In the heyday of low-budget television and scrappy genre filmmaking, producers who needed a soundtrack for their commercial entertainments could reach for a selection of library music: LPs of stock recordings whose contents fit any mood required. Unusual Sounds is a deep dive into a musical universe that has, until now, been accessible only to producers and record collectors; a celebration of this strange industry and an examination of its unique place at the nexus of art and commerce. Featuring original art by Robert Beatty and an introduction by George A. Romero—whose use of library music in Night of the Living Dead changed film history— Unusual Sounds is mandatory reading for anyone interested in this enigmatic field and its hidden but pervasive cultural influence.

David Hollander is an artist, filmmaker and collector of artist-made films and library music. He is a co-founder of CineMarfa, a film festival dedicated to showcasing rare and unseen films in Marfa, Texas. He lives in San Antonio.

David Hollander's profile page

George Andrew Romero was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer and editor, best known for his series of gruesome and satirical horror films about an imagined zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead.

George Romero's profile page

"Unusual Sounds, provides an exhaustive history of library music told through interviews with the composers, producers and players responsible for making the records." - Vinyl Factory

"...a rigorous, in depth, but accessible piece of work, unwinding decades deep shadows and mysteries, returning humanity and the notion of art to a territory which has so often been denied those designations." - Soundohm

Featuring original art by Robert Beatty and an introduction by George A. Romero—whose use of library music in Night of the Living Dead changed film history— Unusual Sounds is mandatory reading for anyone interested in this enigmatic field and its hidden but pervasive cultural influence. - Vinyl Radar

"As a historical overview of this world, it would be simply impossible to top David Hollander's Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music..." - The Wire

The cult of library music is a fascinating one; anonymous musicians from the '50s through the '70s recording like an assembly line were, eventually, found to have done more than just jazzy widget assembly to fill space for film and television. The archivist David Hollander has devoted a lot of his life to this corner of music history, releasing some of its most notable tunes through his Cinemaphonic series, and writing about it in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music. -Andrew Flanagan, NPR

“A comprehensive must-read for those who relish and celebrate the expansive, often subrosa, world of Library Music, the work takes a deep dive into its varied history. With stunning original art by Robert Beatty, Unusual Sounds features histories and interviews, along with visuals from the field’s most celebrated creators." - Aquarium Drunkard

Unusual Sounds is more than just a look at a kind of music, but a way of making music which has essentially gone away. . . .a fantastic read. -Nick Spacek, Starburst Magazine

These LPs, the height of which appeared across the 1960’s and 70’s, but stretch from the earliest days of radio to this very day, carry descriptions which often give little clue to what they contain. In a nutshell, it is among the hardest arenas of music to crack, which is David Hollander’s Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, is about as valuable as books about records come. It brilliant piece of work, and an open door to a widely unrecognized and misunderstood world. - Soundohm