Album: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cool It Down

★★★★★ YEAH YEAH YEAHS - COOL IT DOWN A return even more triumphant than we dared hope

A return even more triumphant than we dared hope from NYC's finest power trio

It’s a minor tragedy that Yeah Yeah Yeahs arrived just in time to be bundled in with a spurious “new rock revolution,” because they were so much more than rock. The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Libertines all may have had decent enough songs, but all were ultimately extremely trad rock, sonically living in mythical pasts.

Carolee Schneeman: Body Politics, Barbican review - challenging, in-your-face and messy

★★★★ CAROLEE SCHNEEMAN: BODY POLITICS, BARBICAN Challenging, in-your-face and messy

By putting herself in the picture, especially nude, Schneeman upset almost everyone

Life is messy and so is Carolee Schneeman’s work. She wanted it that way. Breaking down the barriers between art and life, between inhabiting a woman’s body and using it as primal material, was a key objective.

Ken Auletta: Hollywood Ending - Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence review - if the tide had turned in 2002...

★★★★ KEN AULETTA: HOLLYWOOD ENDING - HARVEY WEINSTEIN AND THE CULTURE OF SILENCE The renowned American writer had earlier come close to revealing the truth about Weinstein

The renowned American writer had earlier come close to revealing the truth about Weinstein

It was not until October 2017 that The New York Times ran a front page story by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey with the title “Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harrassment Accusers for Decades.”

Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC review - cheap thrills

★★ NIGHTCLUBBING: THE BIRTH OF PUNK ROCK IN NYC Mundane history of punk venue Max's

Chasteningly mundane history of punk venue Max's, plus Sid Vicious' last stand

Bankruptcy, rubble, rape and murder: Manhattan in the Seventies could be grim, as multiple New York punk memoirs make clear. The trade-off was the art, steaming and burning in the stinking, crucially cheap degradation. Punk was just one symptomatic part of a crumbling Lower East Side where old Beats, folkies, jazzers, poets, theatre, film and visual artists also lived.

Album: Interpol - The Other Side of Make-Believe

★★ INTERPOL - THE OTHER SIDE OF MAKE-BELIEVE Noughties new wavers return with a sometimes underpowered lockdown album

Noughties new wavers return with a sometimes underpowered lockdown album

Despite not matching the success of their fellow New York post-punk colleagues, The Strokes, Interpol have nonetheless carved out a respectable path for themselves since their 2002 debut Turn on the Bright Lights. Occupying the darker edges of indie rock, they are the shadier counterpoint to the eccentricities of Julian Casablancas and co, their albums consistently making the UK Top 10 for the past two decades.

Vivian Maier: Anthology, MK Gallery review - what an amazing eye!

★★★★★ VIVIAN MAIER: ANTHOLOGY, MK GALLERY A brilliant amateur photographer who was almost lost to the world

The brilliance of an amateur photographer who was almost lost to the world

The story is riveting. A nanny living in New York and Chicago spent her spare time wandering the streets taking photographs. She learned to develop and print, but her plan to publish the images as postcards fell through and, as time passed, she stopped bothering even to develop the negatives let alone print them.

Album: Vadim Neselovskyi - Odesa: A Musical Walk Through a Legendary City

★★★★ VADIM NESELOVSKYI - ODESA A poignant and superbly achieved solo piano album

A poignant and superbly achieved solo piano album

Odesa (Sunnyside) is a deeply-felt and wonderfully played solo piano album with a massive emotional and stylistic compass. New York-based composer/pianist Vadim Neselovskyi has made a strong statement in homage to the city by the Black Sea where he was born, and to its unique cultural and musical heritage.

Blu-ray: Round Midnight

★★★★★ BLU-RAY: ROUND MIDNIGHT The greatest movie about jazz ever? Bertrand Tavernier's collaboration with Dexter Gordon makes its case

The greatest movie about jazz ever? Bertrand Tavernier's collaboration with Dexter Gordon makes its case

Among the plentiful bonus items in this Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Round Midnight, the last one is a surprise. It shows Dexter Gordon in his prime, back in 1969.