Jonny Greenwood is the lead guitarist and keyboard player in Radiohead and has composed a number of film soundtracks, including Norwegian Wood, The Master and Inherent Vice. Born in Oxford in 1971, the multi-instrumentalist enrolled to study psychology and music at Oxford Brookes University, but left after his first term when Radiohead signed a six-album deal with EMI. Greenwood is also a computer programmer and writes music software. From 2004 to 2013 he was composer in residence for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Greenwood will perform his award-winning score to Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood with the London Contemporary Orchestra as part of David Byrne’s Meltdown at the Southbank Centre on 19 August.

Sun Ra performing live in 1976. Photograph: Andrew Putler/Redferns

1 | Album

Sun Ra and His Arkestra: In the Orbit of Ra

The Sun Ra recordings are a vast labyrinth, and this compilation does a great job of steering you through them. Curated by Sun Ra’s long-time saxophonist, Marshall Allen, it’s a perfect introduction into the astral world of Sun Ra, which still sounds like music from the future. The percussion textures are glorious, and the focus is on texture and rhythm rather than indulgent solos. It’s a good album for someone who doesn’t like jazz, especially the clean, clinical sound in which much modern jazz is recorded. This is far dirtier, and so much more of an ambiguous listen.

Clive James photographed at home in Cambridge. Photograph: Phil Fisk/Observer New Review

2 | Book

Clive James: Poetry Notebook 2006-2014

I owe so much to Clive James. He’s led me to most of my favourite writers and poets – and frankly, he’s given me the further education I missed when I dropped out [of university] at 19. He also makes me delight more than any other writer – so effortlessly lucid, amusing and learned – often in the same sentence. It must be hard to write like him, but all the effort is hidden under the hood: the effect is prose that purrs, never rattles. I’ve devoured all his essays, and learned from this particular collection of essays about much more than poetry (especially through his criticism of Ezra Pound, which I was glad to apply to lot s of avant-garde music).

3 | Podcast

Richard Herring’s Leicester Square theatre podcasts

I’ve loved podcasts since they began: no more taping BBC7 (as it was back then), or wearing out old cassettes of Chris Morris. I was never happier than when driving to the Radiohead studio with half a good idea, and an Adam and Joe podcast to listen to. Richard Herring’s Leicester Square podcasts have just started a new season and they’re worth hunting out. Standout episodes have featured Peter Serafinowicz, Greg Davies and David Mitchell. They can be very puerile – but then, so can I. And when needed, as during the Stephen Fry podcast, Herring can steer an interview with great tact and affection for his guest.

4 | Audiobook

Evelyn Waugh: the Sword of Honour series, read by Robert Powell

I can’t get enough of Evelyn Waugh (another grateful nod to Clive James), and when I’m book-less and travelling, it’s these audiobooks that I return to again and again. It’s the sardonic view of army life that appeals to me most – “was this the already advertised spirit of Dunkirk? He rather thought it was…” I secretly rate this trilogy higher than Brideshead, and of all of Waugh’s put-upon heroes, Guy Crouchback is my favourite, forever doing “the right thing” and getting nowhere. I’m confident that this is exactly what army life was like for many in the second world war: chaos masquerading as order, and everywhere hypocrisy and humbug.

‘Beautifully rendered’: The Talos Principle.

5 | Video game

The Talos Principle

It hasn’t been a great year for computer games: I’m just waiting for The Last Guardian to finally be released, the third game in a series by the legendary Japanese designer Fumito Ueda (who also created Ico and Shadow of the Colossus). In the meantime, I’ve enjoyed The Talos Principle. It’s a 3D puzzle game where you explore various pseudo-historic locations and play around aiming lasers at targets. I appreciate that makes it sound a lot like quantity surveying, but it’s a bit more interesting than that. The landscapes are beautifully rendered, and some of the problems take a good deal of time to solve. It’s a very atmospheric piece of work, and a refreshing change from the zombie/shotguns trope that still endures after 20 years.

6 | App

Mubi

Netflix drives me crazy – so much choice, but you struggle to find anything worth watching (and spend half an hour searching). So the Mubi app makes perfect sense – only 30 films (one is added to the list every day, and one drops off the bottom) and all worth watching. The skill is in the curation, and they do it very well. About half the films are foreign language, and the quality of the films is great – so you can be confident in taking a chance on things you’ve never heard of. They show classics like Fellini’s The Clowns side by side with silent masterpieces like Tartuffe.