True Detective music

THEIR AIM IS TRUE: HBO has done it again with the intense, deliciously creepy new series True Detective, whose premiere episode Sunday night remains the subject of countless tweets and water-cooler conversations. “It’s like The Killing, but better,” proclaimed our own Lenny Beer. Along with the performances of Matthew McConoughey and Woody Harrelson and the biting dialogue, people are talking about the music, selected by T Bone Burnett, starting with the theme song, the Handsome Family’s 2003 ballad “Far From Any Road,” which perfectly matches the dark, twisted vibe of the show. The closing song, The Black Angels’ "Young Men Dead," sounds like Neil Young at his most ferocious; the episode also contained Bob Dylan’s "Rocks and Gravel." Among the tunes Burnett has chosen for the early episodes are Bo Diddley’s “Bring It to Jerome,” Captain Beefheart’s “Clear Spot,” The Staple Singers’ “Stand by Me (When the Storms of Life Are Raging),” the 13th Floor Elevators’ “The Kingdom of Heaven (Is Within You),” Boogie Down Productions’ “Illegal Business,” Lucinda Williams’ “Are You Alright?” The Melvins’ “A History of Bad Men” and Grinderman’s “Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars)”—you get the idea. If ever a series begged for a soundtrack album, it’s this one. (1/15a)