Review of “A Soundtrack in Search of a Movie” by Alan Goldsher
This hard-grooving collection would be a fine addition to your streaming music library (it’s not for sale that I could find). Add it to a playlist, put it on shuffle, and you’ll have 19 funky little interludes. On this album, experienced arranger and multi-instrumentalist Alan Goldsher has come up with an entertaining example of the underground genre of Library Music: in this case focusing on the incidental music for movies, TV programs, and commercials. Here, he supplies the music, and the imaginative listener provides the movie.
Goldsher can throw down on bass and provide the fatback on drums, humanizing the music way beyond what often passes for creativity online these days. The electronic exceptions are there for good reason, such as the subwoofer-rattling synth bass on “Bo Knows” or the hip-hop feel of “My Favorite Sport.”
There’s a ’70s-’90s retro feel to most of the disc. One track is titled “It’s the Nineties,” complete with vinyl sound effects. The track features an organ that sounds like it’s riffing on the Sanford and Son theme, and “The Written Word” recalls Barney Miller. Grooves this thick make you miss the solos, however — this would be a great practice album for providing your own.
I like the way Goldsher mixes jazz and funk across the bass and the drums. On “The Accuweather Forcast,” he plays a slick walking jazz bass line over a funk groove. “Swunk” does the opposite, with a funk bassline over a swinging jazz rhythm. “Grading” puts the two approaches together — there’s a few bars of funk, then a few bars of swing and walking bass. The tempo never budges. With a more ponderous musician, it could be a mess, but here it comes across with humor and an infectious (and affectionate) groove.
It’s a hoot to listen on the headphones as the sounds zoom and shift around to animate movie scenes in your brain. Aural popcorn, plenty of butter!
(Originally published on the Arts Fuse, November 1, 2023.)
https://artsfuse.org/281994/november-short-fuses-materia-critica-3/
