Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #426
Written 2/1/01, Revised 2/6/09
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Buy it... only if you appreciated the moody, minimalistic ambience of Cliff
Martinez's synthetic meanderings in the context of the film.
Avoid it... if you expect this music to adhere to any of the basic rules of
construct for an effectively cohesive and dramatic film score that reaches beyond
the simplicity of atmospheric maintenance.
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| Martinez |
Traffic: (Cliff Martinez) Adapted from a highly acclaimed
British television series from 1990, Steven Soderbergh's 2001 version of
Traffic remained loyal enough to the source to gain its own rounds of
praise, including significant Academy Award recognition. The general overarching
story of drug trades and their effects on different groups of people are well acted
and balanced against each other in the picture, painting perhaps one of the most
realistic portrayals of that industry ever to exist. The film would inspire a 2004
mini-series in America in the USA network as well. The director had already made
his name by helming moody suspense, drama, and action films involving the law, and,
aside from Thomas Newman's Erin Brockovich for Soderbergh just prior, Cliff
Martinez, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' former drummer, had been his regular composer
for those projects. The two had already collaborated on such films as Sex, Lies
and Videotape and Out of Sight, and not only was Martinez serving the
director with the minimalistic, ambient tones of his liking, but he was also
accumulating a following of fans who enjoy this electronically atmospheric style
(which would extend in tone and subject matter to Narc not long after).
Working closely with composer Jeff Rona, who himself was garnering attention at the
time for his interesting musings about the scoring industry, Martinez wrote music
for Traffic that was a stylistic offshoot of the Media Ventures group of
composers, the pioneers of the modern, synthesized genre of scoring. Regardless of
what veteran film score collectors thought of this sound (and its consequent
album), the general population greeted it rather warmly, with initial banter about
award nominations and hefty sales figures. Most editorials outside of the film
music industry referred to the score as highly evocative and rich with subtle
texture. It's no surprise that the ears of traditional film score scholars
interpreted the same music as simplistic noise, however. There is no doubt that
Traffic raises the age-old debate about the merits of typical film score
constructs versus the ambient sound design that is preferred for some contexts on
screen. It's easy to say that this style of music will appeal mostly to a crowd of
listeners familiar with either the film or Martinez himself.
While low-key sound design has its place in the industry, there
are several different ways of approaching its detractions. Even the less expensive
synthesizers of the day could be programmed to create the kind of slightly
dissonant ambience that this score offers to effectively provide the film with a
tense and distraught mood. The music has an undeniable edge of unease to it. But
when you boil it down to its underlying construction, Martinez's music for
Traffic lacks most of the basic characteristics of a film score. It
disregards changes of scene, elaboration of moods, and singular events of the film.
Not only does it feature no hint of thematic material, the score establishes no
motif, no particular aspect with which to distinguish itself from the aimless
ramblings of a synthesizer. While some would say that this kind electronic ambience
requires careful and amplified attention in order to appreciate its subtleties,
several full listens to the 35-minute score will yield absolutely nothing of
interest in terms of continuity of structure. Occasionally, a rhythm will establish
itself with a bit of regularity, but even these percussive hints of life fade away
into the muddled wash of synthetic undertones. The most interesting track on the
album, "The Police Won't Find Your Car," picks up the tempo with heavier drum loops
and an active attitude. It should be no surprise that with this change of emphasis
on finally building a sense of style, the cue was ultimately left out of the film.
The album presentation wanders badly in its second half. The Beethoven piano piece
does not fit at all in conjunction with the Morcheeba and Fatboy Slim performances
thereafter (score-like songs that seem to carry on indefinitely). The final track
is a reprise of Brian Eno's "An Ending" theme, which features a more angelic and
contemplative tone than Martinez's music. This Eno entry is very much as you would
expect from him, and
Dune fans could insert it easily into his short
contributions to that film and would never know the difference. Overall, the album
for
Traffic is an example of film scoring at its most low-budget,
minimalistic levels. It is the type of music that absolutely requires placement in
the film, because its nature on album is so dull that there is really nothing
notable to mention outside of the mood it generates. Rona's material for the 2004
mini-series would begin to rectify some of these problems of anonymity.
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