Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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The Telegraph JUNE 16, 2005 - by Alice Vincent

DAVID BYRNE'S MELTDOWN: BOOKS, BIKES AND BRIAN ENO

The Talking Heads musician has curated an eclectic mix for the Southbank Centre-based festival.

Brian Eno, Sinkane, Jonny Greenwood are on the line-up for David Byrne's Meltdown, the music festival taking place across fourteen consecutive nights in August at London's Southbank Centre.

The Talking Heads musician will also appear on stage, as part of a band with Afro-pop musician Sinkane, LCD Soundsystem's Pat Mahoney, Hot Chip member Alexis Taylor and jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, to celebrate the music of Nigerian electronic pioneer William Onyeabor, on August 20.

Previous Meltdown Festivals have been directed by musicians including Ray Davies, David Bowie, Patti Smith and Yoko Ono, who have been invited, like Byrne, to select artists who inspire him to put on multidisciplinary performances.

Brian Eno will be launching a new large-scale sound installation for the festival, while Radiohead musician and composer Johnny Greenwood will be joining the London Contemporary Orchestra in playing his soundtrack to There Will Be Blood.

Planet Of The Apes will also be screened on August 28, with the BBC Concert Orchestra playing the soundtrack live.

Drone-metal band Sunn O))) will perform, as will double Mercury Prize-winning singer-songwriter Anna Calvi, accompanied by a twelve-piece choir. Matthew Herbert will play music from his new album and rising soul singer Benjamin Clementine will return to the Southbank Centre for a gig.

Away from the stage, Byrne is lending his personal collection of five hundred books about music to The Saison Poetry Library, allowing the public to read and borrow them.

The musician has also included his appreciation of cycling into the festival. Bike racks designed by Byrne and a valet service will be available to those ticket holders who have cycled to the gig.