For the biographical film Basquiat (1996), John Cale & Julian Schnabel put together a remarkable soundtrack reflecting Jean-Michel Basquiat’s skyrocketing career, singularity and ultimately tragic faith. In the film, it is unclear what is real and what is not. Basquiat becomes the actor Jeffrey Wright, David Bowie wears Andy Warhol’s actual wig and Schnabel made the Basquiat paintings for the film. In this mirror house, the soundtrack becomes an anchor point, rooting the story in a particular time and place: New York City of the 1980s.