New Releases. Click For Infos.
Hello out there,
welcome to MCIAA’s 10th anniversary! as Messenger spacecraft did his
first flyby of Mercury, sending tons of data to planet Earth, we’re
proud to present you the first batch of special vinyl releases sent
from the outer space: Opax Records’ first issue of 2008 is a gorgeous
art Box edition of 9 copies(!!) of the forthcoming PAINTING PETALS ON
PLANET GHOST second full-lenght album entitled ‘Fallen Camellias’ —
MY CAT IS AN ALIEN didn’t stop at Mercury, but went further on just to
give you a killer piece entitled ‘Solar Anarchy’ on a ltd. split
picture LP with uk cult band PESTREPELLER (don’t miss Roberto Opalio
and Savage Pencil’s artworks on their respective sides) — For the
ones of you who kept looking towards the starry sky, there’s an
astounding new 1-sided LP entitled “Sotto Le Stelle” (Under the Stars)
on the newly-born Lost Treasures of The Underworld records (USA), with
the first ever vinyl side etching by Roberto! And if you’re still
looking for a tiny gem to hold in your hands, don’t miss MCIAA /
VALERIO COSI split 7″ on Black Horizon (USA) —
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****** NEW RELEASES OUT ******
**OPX 028A – PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST – “Fallen Camellias” 5x
1-sided 10″ lathe-cut Box (Opax Records) (private press art edition of
9 copies)
Gorgeous private art edition limited to 9 copies; five 10″ lathe-cut
acetates housed in a heavy cardboard box covered with similar leather,
with flower-shaped die-cut front cover, all designed & handmade by
Maurizio Opalio; each of the 5x 1-sided 10″ lathe-cut acetates
manufactured by Peter King in New Zealand features a single track of
the album playing at 45 rpm; a 12x18cm full-color picture by Ramona
Ponzini on photographic paper has been installed on each disc so as to
be seen through the record’s trasparency. Chromatic paper insert. Each
box contains a little branch of a high-altitude plant coming from the
same locations of the Western Alps where the songs were recorded.
Second full-lenght album from Italy’s Painting Petals On Planet Ghost,
aka brothers Maurizio & Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) and
vocalist Ramona Ponzini (also involved in the duo Praxinoscope, as
well as a new project with Z’ev). ‘Fallen Camellias’ is a tribute to
one of the greatest poetess ever, Japanese Yosano Akiko, whose work in
literature in the early 1900’s is considered as manifesto of the
Japanese Romanticism. Imagine a Vashti Bunyan or a early Marianne
Faithful singing sweet melodies in Japanese language, and you can have
an idea of the musical and poetical universe of Painting Petals On
Planet Ghost. Here Ramona Ponzini’s singing comes from the use of
Akiko’s selected original poems in Japanese along with Ponzini’s own
typical soft and enchanting wordless vocals style, a out of time
muse-like chant hypnotizing the ears and the minds of the listeners.
The songs of ‘Fallen Camellias’ are built on acoustic guitar melodies
composed by Maurizio Opalio, and are made of the same pure,
melancholic essentiality of the legendary Nick Drake; while, after
contributing arrangements of the most ecstatic nature, the other
brother Roberto Opalio has played the role of producer of the whole
album, searching for not only an aesthetic, but especially an
emotional ideal of perfection. In the heart of winter covered by snow,
let ‘Fallen Camellias’ be your warm blanket, as well as the promise of
a new future spring. Here’s a special Painting Petals On Planet
Ghost’s dedication: ‘For
those who drink the wine of love springtime is forever’.
The regular CD issue of ‘Fallen Camellias’ will be out soon on A
Silent Place records.
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**MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “Sotto le Stelle” etched LP (Lost Treasures of
the Underworld)
(ltd. edition of 100; purple vinyl with etching by Roberto Opalio on
one side; 3 color screen-printed covers)
In summer 2007 MCIAA were invited by Sonic Youth to tour with them in
Northern Italy; “Sotto le Stelle” is a long excerpt from the recording
of their shocking live performance at the Ferrara Sotto Le Stelle
festival, which takes place every year in the main square of the
historical city centre, right in front of the wonderful medieval
Estense Castle. On the flipside Roberto Opalio’s first ever vinyl
etching, as well as his exclusive cover artwork, made in three color
screen-printing by Jared Phillips (from the band T/N/V) and the Self
Esteem studios in Columbus, Ohio, hometown of the newly-born label
Lost Treasures of the Underworld.
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**BH-16 – MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / VALERIO COSI – “Stories From The
Vacuum” split 7″ (Black Horizon)
(limited to 500 in clear vinyl; gold ink offset printing on metallic vellum)
A truly ethereal pairing from Italy. While MCIAA has already
established a massive offering in all formats, this 7″is Valerio’s
first vinyl appearance proper. His side is dominated by free jazz sax
loops and trance vocals, with moments of twinkling percussion and
electronic euphoria. An amalgamation of improv styles pulled off in a
way only Valerio can. On the flip is a beautiful example of the lush
guitar ambiance, wordless vocals, and alien space toy sound effects
that the Opalio brothers are known for.
MCIAA play “Blue Beings”
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**ASP31 – MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / PESTREPELLER – “Solar Anarchy / As
Wolf” split picture LP (A Silent Place)
SIDE ONE: My Cat Is An Alien ?Solar Anarchy? – Recorded live in
Cologne, Germany – December 14th, 2006.
Artwork by Roberto Opalio
SIDE A: Pestrepeller ?As Wolf? – Recorded by Toby Robinson in his
London studio, August 2006.
Artwork by Savage Pencil
My Cat Is An Alien are the brothers Roberto and Maurizio Opalio, who
have been spreading their unique brand of mysterious guitarnoise
improv across the globe for ten years. With its strange mixture of
mournful acoustic guitars, amplifier hum and abrasive electric guitar
lines, the duo successfully delineated a contemporary portrait of
modern urban blight and heroin-wasted despair. However, it’s with
their outer-space inspired imagery that the pair have made the most
impact; drawing inspiration from cosmic giants such as Sun Ra, My Cat
Is An Alien christened their home rehearsal / performance area in
Torino as ‘The Space Room’, and recorded numerous symbolic
explorations of the outer galaxies.
Roberto Opalio’s creative arts skills have, from the start, been
harnessed to realising the visual components of their outer space
metaphor, using photography and films; he also executes numerous
paintings, sometimes for the benefit of limited-edition art-object
records issued on their own OPAX label. Roberto returns obsessively to
rendering his striking vision of an attenuated alien figure with its
huge lone eye.
Pestrepeller are a band of part-time musicians from the UK. The core
trio is Harley Richardson, Ed Pinsent and Savage Pencil. Richardson is
a mathematics and computer expert who made a late and sudden
conversion to free improvised noise; Ed Pinsent (who plays organ and
Moog) is the editor of The Sound Projector Music Magazine and
presenter of a radio show of the same name; Savage Pencil, is the only
core member with any history of playing in bands, through his
association as singer with The Art Attacks and Tagmemics, and
guitarist in The Kray Cherubs. The band started life as Ultrasonic
Attack Wave Pestrepeller around 1995, and made the debut CD for
Sympathy For The Record Industry. Sonic Boom remade this early record
by processing it through his VCS3. A second LP was a limited press LP
for Gary Ramon’s Prescription label. Soon the band split up due to
artistic disagreements, but reformed about two years later, met in the
studio and recorded what became Isle of Dark Magick on Important
Records in 2006.
Savage Pencil, well famous cult underground cartoonist, in his
almost-30-years career made artworks for several bands (Sonic Youth,
Lee Ranaldo, The Fall, Big Black, Masonna, etc.), labels (Sympathy For
The Record Industry, SST, Blast First, Beggars Banquet, etc,.), and
strips for music magazines (NME, Sound Magazine, The Wire, Mojo,etc.)
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****** FORTHCOMING RELEASES ******
**PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST – “Fallen Camellias” CD (A Silent
Place) (Second full-lenght album)
**MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / MATS GUSTAFSSON – “Cosmic Debris, Vol.IV” split
ART-LP (Opax Records)
**RAMONA PONZINI & Z’EV – CD (A Silent Place) (debut new collaboration
project)
**MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “Mort Aux Vaches” CD (Staalplaat)
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Humans, stay tuned for more “celestrial communication” on alien radio,
directly broadcasted from Jupiter!
Alien faith!—————-MCIAA
