Jonny Greenwood Scores Again

As any Radiohead fan can attest, the band's brilliance is just as influenced by the weird wizardry of guitarist/multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Jonny Greenwood as it is by frontman Thom Yorke. If this was ever in doubt, a listen to the two film soundtracks he has scored - BBC human documentary Bodysong and PT Anderson's oil-drilling drama/horror opus There Will Be Blood (which he should have won an Oscar for - seriously, he wasnt even nominated! Babel was good, but not that good...) - will have you in thrall with his amazingly textured compositions.

So it is with an enormous amount of excitement that I can say that Greenwood is scoring again - this time for an adaptation of seminal Japanese author Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, to be directed by celebrated Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran (Vertical Rays of the Sun, The Scent of Green Papaya). It is a a bit of a way off, although the genesis of the score is said to come from a piece he has written called "Doghouse".

We will keep you informed. In the meantime, hunt down Greenwood's other soundtracks, watch the films, and read the book.

And fingers crossed (although highly unlikely) that the above picture can become reality this time around!!!

The Glove Fits #3 - Wish You Were Here (literally)

This week's trip down memory lane has been hastily erected - my original piece was all set and ready to go, but a tragic event has taken precedence - the tragic suicide of singer songwriter Mark Linkous, more commonly known by his bedroom folk pop moniker Sparklehorse. He was found outside his friend's home in Tennessee on Saturday with a self inflicted shotgun wound in the chest. This news has sent tremors throughout the music world - Linkous has collaborated with some of the world's greatests producers and musicians, and has left behind a unique canon of music that was engaging, ethereal and hauntingly beautiful.

So whilst my thoughts are tainted with sadness, Im choosing a song that, whilst not written by him, has stuck with me ever since I heard it, and his version has epitomised everything that I hold dear.

I first heard Pink Floyd when I was a kid. My father never listened to music that often, but one of my favourite memories of my childhood was when it rained on the farm on weekends. Dad would down tools and spend the Sunday at home, hanging out with me and my sister, playing his records. He put me onto Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits and Bruce Springsteen, my platform for my burgeoning love of music, but Pink Floyd wasnt his strong suit. Nevertheless, it was Dad who put me onto songs like Another Brick In The Wall, Comfortably Numb, and this one, Wish You Were Here.

And yet it wasnt until my first year of university that I truly embraced the song. I have my friend Hugh to thank. We used to sit around on a sunny hungover morning (and there were many) and sing along. These memories have always stuck with me, so that even when some two-bit busker or deluded cover artist is strangling it, I still hum along.

But my favourite version, for whatever reason, isnt the original. As Sparklehorse, Mark Linkous supported Radiohead on their OK Computer tour, where he became good friends with the band, particularly Jonny Greenwood, who spoke of Linkous' death on his blog:

"His first two records were very important to me, and I carried his music from the tour into my life, and my friends' lives too ... Mark wrote and played some beautiful music, and we're lucky to have it."

On that tour, Sparklehorse did an EP which featured Linkous and Thom Yorke doing a ghostly rendition of the song.

So I send out my condolences to all who have been touched by Linkous and his music, and endeavour to make sure his music lives on in our hearts.

RIP Mark Linkous (1962-2010) - wish you were here.

Sparklehorse (feat. Thom Yorke) - Wish You Were Here