Our weekly (well, OK, nearly weekly) tips for good stuff to hear, see, read and splash about in.

1 I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) It’s been an idle morning here watching High Fidelity, the movie adapted from Nick Hornby’s “I’m a record obsessive too!” novel. That’s a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, sure, but it was raised to unexpected heights by this Stevie Wonder jewel playing over the end credits. Quicker to bring a tear to the eye than any John Cusack/Jack Black brom-com.

2 Fall Be Kind Animal Collective slip out a trees-off-leaves flipside to their magnificent spring celebration, Merriweather Post Pavilion. A surprise treat and an excellent stocking filler/treat for yourself for hauling round the shops.

3 The Twelve So sharply written that it's almost annoying, it's pigeon-holed as a thriller rather than an excellent novel about post-Troubles Norn Iron. Still, crime fans should be happy to have Stuart Neville as one of their own.

4 Come Back To The Five And Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee Washington D.C.’s Benjy Ferree has made a concept album about Bobby Driscoll, the ultimately tragic US child star of the 50s who was the model and voice for Disney’s Peter Pan. To fashion this sprawling tribute, Ferree chooses a mix of earthy doo-wop, swaggering glam-rock and fuzzy garage tones – creating a record to get lost in that’s also wall-to-wall fun.

5 A Charlie Brown Christmas/The McGarrigle Christmas Hour Everyone has their favourite Christmas albums unearthed around the 12th and buried after the 26th, and these are always the first on while mince pie-munching in the Shabby house. Genius Vince Guaraldi puts a layer of magic all over the Charlie Brown Christmas Special with his sparkling, sad piano pieces, and the McGarrigles harness the wider Wainwright clan to make a series of baroque, blissful Christmas scenes. Martha's the best. Of course.