My Cat Is an Alien

My Cat Is An Alien
Origin Turin, Italy
Genres experimental, avant garde, audiovisual performance
Years active 1997–present
Labels Atavistic, Elliptical Noise, Important, Opax Records
Associated acts Painting Petals On Planet Ghost
Praxinoscope
Music For Phantoms
Black Magic Disco
Website mycatisanalien.com
Members Maurizio Opalio
Roberto Opalio

My Cat Is an Alien (MCIAA) is the name of the Italian musical duo and outsider audiovisual artists consisting of brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, formed in Torino, Italy, in late 1997. They release avant garde /experimental music in a peculiar form of improvisation that MCIAA themselves define 'instantaneous composition'.[1]

MCIAA's first live show was supporting Sonic Youth in 1998. Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth is a fan and has collaborated with the duo and released some of their material on his own Ecstatic Peace! record label.

Thurston Moore and Byron Coley wrote on Arthur Magazine,

“ Italy's MY CAT IS AN ALIEN is the finest two-brother band from Italy since the end of the Great War. [2] ”

MCIAA's work range over many artistic activities: musical performance, films and videos, audiovisual installations, poetry, drawing, photography, painting.

In September 2011, My Cat Is An Alien are the cover feature in The Wire magazine.[3]

Releases

My Cat Is An Alien are one of the most prolific groups in the international experimental music scene, with more than 100 records in their first 13 years of activity.

Tony Herrington, editor-in-chief & publisher of The Wire, characterizes the duo as

“ Roberto and his brother Maurizio are the highly advanced lifeforms crewing the mysterious starship that goes by the name of My Cat Is An Alien (MCIAA), plotting a quixotic course through three millennia of cosmic music, from the celestial drones of the Pythagorean monochord onwards, to land up in the gravity-free realm of the No-mind [4] ”

The group has a large number of albums and side project material which is widely available on CDs, LPs and digital downloads released by well-known labels such as Atavistic (USA), Important (USA), Very Friendly/ Cargo (UK), P.S.F. (Japan), Elliptical Noise (CAN) among many others.

All MCIAA's album covers come from paintings, drawings and photographs by Roberto Opalio. Since artwork is a basic aspect of every record, MCIAA often release limited art edition vinyls, lathe cuts, cassettes, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs on their own Opax Records imprint, and other independent record labels.

In their early years, MCIAA made all recordings in the 'Space Room', the duo's first studio, located in an abandoned factory zone to the north of Torino city centre. As expression of their DIY aesthetics they self-released many limited CD-Rs during that period.

MCIAA's international debut album Landscapes Of An Electric City/ Hypnotic Spaces 3-sided LP on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label in 2002 earned high marks from Dusted Magazine (volcanic, both in sound quality and seeping magnitude…floating, impressionistic noise." [5] ) and Bananafish Magazine, and a special mention on the book Post Rock (Giunti).[6]

From 2004 MCIAA put out three consecutive vinyl releases on Eclipse Records—The Rest Is Silence (2004), When The Windmill's Whirl Dies (2005), and Greetings From The Great Void (2006)— later intended as a trilogy.

Another concept album collecting some of their most remarkable ambient, instrumental works, The Cosmological Eye Trilogy, was published as a 3 CD set on Last Visible Dog Records and awarded as "BEST 2005 ANTHOLOGY" by Foxy Digitalis, hereby introduced by editor-in-chief Brad Rose:

“ As 2005 went on, I became a bigger and bigger My Cat Is An Alien fan. This Italian brother-duo are cosmic travellers, giving us earthlings a taste of stellar dust. This 3 CD set is absolutely essential. A pile of music to reach the summit of Olympus Mons, missing this would be an absolute crime. [7] ”

After other key works such as Il Segno (Starlight Furniture Co., 2003), and Through The Reflex Of The Rain (Free Porcupine Society, 2005), in 2005 Important Records started releasing some albums that were met with praise by critics and contemporaries alike—Cosmic Light Of The Third Millennium (2005), Leave Me In The Black No-Thing (2007), For The Tears Of The Land_Prayers From The Outer Space (2009), Roberto Opalio's soloist debut Chants From Isolated Ghosts (2007), and an untitled limited split vinyl LP of solo works by the two brothers (2009)—

“ This is highly original music.You can get lost inside its minimal, limpid beauty. ”

claimed Ed Pinsent, editor & publisher of The Sound Projector Magazine.[8]

Different Shades Of Blue, published by defunct label A Silent Place in 2006, has been awarded album of 2005 in the Top 30 chart "THE BEST OF AMBIENT WORKS 1978-2008" by the prestigious Studio Voice multi-media magazine [9] and book publications in Japan.[10]

In 2005 the Opalio brothers moved their recording studio from Torino to a remote and secret location in the Western Alps they call 'Alien Zone', where Roberto introduced his wordless vocalizations as a leading instrument. In this regard English writer Ken Hollings, author of MCIAA cover article in The Wire, states:

“ Less a celestially pure tone than a cosmic moan, his brother's [Roberto] vocals find a distant echo in Blind Willie Johnson's Dark Was The Night Cold Was The Ground, recorded on Earth back in 1927 but currently making its way through deep space aboard Voyager as part of its collection of human music. [11] ”

From the vastness of the Alpine territory, the brothers released new key works, including Black Shadows From Jupiter, Vol.I & II (Opax Records, 2005 / Elliptical Noise, 2009), Photoelectric Season (Elliptical Noise, 2010), and Fragments Suspended In Time (Opax Records, 2010).

Starting from 2009, most of their new albums are published by their devoted Canadian label Elliptical Noise Records, that in 2011 put out the triple CD set What Space Is Made For, whose track The Antigravitational Sense Of Nothingness is featured in Wire Tapper 25 CD Compilation accompanying The Wire magazine No. 326 (April 2011).[12]

In 2008 My Cat Is An Alien also signed for Atavistic Worldwide.

On September 14, 2011 My Cat Is An Alien's first thirteen years of activity were celebrated with ALIENOLOGY: Selected Works 1998-2008, a ten disc box retrospective published by Elliptical Noise.[13]

Collaborations

My Cat Is An Alien have set up multimedia collaborations with vanguards such as Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Christian Marclay, Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Nels Cline (Wilco), Text of Light, Steve Roden, Christina Carter (Charalambides), Mats Gustafsson, Enore Zaffiri and many more.[1]

In July 2004 MCIAA started a project of collaboration with some of these artists in the form of two series of special split Art-LP releases (later re-issued on CD) entitled From the earth to the Spheres (7 volumes) and Cosmic Debris (5 volumes), which have been acclaimed as some of the most original publications in the record history, every vinyl copy coming along a proper 30x30 cm acrylic painting on canvas or wood panels, in the latter series with the addition of installed Polaroid films. Roberto Opalio realized every volume in 100 unique exemplars, individually signed and numbered. The From the earth to the Spheres series has been awarded 2004's “Avant Rock Top 10" by The Wire.[14]

“ Italian DIY space rockers My Cat Is An Alien’s rampant release schedule continues to attract Sun Ra worshippers to their cause. The production takes on the mantle of a release from Saturn. ”

wrote Edwin Pouncey (The Wire),[15]

“ The creative concept behind the Opalio brothers' ongoing From the earth to the Spheres series of dual recordings featuring guest artists is somewhat reminiscent of the ESP-Disk mantra. [16] ”

At the beginning of 2008 My Cat Is An Alien were introduced to Italian pioneer of electronic music Enore Zaffiri (at the time 80 years old). In February, the trio recorded some completely improvised material, with Zaffiri re-working some of his reel-to-reel tapes from the 1960s. Despite their opposite methods in composing music, a strong musical connection is documented by this session released by Atavistic in the CD+DVD set entitled Through The Magnifying Glass Of Tomorrow (2009),[17] also featuring two art films: Trasparenze (by Zaffiri) and Light_Earth_Blue_Silver (by Roberto Opalio, with soundtrack by MCIAA).

In 2008, Roberto Opalio and My Cat Is An Alien were invited by Sonic Youth to take part to Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix exhibition. At the opening at LiFE museum in St-Nazaire, France, MCIAA joined Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) for a special live music performance collaboration, along with Michael Morley (Dead C), and Opalio's close collaborator Ramona Ponzini (Painting Petals On Planet Ghost), later released by Starlight Furniture Co. in a limited vinyl edition—Live @ Sensational Fix, 2009.[18] Later that year, a further collaborative live event with Lee Ranaldo occurred in Verona, Italy, this time close to the second opening of the same exhibition at Museion in Bolzano. In 2010 Atavistic released it on CD with the title All Is Lost In Translation.

Instrumentation

Multi-instrumentalists, My Cat Is An Alien primarily play electric and acoustic guitars, various toy instruments (so-called 'space toys'), modified electronics ('alientronics') and a wide set of percussion. Roberto Opalio's personal use of wordless vocalizations adds human voice as a further instrument in the list.[1]

Live Performances

It seems like My Cat Is An Alien's shamanic-like live performances are kind of rare; during the years they apparently showed up only at selected special events, and some of the most prestigious international festivals of avant garde and experimental music: among others, K-RAA-K (Belgium), Ferrara Sotto Le Stelle (Italy), the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (Canada), whose recording has been released through Les Disques VICTO (Il Suono Venuto dallo Spazio, 2006), and ATP Nightmare Before Christmas curated by Thurston Moore (UK), were MCIAA were introduced this way:

“ My Cat Is An Alien's music is always free at its root level, always exploring some nook of the cosmos... The brothers have always maintained that what they produce is a kind of psychedelia, and surely that's true. But it is a form of the music so far from the rote harmonics of the paisleys, that it's not recognizable as anything, except perhaps pure hallucination. Then, what could possibly closer to the true nature of psychedelia? The music MCIAA create sounds different, looks different, smells different, depending on where you are in the room. It's a total dislocation of inputs and outputs and everything else. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. ”

- Byron Coley [19]

Audiovisual Art

Even before starting their musical career, Maurizio and especially Roberto Opalio had interests in visual arts, operating in almost all disciplines, from painting to photography, drawing, poetry, sculpture, audiovisual installation, film and videos. All of the artworks of My Cat Is An Alien's records represent paintings, photos and drawings by Roberto Opalio, and are curated personally by the duo, thus giving a totally peculiar visual aspect to their musical releases.

In 2005 Roberto Opalio has been commissioned to design an exclusive T-shirt for The Wire magazine.

In 2008, Roberto Opalio and My Cat Is An Alien were invited by Sonic Youth to take part to Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix exhibition, scheduled in big European museums of contemporary arts between 2008 and 2010. Other than the official exhibition catalog published by Walter Koenig,[20] curator Roland Groenenboom presented a spin-off limited zine at Malmo Konsthall, featuring exclusive artworks by Roberto Opalio and MCIAA, alongside Christian Marclay, Savage Pencil, Barbara Ess, Marco Fusinato.[21]

Roberto Opalio contributed to this exhibition with Alien Guitar Case No. 6, one in his series of installations made of the artist's multimedia artworks and objects incorporated into MCIAA's used guitar cases;[22] and his film entitled Alien Blood (2005–2008),[23] whose soundtrack by MCIAA was issued in a very limited vinyl art edition on Opax Records, and later included in ALIENOLOGY: Selected Works 1998-2008 (2011).

In 2009 Atavistic published on DVD Roberto Opalio's dual film Light_Earth_Blue_Silver (2008), that the artist himself claims as "proudly filmed in 8mm" up on a desolate track in Western Alps.[24] The soundtrack is by My Cat Is An Alien. The film was presented at Netwerk Center for Contemporary Art in Aalst (Belgium) in March 2009, at Octubre CCC (Centre de Cultura Contemporània) in Valencia (Spain) in April 2009, at Netmage.10 International Live-Media Festival at Palazzo Re Enzo, Bologna (Italy) in January 2010. Ken Hollings writes about it in his cover article (The Wire, No. 331):

“ Light_Earth_Blue_Silver communicates this sense of immediacy with great concentration and power. Its sole protagonist is a large wire model of the Alien icon Roberto has been featuring in paitings and drawings over many years. A stick figure with widely extended arms and legs, its head is a single sharply elliptical eye, permanently open and staring out at the universe that surrounds it. In a series of raw ritual gestures, the Alien is dragged and pushed through a rough winter landscape: shown across two screens, the twitching of the wire limbs makes it appear as if the Alien were writhing and crawling over the snow-covered rocks and brown, bare earth. To MCIAA's intense soundtrack, the Alien becomes entangled with branches, twigs and lichen until at the movie's climax, he is seen moving upright against a blue Alpine sky. [11] ”

The same article shows pictures and works taken in the Opalio brothers' studio for visual arts, named 'Alien Studio'.

Discography

ALBUMS

COLLABORATIVE ALBUMS

SINGLES, EPs

COMPILATIONS

ROBERTO OPALIO

MAURIZIO OPALIO

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST (Ramona Ponzini, Maurizio Opalio, Roberto Opalio)

PRAXINOSCOPE (Roberto Opalio & Ramona Ponzini)

BLACK MAGIC DISCO (Maurizio & Roberto Opalio, Ramona Ponzini, Tom Greenwood)

MUSIC FOR PHANTOMS (Maurizio & Roberto Opalio)

ONE LONELY ALIEN CAT (Roberto Opalio)

ORANGE CAR CRASH (My Cat Is An Alien, Amour en Stéréophonie, Viggiu Vortex)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "My Cat Is An Alien: Biography" My Cat Is An Alien official bio. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  2. ↑ Byron Coley & Thurston Moore, "Bull Tongue", Arthur magazine, issue 6 (Sept 2003), www.arthurmag.com, retrieved February 16, 2012
  3. ↑ "The Wire, issue 331: My Cat Is An Alien" The Wire, issue 331 (Sept 2011). Retrieved February 16, 2012
  4. ↑ Tony Herrington, "Brothers from another planet", The Wire, issue 251 (Jan 2005), "Wire: issue 251: My Cat Is An Alien". Retrieved February 16, 2012
  5. ↑ Tom Roberts, "Maneuvering an Architectural Valentine", Dusted, March 13, 2003. "Landascapes Of An Electric City/ Hypnotic Spaces" review. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  6. ↑ Eddy Cilia e Stefano I. Bianchi, Post Rock e oltre. Introduzione alle musiche del 2000, Giunti, 1999, pg.133. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  7. ↑ Brad Rose, "2005 Charts: Best Anthology" Foxy Digitalis. www.foxydigitalis.com, retrieved February 16, 2012
  8. ↑ Ed Pinsent, "Landscapes Of An Electric City/ Hypnotic Spaces" review, The Sound Projector, issue 11 (March 2003), www.thesoundprojector.com, retrieved February 16, 2012
  9. ↑ Itaru Mita, "Ambient Chillout", Studio Voice, issue No. 8, Vol.392 (Aug 2008), studiovoice.jp. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  10. ↑ Itaru Mita, "THIRD DECADE 1998-2009: 2005_MY CAT IS AN ALIEN", Ambient Music 1969-2009, Studio Voice Books / INFAS Books (2009), pg.213-216, ISBN 978-4-900785-88-5. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  11. 1 2 Ken Hollings, "A Homemade Universe", The Wire, issue 331 (Sept 2011), "Wire: issue 331: My Cat Is An Alien". Retrieved February 16, 2012
  12. ↑ "The Wire Tapper 25 CD" The Wire, issue 326 (April 2011). Retrieved February 16, 2012
  13. ↑ "ALIENOLOGY: Selected Works 1998-2008". Retrieved February 16, 2012
  14. ↑ "Wire: 2004 Rewind" The Wire, issue 251 (Jan 2005). Retrieved February 16, 2012
  15. ↑ Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, issue 232 (June 2003). Retrieved February 16, 2012
  16. ↑ Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, issue 257 (July 2005). Retrieved February 16, 2012
  17. ↑ "Through The Magnifying Glass Of Tomorrow" www.atavistic.com, retrieved February 16, 2012
  18. ↑ "Live @ Sensational Fix" Retrieved February 16, 2012
  19. ↑ "ATP Nightmare Before Christmas 2006" curated by Thurston Moore Retrieved February 16, 2012
  20. ↑ Roland Groenenboom, Sonic Youth Etc.: Sensational Fix, Walther Konig, 2009, Hardback. ISBN 978-3-86560-539-9. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  21. ↑ Sensational Fix Zine No. 2 My Cat Is An Alien official website. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  22. ↑ "Alien Guitar Case Series" My Cat Is An Alien official website. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  23. ↑ "Alien Blood" film My Cat Is An Alien official website. Retrieved February 16, 2012
  24. ↑ "Light_Earth_Blue_Silver" film My Cat Is An Alien official website. Retrieved February 16, 2012

External links

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