This 21 track "best of" collection from Portland's 13-piece mini-orchestra is how one imagines a live show of theirs might go - although obviously these tracks are polished recorded studio versions.

The Bats' previous two albums (2005's National Grid and 2009's The Guilty Office) went largely unnoticed but this one arrives with a tailwind.

It has taken four years and four directors to bring this supernatural romance fantasy, based on the popular young adult novels by Stephenie Meyer, to a close - almost.

Judging by the title of this career-spanning retrospective, and now that R.E.M. have called it a day, it seems they feel the time is right to admit they did some "garbage" in their time.

Russian Circles are a post metal-rock trio from Chicago. At least, they are mostly instrumental, because on Praise Be Man, the last of the six sprawling epics here, there is a spiritualized-style gospel mantra throughout.

It was a poignant moment when Ladi6 went on stage to accept her Tui from Bic Runga at the NZ Music Awards. Ladi was genuinely thrilled. "This is amazing to receive an award from you. You've won one of these right?"

Given the title of this debut long-player from young Bristol native The Joker, you can tell this bass music whiz - he has distanced himself from being labelled a dubstep producer - was aiming high.

The new film by the director of the electrifying Man on Wire is another jaw-dropper, but for different reasons: it's a troubling and troubled meditation on the ethics of science and the apparently limitless human capacity for self-absorption.

The largest human migration in the world is Chinese heading home for the holidays: some 130 million workers who keep the wheels of China's economic miracle turning, try to get on trains for 30-hr journeys to spend the lunar new year with family.

Parents wishing to change the attitude of their science-averse teenage boys could do worse than to drop into their Christmas stocking this account of Tim Flannery’s adventures as a young zoologist.

William Bligh, he of the mutiny on the Bounty, was arguably the most complex, interesting and observant of the European explorers in the South Pacific.

When you are Stephen King, you get to use numerical date codes as titles. Because who’s going to stop you?

If you get past the crushingly obvious title, subtitle and cheap looking cover, you'll find a collection of provocative, insightful essays.

The vexed question of where the boundary lies between environmental activism and terrorism (thoughtfully explored in the documentary If A Tree Falls in the recent film festival) gets the once-over-lightly here.

This album by Far North reggae band 1814 is the soundtrack to the best garage party and sing-a-long you're ever likely to be invited to.

The Pixies' Black Francis and his long-time mate and songwriter Reid Paley team up for an album that can be rambling, intense, and then uplifting - sometimes all within one song.

The idea that someone other than Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's works is rooted in intellectual snobbery...

From Wayne Wang, the director of The Joy Luck Club, comes another melodrama based on female friendships that span generations.

"I wasn't born a beauty queen but I'm okay with that. Maybe radio won't mind if I sing a little flat" Gin jibes on album opener and first single Black Sheep.

Hanni El Khatib whips up a sound that has the propulsive slacker punch of the Black Keys, the distorted blues-infused power of Jack White, and a wild Jon Spencer wail.