CD: Kano - Hoodies All Summer

★★★★★ CD: KANO - HOODIES ALL SUMMER A career best for an MC at the heart of grime

A career best for an MC who's been at the heart of grime since its inception

Of all grime's original generation, Kano has a strong claim to being the greatest rhyme-constructor in the old school hip hop sense of dense rhymes packed with multiple meanings. Add movie star looks and a penchant for fur coats in photoshoots and he was most young grime fans' tip for following Dizzee Rascal into the big league.

Hail Satan? review - the detail of the devil

★★★★ HAIL SATAN? The detail of the devil

Documentary reveals the comedy and politics of America's satanists

As Penny Lane’s documentary shows, America and Satanism have a long history. From the Salem Witch trials to the moral panic triggered by the Manson murders and films like William Friedkin’s The Exorcist in the 1970s, mass panic in America of the occult is nothing new.

Edinburgh International Festival 2019: JARV IS review - Britpop legend still delivers

★★★★ EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2019: JARV IS Britpop legend still delivers

Pulp frontman brings expertly crafted songs and a tight, talented band to Leith Theatre

”Cunts Are Still”. Well, that got your attention, didn’t it? Not my words, merely the title of one of JARV IS’s new tracks. In case you didn’t get it, JARV IS is a play on words and the name of given to Pulp frontman and founder Jarvis Cocker’s latest outfit. Cocker still is releasing new material. He still is an exuberant and energetic performer. He still is wearing those glasses. And still is very good.

The Brink review – behind the scenes with Steve Bannon

★★★ THE BRINK Funny and frightening fly-on-the-wall documentary

Funny and frightening fly-on-the-wall documentary

Donald Trump’s former strategist, alt-right propagandist and all-round provocateur Steve Bannon comes under the spotlight of a smart, dynamic, behind-closed-doors documentary, as he attempts to turn his brand of far-right populism into a global movement.  

Anthony B. Atkinson: Measuring Poverty Around the World review - first, second and third world problems

Distinguished professor's final book links poverty with climate change in an appeal for sustainable, inclusive growth

Five years ago, when the world was still reeling from 2008 and Britain from the swinging axe of George Osborne, Thomas Piketty’s Capital was an unlikely bestseller. It was a book probably more bought than read, but it contained an important and highly topical message: that wealth was once again concentrated in the hands of few people, just as had been the case before World War One.

CD: Kate Tempest - The Book of Traps and Lessons

Dynamic force in British poetry takes a bleak left turn that's sometimes musically flat

Here’s a strange thing: sit in a quiet room reading through the poems that make up Kate Tempest’s third album and her swirling collage of words drags you in. It’s an opaque concept work, mingling themes of a broken Britain, teetering on the brink of socio-political disaster, with the gritty, urban search for love in a time where sex is served up like fast food.

Alastair Campbell: Depression and Me, BBC Two review - is there an alternative to a life on anti-depressants?

★★★★ ALISTAIR CAMPBELL: DEPRESSION AND ME, BBC TWO Is there an alternative to a life on anti-depressants?

Former spin doctor explores solutions to his mental health issues

Persistent depression is debilitating and terrifying, as Alastair Campbell illustrated vividly in this punchily-argued film. We first saw him looking like a disturbed, miserable ghost, as he described in his video diary a sudden plunge into depression at New Year, 2018. He seemed to be ebbing away before our eyes.