatles' "Come Together" (with Gary Clark Jr.) that was used in the film's trailers, then left it along with Zack Snyder. He was replaced by Danny Elfman when Joss Whedon took over the film's post-production in mid-2017. He eventually came back to work on Snyder's director's cut for HBO Max, completely rewriting his score for the film. The soundtrack, like the film, is now about four hours long.
• 300: Rise of an Empire
• Divergent
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (as part of "The Magnificent Six")
• Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
• Black Mass
• Deadpool
• The Dark Tower
• Snow Steam Iron
• Tomb Raider
• Mortal Engines
• Alita: Battle Angel
• Terminator: Dark Fate
• Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• SCOOB!
• Godzilla vs. Kong
  • Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
• Army of the Dead
• The 355
• Three Thousand Years of Longing
• Rebel Moon
• Transformers: One

Video Games

• Quantum Redshift
• Forza (first game)
• The Sims 2: Nightlife
• SSX:
  • SSX 3
  • SSX Blur
• Need for Speed:
  • Need for Speed: High Stakes^note "War", "No Remorse", "Fight" and "Def Beat" from Saturday Teenage Kick appear on the soundtrack.
  • Need for Speed: Underground^note "Action Radius" from Big Sounds of the Drags.
  • Need for Speed: Carbon ^note Remix of "Feel the Rush" by Japanese singer melody. that's featured in the game.
  • Need for Speed: ProStreet
• Burnout Paradise
• Darkspore
• Madden NFL 16
• FIFA 18

Tropes & Trivia about his works:

• Associated Composer: His regular collaborations with Zack Snyder started with 300: Rise of an Empire (which Snyder produced). Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was their first credited film together as composer/director respectively.
• Bowdlerize/Clean Dub Name: One of his breakout hits, the remix of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation", had him credited as JXL.
• Cover Song: "Cities in Dust" with Lauren Rocket as the vocalist.
• Face on the Cover: Today.
• Genre Shift: A drastic one from electronic musician to movie score composer.
• Lighter and Softer: His album Today is more softer than his previous albums, focusing more on ambient soundscapes than the big beat sound from his previous albums.
• Limited Lyrics Song: "No Remorse", with the lyrics "Brings his election".
• Record Needle Scratch: This is how the first track of Saturday Teenage Kick, "Underachievers" starts.
• Title-Only Chorus: "Underachievers"...well, partially.
• A Wild Rapper Appears!: Both Saturday Teenage Kick and Big Sounds of the Drags have half of their tracklist being divided by instrumentals and songs with the vocals being provided Dutch rapper Patrick Tilon, under the Stage Name Silver Surfering Rudeboy, thus occasionally leading to this effect.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: "X-Panding Limits".

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