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Before Ru Paul and Trixie Mattel There Was the Ball Circuit: 'Paris Is Burning'

Told through the voices and movements of the legends and pioneers of the '80s Harlem drag-ball scene, Paris Is Burning is an indispensable look at one of America's most influential subcultures of the last half-century.

                                      
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Told through the voices and movements of the legends and pioneers of the '80s Harlem drag-ball scene, Paris Is Burning is an indispensable look at one of America's most influential subcultures of the last half-century.

This, here, is 90 minutes spent with the kinds of people you take special care to avoid in your workplace, your neighbourhood, or just about anywhere in your everyday life.

Run the Jewels 3 is the sound of one hip-hop's most significant groups channeling their feelings of frustration, alienation, and rage into a radical call to arms.

Rockaway Beach, NY folk experimenters Lewis Del Mar release a debut album which, in places, justifies much of the hype surrounding the group but ultimately fails to truly captivate throughout.

Cashmere is a transatlantic hip-hop album that challenges representation of South Asian people in pop culture.

Brian Marc, AKA Sene, manages a minimal but heavy discipline of turntablist groove; his dream-washed music appropriates the rhythms of a casual stroll through city streets.

Before a Million Universes might at times sound like Slint, but Big Ups have their own union and calamity to make their bleakness something of their own.

While underdeveloped in character and story, the originality of Ava's Possessions, as well as its decadent visual aesthetic, go a long way towards making it a unique and interesting take on a stale genre.

Office culture is full of passive aggressions and radical uncertainties. Buttoned Up is a delightfully firm hook on which to hang your hat, if hats are your thing.

New York’s paradigm-smashing and somewhat haphazardly planned 1811 street grid didn’t quite bring order to the chaotic metropolis, but it helped create the city that it is today.

While We’re Young is less about "acting your age" and more about embracing your authentic self.

Dark-tinged indie pop strikes a rare balance between being invigoratingly fun and pensively moving.

The old-school singer/songwriter stylings of Julian Velard are in full display on "New York, I Love it When You're Mean," the lead cut off of his New York-centric concept album If You Don't Like It, You Can Leave.

The beloved McSweeney's is stripped of its Internet cloak and laid before us on the bare, naked pages of print.

Lifted is an absorbing exploration into how the introduction of elevators into buildings transformed cities and the experience of living and working in them.

We caught St. Vincent's sold out tour kick off show in New York City and have the photos to prove it. Check out her lengthy North American tour schedule.

Some argue that Lou Reed, the man who never ran out of ways to say "fuck you", might not be the best influence for a child. I say he was the best role model a ten-year-old could have.

The Ghost of Lester Bangs and Charles Pitter listen to Albert Hammond Jr.’s EP AHJ.

& Sons is essentially a novel about reclusiveness, and how that purifies art and distills it into something honest and real.

AlunaGeorge may be relatively new, but their debut New York performance confidently brought life to their debut Body Music.

Like the best episodes of PBS's Frontline, The Central Park Five is a superior work of journalism that re-examines an important case that has, unfortunately, grown hazy in the memories of many.

The ghost of "master builder" Robert Moses looms over this film.

If anything, Changó’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes shows an author who is willing to stretch out and expand his palette, even as he grows well into his twilight years.

Gillian Flynn’s my-wife-is-missing thriller wraps smart East Coast-versus-Midwest satire and wicked repartee around a bottle-rocket payload.

A fine synthesis of English elegance and Southern rock energy.

Whatever the social and political issues Brian Wood and Ricardo Burchielli, and their occasional collaborators, chose to examine through the DMZ series, those examinations were always grounded in and refracted through New York.

Singer/violinist/multi-instrumentalist K Ishibashi takes some cues from both Andrew Bird and Animal Collective and creates a lovely debut album that's equal parts romantic yearning and playful non-sequiturs.

Proof, if needed, of the crucial cultural role record shops play in the musical and social life of a city, even when buried deep down in a subway system.

Occupy Wall Street's strength might be how it enables diverse constituencies to seize upon its imagery and message to engage with social justice concerns, both on the ground and within the video.

On this 1980 album, the words lack the confidence the music conveys, so instead of luring you in with a convincing musical world, it more often ends up throwing a fit for attention.

A defining figure of '50s West Coast jazz meets up with some defining figures of '50s East Coast jazz. And they make an adequate record out of it. No foolin' -- totally adequate!

It's the scavenger spirit of self-discovery, with the relative high frequency of opportunities to catch bands at small venues early on, that makes the summer in New York a joy.

Ólafur Arnalds is an Icelandic composer who creates fragile and stark instrumental music. In the beginning of 2011, he made a short sojourn around the States, which he rarely frequents, with stops on both coasts.

America’s Medicis explains how the Rockefellers nurtured world-class museums, art collections, plazas, and stunning works of architecture around the country.

This is a very brief look at a conflicted, but ultimately successful persona; one that fails to find any negatives in its subject, unless by accident.

Rather than just shock, however, Cho as always used controversey and taboo to extend her message on equality.