MCIAA / August 2006 News. Click For Infos.
Hello out there!
well, what to say other than welcome to this super hot summer
newsletter? if you think a ride around Pluto would be refreshing, then
MCIAA have a bunch of new releases which could help you with booking
the right spaceship… the website will be updated asap, so you still
won’t find all these new items – MCIAA & Ramona have been doing new
recordings up on Western Alps for a new PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET
GHOST album —
Contents below:
– NEW RELEASES
– NEW LIMITED T-SHIRTS
– DREAM MAGAZINE
– FORTHCOMING RELEASES
– ANNOUNCED LIVE EVENTS
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——– NEW RELEASES ———
Opax Records is proud to present the first DVD-R release in its
catalog! It’s a new work by Roberto Opalio, and it features a new
short film accompanied by a previously unreleased soundtrack — Also,
one of the most acclaimed Opax release to date, MCIAA “Plutonian
Flames” 2xCD-R, is back in catalog with a new limited second edition
run… don’t miss them!
**OPX 020V – ROBERTO OPALIO “Whispers of the last Light” DVD-R (Opax Records)
(special handmade ltd. ed. of 100; in nice-textured cardboard tri-fold
sleeve, with silver ink drawing by Roberto Opalio; handnumbered)
“New short film by visual artist / musician Roberto Opalio, one half
of My Cat Is An Alien. Filmed on March 21st, 2006, the video
represents a visionary, introspective view of the empty spaces over
the city, Torino. Through a unique, hand-manipulated shot made in
real-time, Roberto Opalio’s poetic fragmentation and distortion of
real objects recalls early film experiments by Man Ray, as well as a
certain Warholian psychedelia in the use of filtered light as a main
principle of creation / perception of one’s own reality. The
soundtrack, recorded the same day appositely, leads to a further
estrangement with the use of Opalio’s looped wordless vocals and
electronics merging into a heavy, ecstatic stream of sounds.”
**OPX 016/017 – MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “Plutonian flames” 2xCD-R (Opax Records)
(second edition; look-like-vinyl black-bottom cd-rs in heavy-cardboard
gatefold sleeve, handpainted by Roberto Opalio)
“These are four of the wildest sessions ever recorded by Italian space
brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio at their famed Space Room in
Torino, Italy. Cosmic guitar whirls and piano-toy action alongside a
tribal, compulsive percussion-set which makes their space drones shake
the air the way Xenakis would have made if he ever had directed a
primitive tribe from another galaxy. If you never considered Pluto as
one of your favourite hangouts, the 85 minutes of “Plutonian flames”
will definitely break you in.”
———————————
Talking of long-out-of-print Opax releases, the “self-titled” cd-r
debut of Roberto & Ramona’s new project PRAXINOSCOPE has been reissued
in an amazing picture disc LP ltd. edition by Italian label A Silent
Place — Also, MCIAA ‘s “…Ascends the sky” has been reissued on
proper CD format by Chicago’s Rebis label (Number None’s own imprint),
as first issue in a series called Whitened Sepulchre; the CD is an
expanded version, containing a previously unreleased 20-minutes-long
extra track featuring Ramona Ponzini on wind chimes:
**ASP08 – PRAXINOSCOPE – “s/t” picture disc LP (A Silent Place)
“Praxinoscope is a new Italian duo featuring Roberto Opalio (1/2 of
the the space-brother duo, My Cat is an Alien) and long-time MCIAA
collaborator, Ramona Ponzini. This project traverses a similar terrain
as MCIAA, but is perhaps closer to Roberto’s brilliant solo album,
“Chants From Isolated Ghosts”. Opalio’s vocals star here, taking the
limelight and thriving inside it. Effects drench his voice making it
something truly not of this world. These lunar oceans of sound are
magnificent and totally enthralling. It’s as though he’s a cosmonaut
trapped inside a glass box, unable to travel the reaches of space.
Such confinement derails your mind and Opalio sounds like a person
struggling against himself. At times, hearing this is almost too much
– there’s simultaneous discomfort and exorcism happening and you can’t
quite focus intently on either. You are a passive player in this
exercise, lost in the crevices Opalio and Ponzini create. I cannot
discount Ponzini’s contributions to this 40 minute piece, either.
While it may seem minimal on the surface, her various “Japanese
percussions” (mostly chromatics, cymbals, and the like) add a great
deal of needed texture to counterbalance Opalio’s haunted wails.
Praxinoscope is a great new project from the always wonderful My Cat
is an Alien. This is one of Opax’s finest releases. Praxinoscope are
proof that you don’t need any instruments to make amazing sounds. This
is wonderful, wonderful music.” (Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis)
**WS001 – MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “…Ascends the sky” CD (Rebis)
“Rebis’ Whitened Sepulchre reissue series kicks off with an expanded
version of this out-of-print gem from cosmic improv masters My Cat Is
An Alien. Originally released in 2001 as CD-R, “…Ascends the Sky”
presages the vast sonic nebulae now familiar to MCIAA fans, but those
same fans may be surprised by the way the disc moves through more warm
or tuneful regions, evoking surprising associations like
Spiderland-era Slint, or Tim Buckley’s Lorca or Starsailor albums.”
(Rebis)
——————————-
MCIAA, Painting Petals On Planet Ghost and Roberto Opalio appear with
unreleased tracks on the Gold Soundz’ ultra-limited Gold split
cassette series… please, don’t ask us for copies: the net is the
last chance you have to get one…
**GS#58 – Various Artists – “Orange Gold” C20 Cassette (Gold Soundz)
Edition of 40 copies cassette with colour paper fold-around covers
featuring one track each from Roberto Opalio, Rameses III, Agitated
Radio Pilot and Shattered Minds.
Roberto Opalio appears with his previously unreleased track
“Transparent Moods”
**GS#57 – Various Artists – “Red Gold” C20 Cassette (Gold Soundz)
Edition of 40 copies cassette with colour paper fold-around covers
featuring one track each from Painting Petals On Planet Ghost,
Infinite Article, Crazy River, Sindre Bjerga and United Bible Studies.
PPOPG appear with the previously unreleased track “Oceano”
**GS#55 – Various Artists – “Yellow Gold” C20 Cassette (Gold Soundz)
Edition of 40 copies cassette with colour paper fold-around covers
featuring one track each from My Cat Is An Alien, Entente Cordiale,
Number None and Secrets To The Sea.
MCIAA appear with the previously unreleased track “Cosmic Distance”
==================================
—— NEW LIMITED T-SHIRTS ——
MCIAA made a very limited run of promotional T-shirts to introduce the
new “Cosmic Debris” split art-LPs series!
**COSMIC DEBRIS series – T-shirt (Opax)
(Black t-shirts with 7″ white-ink printing of the series’ logo as on
the LPs’ labels/ sizes XL, L, M)
New super limited T-shirt entitled to MCIAA’s new series of split
ART-LPs collaborations which will feature Text of Light, Steve Roden,
Keiji Haino, Mats Gustafsson, Loren Connors & his Haunted House band.
Black t-shirts with 7″ white-ink printing of the series’ logo as on
the LPs’ labels.
==================================
——– DREAM MAGAZINE ———-
Don’t miss the just-out-now 2006 issue of this cult-indie magazine
featuring an extended article/ interview with MCIAA, plus a previously
unreleased MCIAA’s track included on the CD comp coming with the mag
— (order copies here http://www.dreamgeo.com) —
**DREAM MAGAZINE # 6 (magazine + CD comp)
New issue of this US-based underground music zine, with features on My
Cat Is An Alien, Six Organs Of Admittance, Vibracathedral Orchestra,
Keenan Lawler, Current 93, Baby Dee, Nick Castro, Joan La Barbara,
Bridget St. John, The Golden Dawn, Michael Gira, Windy & Carl,
Alasdair Roberts and more. Comes with a CD with exclusive tracks from
My Cat Is An Alien, Black Forest/Black Sea, Nick Castro, The North
Sea, Steve Roden, Bridget St. John, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Windy &
Carl, Michael Gira and more.
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——- FORTHCOMING RELEASES ——–
*MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “Greetings from the Great Void” 2xLP (Eclipse Records)
*CHRISTIAN MARCLAY & OKKYUNG LEE / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “From the
earth to the Spheres” split CD Vol.6 (A Silent Place)
*FABIO ORSI / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “For Alan Lomax” split CD (A Silent Place)
*MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / FAMILY UNDERGROUND split LP (Reverse)
*MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / TEXT OF LIGHT – “Cosmic Debris” split ART-LP
Vol.I (Opax Records)
*ROBERTO OPALIO – “The last night of the Angel of Glass, Vol.I & II”
2xCD (A Silent Place)
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——- ANNOUNCED LIVE EVENTS——-
MCIAA will take part in the next edition of the ATP Nightmare Before
Christmas festival, which will run 8-10 December 2006 in Somerset, UK;
this year edition’s curator is Thurston Moore, and the line-up
features Iggy & The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Dead C, Jackie-O
Motherfucker, MC5 feat. Mark Arm, Dinosaur Jr., Gang of Four, Nurse
With Wound, Bardo Pond, Six Organs of Admittance, Charalambides, No
Neck Blues Band, Melvins and many many more… hey, this is going to
be the most incredible event of 2006!
MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
December 8-10, 2006
ATP / NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Butlins Holiday Centre, Minehead, Somerset, UK
infos, details and tickets: http://www.atpfestival.com
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Stay tuned throughout the cosmos!
Alien faith!
http://www.mycatisanalien.com
spaceis@mycatisanalien.com
