Alien Blood
(Opax - OPX030) LP $40.50
One of the most impressive and innovative MCIAA recordings to date, the original soundtrack from Roberto Opalio’s 2005-2008 film of the same name, currently getting screened as part of the Sonic Youth Etc.: Sensational Fix museum exhibition, has so far been presented at LIFE (France), and is scheduled around the globe for the next couple of years. The improvised score by My Cat Is An Alien follows the minimal and surrealistic beginning of the film with sparse echoes of eerie sounds, growing in dark timbres and pathos. Maurizio Opalio’s heavily effected "blood percussions" compress the air, while Roberto's wordless vocals, along with space toys, alientronics and mini-keyboard, walk the razor's edge of another dimension. The finale comes as one of the most epic crescendos ever performed by the Italian duo. Limited to 220 copies in handmade textured cardboard folders with full-color paste-on still images from the film.
Black Shadows from Jupiter, Vol. I & II
(Elliptical Noise - ALPHAOMEGA6547-48) 2xCDR $16.00
Volume I was issued in 2005 by the Opalio brothers' Opax Records imprint in “Monalien Fidelity,” a reference / tribute to ESP's monaural sound recordings. Available in stereo for the first time, Volume I’s two long tracks are the very first music recorded by MCIAA after they moved to the new recording space located in the Western Alps, and contain Roberto Opalio's first experiments in wordless vocals. Five years later, in October 2009, they recorded Volume II, almost one hour of new material representing a unique journey in the darkest secrets of the S-System. Gatefold cardboard jacket with tape binding and paste-on artwork, with insert. Professionally duplicated in Germany.
KEIJI HAINO / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
Cosmic Debris Vol. 3
(Opax - OPX10) split LP $125.00
Third installment in the Cosmic Debris split-LP series sees the two space brothers from Torino, Italy, alongside Japan’s ichiban cult musician and dark shaman. Both side-long tracks, recorded live in the performers’ respective hometowns, detonate cosmic skullbombs: Haino’s “Whither goes it? / That which can’st not but be described / As my prayer/ Nowhere held in common / Lunatic, unknowable...” should tell you everything you need to know about it just by the title, while MCIAA’s “Everything Crashes Like Cosmic Debris” kicks the ass that cannot be kicked. Each record comes with an original acrylic painting by Roberto Opalio on 30x30cm proper canvas, with a unique Polaroid instant film installed on each piece, representing 100 different perspectives of a same subject related to MCIAA’s own cosmic imaginary. Extraordinarily limited, as usual.
LOREN CONNERS & HIS HAUNTED HOUSE BAND / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
Cosmic Debris Vol. 5
(Opax - OPX012) split LP $125.00
On the fifth and final volume in the Cosmic Debris series the space duo shares the vinyl with legendary avant-blues guitarist, whose tracks "Improv" and "Thomas Paine" document his now-defunct project HAUNTED HOUSE (featuring his wife Suzanne Langille, Andrew Burnes, and Neel Murgai). MCIAA's "Everything Tears Like Cosmic Debris" seals the concept behind this series of "art manufacts" and collaborations. In the silence of The Great Void, sparse melancholic guitar chords and eerie vocalizations build up an astral chant in celebration of the end of an old age and the beginning of a new one. Packaged with an original acrylic painting by Roberto Opalio on 30x30cm canvas, with a unique Polaroid instant film installed on each piece, representing one of a hundred different perspectives of a same subject related to My Cat Is An Alien's own cosmic imaginary. Limited edition of 100 copies.
For the Tears of the Land Prayers from the Outer Space - Vol.1
(Elliptical Noise - ALPHAOMEGA6543) CDR $12.00
The first of an ambitious two-part series by the cosmic brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, kicking off with an acoustic blues performed by Roberto, dedicated to the pioneers of the American primitive music and in particular to the spirit of Charley Patton. "It’s magical, mysterious and dreamy," says Indieworkshop, "19 million light years worth of dreams." Cardboard jacket with past-on artwork. Professionally duplicated in Germany.
From the Earth to the Spheres Vol. 2
(Opax - OPX002) LP $80.00
Thuja mine minimalism and sound textures within elaborate, real-time compositions that examine the nature of sound. Audio-visual artist Loren Chasse (Coelacanth) and Glenn Donaldson (Mirza, Sky Green Leopards, Birdtree and Ivytree) are joined on one of the their more adventurous and hypnotic works, “The Magma Is The Brother Of The Stone” by Rob Reger and collaborator Greg Bianchini. My Cat Is An Alien scan obscure and scattered drones as the world collapses into silence. The Italian duo’s high-frequency ectoplasm drifts away from the raw howl of the past toward a blues-y intimacy. Edition of 100, with Roberto Opalio’s painted wood covers.
GLANDS OF EXTERNAL SECRETION / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
From the Earth to the Spheres Vol. 5
(Very Friendly - VF023) split CD $15.00
Fierce blonde Barbara Manning and Bananafish founder Seymour Glass are joined by Nels Cline on lap steel for “Icebox,” a slow ascent from isolation through frozen tape manipulation, icy drones, and subtle infernal groans from the obscure side of the moon. The unearthly fragmented vocals of the Italian Opalio brothers create the heavy, emotional textures of the interstellar “After the Meteor Shower,” with howling guitars and electronics, the distant echo of a drum, and a whispered chant emerging from the concrete surface of the planet.
CHRISTIAN MARCLAY / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
From the Earth to the Spheres Vol. 7
(Opax - OPX007) split LP $75.00
The seventh volume in the From the Earth To the Spheres split vinyl LP series pairs the Opalio brothers with Christian Marclay (turntable, electronics) and Okkyung Lee (cello), who recorded their side -- where else? -- at Tonic in NYC, 2003. MCIAA’s side is also a live recording (from Italy in 2002). As with every other volume in the series, this is a limited edition of 100 copies, packaged in an original acrylic painting by Roberto Opalio on a 31x31cm wooden support, individually signed by the artist.
Il Segno
(Starlight Furniture Company) CD $15.00
(Starlight Furniture Company) LP $15.00
Beginning with a gloomy text entitled “The Sign” written by guitarist / lyricist Roberto Opalio, My Cat Is An Alien entered The Space Room and recorded this dark and concrete improvisation, a single piece of howling and caustic ruination. Maurizio Opalio comes out of the fog with desolate acoustic guitar scratches, Roberto’s electric space guitar scribbles as he spits out his words of urban alienation, and Viggiu Vortex joins the brothers on percussion. Piano toy and toy keyboard were added later to enhance the surreal lyrics inspired by ghosts, a sense of psychic, cultural and social isolation in their hometown Torino, Italy, and the infinite lightness and beauty between the cement and the sky. CD contains two non-LP tracks.
Listen Before Black Falls
(Root Strata - RS19) LP $15.00
A third eye laser beam shot from the catacombs of Torino, Italy. An acoustic guitar lullaby leads down a long, dark tunnel of alpha wave feedback. Jacket is silk-screened (front) and hand-lettered (back). Numbered edition of 300.
MICHAEL MORLEY / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / RAMONA PONZINI / LEE RANALDO
Live @ Sensational Fix
(Starlight Furniture Company - *25) LP $15.00
As part of the 2008 exhibition Sensational Fix, with a focus on Sonic Youth’s multi-disciplinary activities since 1981, My Cat Is An Alien performed live with long-time collaborator Ramona Ponzini, Michael Morley of Dead C, and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. Side B features solo pieces by each of the five members of this extemporaneous ensemble. Stills from the live footage shot by curator Roland Groenenboom appear on the color insert.
Photoelectric Season
(Elliptical Noise - ALPHAOMEGA6549-50) 2xCDR $16.00
During six months of physical and psychic isolation while on mystic retreat in a remote region of the Western Alps, the Opalio Brothers listened to Giacinto Scelsi, Erik Satie and Maki Asakawa and read Strindberg and Lautréamont. Created with electric and acoustic guitars, vocals, mini-keyboard, alientronix, and ancient zither, Photoelectric Season is a milestone in MCIAA's innovative and mysterious discography: their new “cosmic tones for mental therapy.” Gatefold cardboard jacket with tape binding and paste-on artwork, with insert. Professionally duplicated in Germany.