quote:

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Radiohead are set to contribute music to the soundtrack of a forthcoming Keanu Reeves film, including a track from Thom Yorke's apparently upcoming solo album.

The band will contribute music to Before Sunrise/School of Rock director Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's cult science fiction book A Scanner Darkly.

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NP> Dario Marianelli's V for Vendetta (****1/2 /*****)

Oh well. I'm really excited about this film, so if I've already accepted the idea of Keanu Reeves in the lead role I can easily accept the involvement of Radiohead.

Kirk

I don't want to send the impression that I hate Radiohead. There are many, many, many contemporary bands that I think are worse. I just don't think they're particularly special. I probably rag on them more because I know they can take it (there are enough people who adore them).

Kirk

Sissy.

Just kidding. But really, who is out there that you're listening to (when not listening to film music from the good old days)? The aforementioned Talk Talk is defunct, so they don't count as contemporaries anymore. I can think of a few right now who are doing interesting things (Sigur Ros and Sufjan Stevens, for some reason, are the only things coming to mind), but certainly not doing things that are unheard of in musical culture. Most bands that are worth anything these days are exploring ground covered by 60's & 70's bands. You don't hear anything good on the radio anymore. Except Foghat. Foghat freaking rules.

Honestly, I'm not trying to just jump on you because you don't like Radiohead (dick!), I'm actually just curious what you're listening to that I haven't been enlightened to as of yet.

The Books
Cheer-Accident
Curlew
Doctor Nerve
Eyvind Kang
Forever Einstein
Ghost
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Guapo
Gutbucket
Hamster Theatre
Hangedup
Krakatoa
Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra
Larval
One Ring Zero
Rovo
Severiano Martinez
A Silver Mt. Zion
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (with the caveat that I like them 10 times more live than on record)
The Tiger Lillies
The Unicorns
Univers Zero
Tom Waits (but of course)
Zelda and the Unibrows

And The Soft Machine is probably my favorite band of all time, so anything any of the earlier members (especially Hugh Hopper) is involved with these days is generally of extremely high quality to my tastes.

That list was made consciously excluding jazz (though some of these bands incorporate it in ways that make them hard to categorize as one or the other) as well as "contemporary classical" composers who are writing music partially inspired by rock, jazz, and electronica like Phil Kline, Annie Gosfield, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, Arnold Dreyblatt, etc.

I should perhaps also stress that I don't expect every band I listen to to be constantly breaking new ground all the time. My displeasure with Radiohead in that respect is less with the band itself than with the people who treat them as if they are at the zenith of ingenious experimental music. I think they're pretty tame compared to some of the bands I listed above. On the other hand, some of my favorites are probably considerably more tame than Radiohead (definitely Ghost, and maybe Forever Einstein and Krakatoa and a couple others) so eventually I guess it all comes down to what appeals to me for whatever reason and what doesn't.