One of my favourite labels at the moment is probably RVNG INTL, thanks mostly to the Blues Control & Laraaji album I fixated on at the end of last year, and to the forthcoming collaboration between Sun Araw, M Geddes Gengras and The Congos. There’s also, though, Julia Holter, whose forthcoming album is a crystalline pleasure called “Ekstasis”, and is the sort of cleanly-etched and marginally ethereal record that seems very well-suited to bright winter days like this one (in London, at least). If you drop in on RVNG’s site, you can hear “Marienbad”, the first track from “Ekstasis”, which gives a pretty idea of what to expect. Comparisons are to some degree invidious when dealing with such an individual artist but, nevertheless, you could feasibly pitch Holter’s music as a cross between the nuanced trajectories of Joanna Newsom, and Julianna Barwick’s sepulchral and in some cases disorienting use of ambient effects. As you’ll hear, there’s also a point in “Marienbad” which exquisitely promises a dance breakdown that never quite arrives; a link, perhaps, with Fever Ray and a de-gothified Zola Jesus. One of my wise colleagues also spotted a certain melodic kinship with the Aphex Twin circa “Richard D James”. Once or twice, the rest of the album verges on being rather winsome indie-synthpop, but Holter is always skilled at pulling her music into a less expected place. The final “This Is Ekstasis” begins as a dislocated piano ballad, expands into a chorale of dislocated Holters (which reminds me, thrillingly, of Linda Perhacs’ “Parallelograms”), staggers onwards on knifelike synths, and gradually finds a place for some meandering jazz. There is a free sax solo, some panting, eerie incantations, double bass and cellos, and a sense that Holter is keen to mix an unorthodox but vivid kind of pop with something akin to the avant-garde; maybe those of you who’ve heard last year’s “Tragedy” would know more about that? One last damned comparison, anyhow: if you were as disappointed as I was with the last Björk album, check this out. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRMulvey

Thinking about it now, it seems as if many of our favourite film makers decided to take 2011 off. Aside from the Coens' True Grit at the start of the year and Martin Scorsese's foray into children's movies at its close, you could be forgiven for wondering where had all the directors we'd so assiduously championed since Uncut began, in 1997, disappeared off to. But there are encouraging signs that 2012 might find many of them resuming filmmaking duties. Out in just a few weeks is Alexander Payne's latest, quite brilliant, take on the plight of the middle age male, The Descendants, and we're waiting impatiently for Whit Stillman's first film in 13 years, Damsels In Distress, which has already done the rounds of the festival circuit overseas. For now, though, here's a taster of another one of our most anticipated films of this year, Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, the trailer for which appeared online last night. So what can we tell you about it? Well, it looks like we're in reassuringly familiar territory: the meticulous composition, the highly stylised colour palette, the '60s pop songs on the soundtrack and - yep - there's Bill Murray in there, too. The story appears to be set in the mid 1960s and follows two teenagers who fall in love and decide to elope, much to the consternation of their local community. Lots of regular faces - Jason Schwartzman among them - plus a couple of late comers to the Anderson party, including Ed Norton and Bruce Willis. Enjoy it here. Meanwhile, why not tell us what you think of the Moonrise Kingdom taster, or let us know what films you're looking forward to seeing this coming year. I know plenty of folk who're excited by the year's larger films - The Dark Knight Rises and Prometheus, in particular. But what about smaller films like Young Adult, from the Juno team of Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, or gritty British drama Wild Bill? Maybe you're just made up that there's going to be a new Muppets film out in a few weeks time... It'd be good to hear from you, anyway.

A fine morning thus far, thanks to Julia Holter, Leonard Cohen and, as I type, the new album by Lee Ranaldo, “Between The Times & The Tides”. “Between The Times…” is the first Ranaldo solo project to grapple with more orthodox songforms. While last year’s Thurston Moore album “Demolished Thoughts” notionally stripped back the Sonic Youth sound, a good few of the tracks here appear to supercharge it. Early days to judge this properly, but it does sound very good on first listen, not least because Ranaldo has wisely built a band, to showcase his rare songs, that could reasonably be a match for the apparently moribund Sonic Youth: Nels Cline and Alan Licht on guitars; Irwin Menken on bass; John Medeski on keys; plus Youth alumni Steve Shelley and Bob Bert (drums) and the elusive Jim O’Rourke (bass). “Fire Island (Phases)” is playing right now, and it flits between inventive expansions and Deadlike country rock in just the way longterm Ranaldo admirers – who’ve long lamented the scarcity of his songs on Youth albums - might have hoped. We’ll talk about all this later, then. But in the meantime, Matador have just released the first track for public consumption. It’s called “Off The Wall” and you can hear it here: oceanic strums Ranaldo’s usual quizzical resonance, a clear path from Sonic Youth, and a pretty poppy core. Let me know, as ever, what you think. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRMulvey