I’ve made no secret of the fact that one of my favorite albums of 2007 has been the self-titled debut LP from Sweden’s The Mary Onettes (with “Slow” possibly being my fave song of the year). Their brand of 80s-inspired new wave/synth-pop/post-punk is nothing we haven’t heard before, but the band does it so effortlessly and gracefully, everything old seems brand new once again.

Up until now, though, The Mary Onettes has only been available via import. But according to Pitchfork, that all changes on December 11, when Labrador releases the album here in the States. So get ready to break out the black eyeliner kids, and mope about in the finest ‘80s style.

Well, sort of. The Ross will have a free screening of Sigur Rós’ concert film/tour documentary Heima (trailer, photoblog) on Thursday, December 13 at 7:00pm. ‘Nuff said.

I wrote about The Ultimate Bootleg Experience earlier and since then, I’ve been going through their archives and grabbing anything and everything that interests me, which is a lot: The Cure, U2, Depeche Mode, House Of Love, Arcade Fire, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joy Division, Johnny Cash, and so on. However, the best thing that I’ve downloaded so far is a recording of a 1986 London concert by the legendary (or at least, should be legendary) Talk Talk (click here to download).

Given that it’s a 1986 performance, you won’t find any songs from their most seminal recordings (1988’s Spirit Of Eden and 1991’s Laughing Stock). What you will find, however, is a recording of a band clearly in a transitional phase, moving from their new wave origins towards a lusher, more expansive sound. Which is best heard in their epic performance of “It’s My Life” (aka that one No Doubt cover), which is arguably the band’s most famous single—and one of the poppiest songs in their catalog.

Other highlights include their namesake single and a stunning closing rendition of “Such A Shame,” which sends chills down my spine every time I listen to it.

The soundboard recording’s quality is pretty decent with a few gaps and pops here and there. Which means the only negative thing about this recording is that listening to Talk Talk in concert forces you to realize how special they were, and how few bands today are creating music as superlative.

Those of you who frequent Opus know that I always love a good mashup, and the stranger and less obvious, the better. Which brings us to 100dBs’ Aphex Twin Mashups:

How ill is Aphex Twin with the beats? I’ve been listening to his work for about a decade now and none of it sounds dated. Maybe more heads will recognize if I throw some vocals on top… here we have some quality mashups including verses by Busta Rhymes, Peaches, Nas, TI, Daft Punk, Snoop Dogg, Q-Tip, Afrika Bambaataa, OC, and Kool Keith. Technically one of the instrumentals is co-produced by Squarepusher, but whatever. That dude is crazy too.

My personal fave is “Drop Alberto Like It’s Hot”: ah, Snoop Dogg and Richard D. James, together at last. There’s just something about Snoop and his crew’s lazy, lethargic delivery combined with James’ tranquil, hallucinatory beats, bleeps, and bloops that feels right, like it should have always been this way.

(On a related note, Snoop’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” was the subject of another fine mashup, this time with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”. Listen to Led Snooppelin here.)

• If you’ve got a couple of hours to spare, check out Twitch’s video player, which is quickly becoming the storehouse for international and cult trailers, clips, and short films.
• PopMatters reviews Paprika: In contrast to the typical American animation, where anthropomorphized animals trade lame pop culture references within a message-heavy happenstance, Paprika is like 2001 without Kubrick’s obsessive ambiguity… Like the DC Mini at the center of the story, Paprika doesn’t fully explain its purpose or potential. It leaves it up to us, the viewers, to figure it all out. And that’s half the fun of this fabulous film. The rest is what anime does best—amaze. My review is here.
• The trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield is alive and kicking. The initial teaser that played before Transformers was just great, and the new trailer looks even better.
• IGN reviews BioWare’s Mass Effect: Mass Effect is [a] game that is greater than the sum of its parts. Technical issues abound, but the majority of Mass Effect is so expertly delivered that it can transcend its weaknesses. Applying number ratings to a game like this doesn’t do it justice because there is no way you can ignore its technical flaws. Simply put, Mass Effect is a game that must be played. Then it must be played again. Don’t pass this one up. Between this and pumpkin pie, my Thanksgiving is looking pretty packed.
• Keep browser lock-out a thing of the past: Locking out users, be it because they do not use a particular device or application to browse the Web or because they happen to have a disability, completely misses the point of the Web. The Web is meant to be universal, device-independent, inclusive, and accessible. What, exactly, is the point of deliberately preventing people from accessing your site with the user agent of their choice? Amen. Besides, why would you want to lock out a browser as great as Safari, especially with all of those great new features that WebKit is sporting these days?
• The latest anime from Makoto Shinkai, 5 Centimeters Per Second, won “Best Animated Feature Film” at the first annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards—more info here.
• My cable modem has been taking a beating lately, and The Ultimate Bootleg Experience is to blame. Lately, I’ve been really digging Talk Talk in London (1986), U2 in Paris (1987), and The Cure in Birmingham (1985)—and that’s just scratching the surface.
• Off The Sky has just released Form Creek, yet another downloadable EP for your listening pleasure.
• I only just discovered it, but I have a feeling that Labrador has another hit on their hands with Club 8’s The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming. Give it a spin and decide for yourself.
• Understanding Web Design: Web design is not book design, it is not poster design, it is not illustration, and the highest achievements of those disciplines are not what web design aims for. File under “Must read.”

Bracken is a side project of Chris Adams, who some of you may know as one-half of the core duo that makes up Hood (and if you know of Hood, best get started). Earlier this year, Adams released We Know About The Need (my review), which eschewed the pastoral, autumnal soundscapes that Hood are best known for, and instead delved into a pastiche of glitch, electronica, and hip-hop. (Not surprisingly, We Know About The Need was released Anticon Records.)

Then, Bracken released Eno About The Need, an LP of outtakes, experiments, and other bits that didn’t make it into We Know About The Need—and was released as only one copy (the plan being that this copy eventually winds up on various evil file-sharing services and whatnot).

And now, Bracken is back with a remix album entitled, well, Remixes. Five tracks from We Know About The Need are remixed by nine artists, including The Boats, Remote Viewer, and coolest of all, The Third Eye Foundation. That’s right, Matt Elliott has dusted off his TEF moniker (which he “retired” back in 2001) for this special occasion.

You can listen to two of the remixes on Bracken’s MySpace page.

Remixes is already out, and can be ordered from the Anticon website. It will be available as both a digital download and a limited run of 300 CDs, all of which were handmade by Bracken.

Of all of the anime/manga series out there, the one that I truly don’t get is Dragon Ball (and its various incarnations). My brother is a huge fan, but I’ve just never seen the appeal of characters who spend three to five episodes smack talking their opponents, and then another three to five episodes powering up before actually getting around to fighting. (Yes, I kid, but come on… even you fans have to admit it gets a little preposterous.)

Not surprisingly, I didn’t really care all that much for the impending movie adaptation that’s being directed by James Wong (The X-Files, Final Destination, The One). But suddenly, that’s changed a fair bit.

I just found out that Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle) is producing the film and that James Marsters (aka Spike aka the best character in Buffy The Vampire Slayer) has been cast as the film’s chief villain.

That’s a crazy mixture of talent right there, plain and simple. No offense to Wong, but Chow would be a better choice for director: if anyone should make a live-action anime, it should be the man behind Shaolin Soccer. But hopefully Chow as the producer will mean that some of his madcap lunacy will carry over into the finished film.

And Spike, on the big screen, as the big bad?!? Come on, people. That’s just awesome. If anyone can pull this off, it’s Marsters, who affected the perfect mix of cartoonish buffoonery, menace, and empathy in Spike.