Two Miles High Music

This vibrant documentary follows concert promoter Chang Weisberg and his Guerilla Union promotion team as they work furiously to ensure that what would turn out to be the last performance of notorious no-shows the Wu-Tang Clan actually takes place. Weisberg puts everything on the line to achieve the seemingly impossible: reuniting the 10 members of the Grammy-winning Wu-Tang Clan, including Method Man ("Garden State," TV's "The Wire"), RZA (composer for "Blade: Trinity" and "Kill Bill" vols. 1 and 2), and founding member, the late Ol' Dirty Bastard to perform at the 2004 "Rock the Bells" hip-hop concert. As if each Wu-Tang member is not difficult enough to work with, the venue's incompetent security, malfunctioning equipment, and riotous crowd all work in tandem to try keeping the history making show from going on. But Weisberg and his team come through to deliver a concert, and a Wu-Tang Clan performance, of a lifetime! Also featuring performances by Redman, Dilated Peoples, MC Supernatural, Sage Francis, Eyedea & Abilities, and more!

Broken Bells is, The Shins' James Mercer & Danger Mouse. Featuring "The High Road" and "The Ghost Inside" Broken Bells features Mercer on vocals, guitars and bass while Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse plays organ, drums, piano, synths and bass. The pair play all the instruments on the album with the exception of a full string section arranged by Daniele Luppi. Broken Bells was recorded at Mondo Studio in Los Angeles and produced by Danger Mouse.

The New York City duo known as Sleigh Bells emerged in the Fall of 2009 with rhythmic pop songs that combine overdriven guitar riffs and sugary female vocal melodies. Derek Miller, who played in the popular Florida hardcore outfit Poison the Well, teamed up with singer Alexis Krauss after he happened to serve her and her mother at a Brazilian restaurant in Brooklyn. As proof of their winning formula, Sleigh Bells quickly earned the adoration of critics at the New Yorker, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and the Village Voice. They are celebrated by both their hometown's outer-borough lo-fi rock scene and international pop acts like Major Lazer and MIA, who collaborated with Derek on her forthcoming third LP.

Ah, that spirited nasal twang of 16-year-old Brenda Lee singing the "Deck! The Halls with Boughs of Holly!" chorus from her mega-hit "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"! When it comes to Christmas classics, some people like their Bing, others their Perry, but for some folks there's nothing quite like that tortured holiday teenage (and beyond) angst of the girl once known as "Little Miss Dynamite." Who else could sing songs like "Marshmallow World" and "Strawberry Snow" and not only make it forgivable, but enjoyable? Brenda gets a bit on the weepy side here with "Blue Christmas" and "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day," but that's the part of her shtick that many people consider the money shot. --Steve Gdula

These Christmas classics were hand picked by Waters himself: "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" by Tiny Tim, "Happy Birthday Jesus" by Little Cindy, "Sleigh Ride" by Alvin And The Chipmunks, "Here Comes Fatty Claus" by Rudolph And Gang, and "Santa Claus Is A Black Man" by AKIM & The Teddy Vann Production Company, to name a few.

Baltimore’s greatest filmmaker has demonstrated a deep appreciation for that very American crossroads of kitsch and sensationalism since the late ‘60s, at least. Of course, quirky Christmas anthologies abound already – the three best probably being Christmas Party With Eddie G, American Song-Poem Christmas, and Where Will You Be Christmas Day. But the songs on A John Waters Xmas are novelty songs for the true connoisseur, including recordings so saccharine and horrifying you wonder how the engineers did not run from the booth screaming; "Happy Birthday Jesus" by the precocious Little Cindy is likely the scariest thing you will ever hear in your life. Not everything is so "Outsider"-y and thrift store score; there’s the rocking, funny "Fat Daddy" by Fat Daddy, a delightful song by the Coctails with the singing saw as the lead instrument, and a gorgeous obscure doo-wop number called "Christmas Time Is Coming (A Street Carol)" by Stormy Weather. --Mike McGonigal

Double vinyl LP pressing. 2010 sophomore album from the Dream-pop trio School of Seven Bells, the highly anticipated follow-up to their debut album, Alpinisms. ''School of Seven Bells. slipped easily between epochs -- medieval polyphony, laptop sorcery, the rhythmic turmoil of Public Image Ltd.'s 1981 album, Flowers Of Romance -- with smart hooks and the Dehezas' alluring vocals, liberally greased with reverb.'' - David Fricke, Rolling Stone