Stranger Things (Soundtrack from the Netflix Original Series)

While Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s original score to Stranger Things sets the series’ eerie tone, pitch-perfect musical selections round out the retro scene-setting. New Order’s haunting synth-and-guitar epic “Elegia” recalls New Wave at its most bittersweet, The Bangles’ “Hazy Shade of Winter” neatly captures the overarching mood of suburban unease and Toto’s “Africa” is a yacht-rock flashback whose sunny harmonies cleverly contrast with the show’s overcast mood. It’s like intercepting a radio broadcast beamed to us from deep in the ‘80s.