CD: Thao & the Get Down Stay Down - We The Common

Versatile songwriter's third album drops introspection for activism

Thao Nguyen is a versatile lady. Nearly two years on from her blissful, tUnE-yArDs-produced collaboration with indie songwriter Mirah, this third album with her own band the Get Down Stay Down brings her back to her exuberant, experimental roots. From the title track’s bouncy rallying cry to the softly-spoken duet with Joanna Newsom at the album’s mid-point, We The Common would be a boundary-pusher for most acts. For Nguyen, it’s just another day at the office.

Midnight Son

MIDNIGHT SON Vampires are victims too, in an atmospheric LA horror tale

Vampires are victims too, in an atmospheric LA horror tale

“It’s like you’re a vampire,” whey-faced LA security guard Jacob is told. He gives a dawning, diffident look of recognition. Back in the cramped apartment he’s stopped leaving by day, he places a crucifix on his face, not quite expecting it to sizzle. For much of director Scott Leberecht’s atmospheric debut, he seems to be following Jacob’s progressive weakening by a rare disease with vampirism’s effects: blood-thirstiness, and enforced night-dwelling, ever since sunlight first blistered his skin aged 12. It takes us a while to realise the “vampire” description’s truth.

The Beach Boys: Doin' it Again, BBC Four

THE BEACH BOYS: DOIN' IT AGAIN, BBC FOUR Largely pointless 50th anniversary tribute is rescued by a few essential moments

Largely pointless 50th anniversary tribute is rescued by a few essential moments

“It’s an expression of our collective souls coming together,” said The Beach Boys’ Mike Love of his band, in this celebration of their 2012 50th anniversary world tour and recent album That’s Why God Made the Radio. Subsequent to the making of Doin' it Again and during the ensuing global jaunt, Love announced he was ditching fellow Beach Boys Alan Jardine, David Marks and Brian Wilson, whom he had been sharing the stage with. Not much of a shelf life for this collective expression, with little chance of doing it again.

CD: Ke$ha - Warrior

Ke$ha is intriguing but her second album doesn't live up to her own hyping

Ke$ha’s presentation is very shrewd. When she first appeared a couple of years ago, she seemed to be trashy, binge-drinking progeny of the Lady Gaga phenomenon. As time passed, the 25-year-old Californian singer tempered this version of herself with a musical self-awareness contrary to tabloid reports of global boozing and bum-flashing. Notably, she worked with Wayne Coyne of space-pop alt-rockers The Flaming Lips, contributing a track to, and appearing on the cover of, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends.

The Beach Boys, Royal Albert Hall

THEARTSDESK AT 7: BEACH BOYS REUNION Nostalgia fest at the Albert Hall

Irresistible three-hour nostalgia fest from one of pop's greatest groups

There they are! It's The Beach Boys! They're playing "Wouldn't It Be Nice", halfway through their second set of the evening and it blossoms with harmonic beauty, with pop's finest, most glorious ambition. Sure, in the shadows behind them there are a bunch of session musicians carrying them. Particularly in the first half those guys made damn sure there was such a wall of vocals it would be hard to detect any flaws in the ageing voices (mostly around 70) of the original Beach Boys.

CD: Green Day - ¡Uno!

Punk veterans set up a three-part drama

The three-act drama has an established formula: setup, confrontation, resolution. This first part is rarely noted for its thrilling highs and gasping lows - tension builds organically as characters and themes are introduced before that first dramatic turning point.

Grandaddy, O2 ABC, Glasgow

GRANDADDY, O2 ABC California indie rockers' Welcome Back Tour hints at more to follow

California indie rockers' Welcome Back Tour hits Glasgow

Jason Lytle has a “fervent appreciation”, he says, “for bands that don’t exist anymore”. It’s why he’s playing the cover of “Here”, by Pavement, that has become a staple of his band Grandaddy’s live sets on this open-ended reunion tour, although it doesn’t explain why the time is right for a Grandaddy reunion in the first place.

The Hitchcock Players: Barbara Harris, Family Plot

THE HITCHCOCK PLAYERS: BARBARA HARRIS, FAMILY PLOT A 1960s Broadway darling reinvented as a Hitchcock blonde

A 1960s Broadway darling reinvented as a Hitchcock blonde

Alfred Hitchcock famously loved his blondes, and they didn't come much more lovable than Barbara Harris. A Broadway star during the 1960s who later shifted her attentions towards film, Harris was at the peak of her talent in Family Plot, a delightful if minor Hitchcock entry distinguished by a fine quartet of American leads (Karen Black, William Devane and Bruce Dern are the others) among whom Harris stands apart. Indeed, by the time of the conspiratorial wink from Harris that closes the film, audiences will surely find themselves already grinning right back.

CD: OM – Advaitic Songs

Spiritually slanted psychedelic minimalism that moves beyond rock

The sacred word 'om' is spoken in different ways according to its context. Elongated, it can be stretched over multiple syllables. As a musical unit, OM work with building blocks that are similarly minimal, yet drawn out for maximum effect. And like the origins of their name, their heady, psychedelic music is heavily indebted to cultures which lie to the east.

South Bank Show: The Male Dancer, Sky Arts 1

SOUTH BANK SHOW: Nureyev, Baryshnikov and Acosta make a superbly glamorous trio, but few new revelations

Nureyev, Baryshnikov and Acosta make a superbly glamorous trio, but few new revelations

Male dancers are a puzzle to British audiences, where they are an uncomplicated, taken-for-granted treasure in Latin or Slav countries. I point this out gratuitously, as it's a point that wasn't touched upon by Melvyn Bragg's film about three iconic men of ballet, Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Carlos Acosta.