Music and Directors

German director Wim Wenders once stated that music for film is one of the most important elements in the film making process, and he said that he devotes at least 50% of his efforts on getting the right music to go with the visuals. He's one of a few directors who uses music directly to inspire narrative and cinematography either before shooting begins or during the shoot, whereas many directors find the music in post-production or leave it to a composer to score. Many of the directors like Wenders have a real passion and understanding for music, and the power of the medium in relation to combining it with images. Whenever a Wender's film is going to be released, you just know that you'll get a great compilation of music on the soundtrack, like for example "Until the End of the World", "Wings of Desire", and "Faraway, So Close" where you'll find artists such as Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, U2, David Byrne and many more great musicians. The success of his marriage of music and image comes from the way he uses the music to create mood and atmosphere, yet also convey the emotions of his characters in relation to their surroundings, usually in a stark and quite often foreign landscape. This might have to do with him being a German director who mostly works in America and other parts of the world.
I guess the main point here is that directors like Wim Wenders, David Lynch, and Jim Jarmusch in particular use and choose their music so carefully, making sure that the music or sounds used are appropriate to the visual. In a Lynch film, you'll find a wide variety of music used from different genres and time periods that are juxtaposed together to reflect the characters feelings or convey parts of their character in a setting. It's a highly intuitive process for Lynch, but he'll spend a lot of time making sure he gets it just right.
Having a love for all the elements of film making, and taking a holistic approach to the process really pays off. The films are not only an aural and visual feast, but the resulting soundtracks are infinitely more interesting and coherent than most of the disjointed compilation soundtracks on the market.