Biography

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN (MCIAA) is the improv duo formed by the brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio from Torino, Italy. They both primarily play electric and acoustic guitars, percussions, various toy-instruments and voice toy-microphones. Since forming in late 1997, their need for an easy and direct way of releasing stuff which could fit their creative urgency led the two brothers to set up a label on their own. So, Opax Records started up releasing several cdrs and vinyls, whose unique handmade art-editions style represents the esthetics of the duo. In fact Roberto Opalio's multiple involvement in painting, photography, films, glass-art and audio visual installations has come together in the brothers' musical project, giving a strong and peculiar visual aspect to all MCIAA's artistic works.

MCIAA's debut self-released recording, a cd-r edition of 30 copies painted and wrapped in electric wire, immediately thrilled Sonic Youth and two months later the two brothers made their live debut as support to SY 1998 Italian tour. During the past years MCIAA have been invited several times to perform live at Sonic Youth European tours, Kim Gordon and Jim O'Rourke's soloist shows. In 2000 MCIAA opened the Torino BIG (International Biannual Of Young Artists) with a special audio visual performance.

In 2005 MCIAA performed at the "Music Lovers' Field Companion" festival at the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle (UK) alongside a special dual-film projections created by Roberto Opalio appositely for the occasion; at the CCA (Center of Contemporary Arts) in Glasgow with Jandek and Keiji Haino, and at the "Cosmopolis" festival at Galeria Zé dos Bois in Lisbon with Rafael Toral. The same year MCIAA toured Europe as special line-up of Jackie-O Motherfucker with founder member Tom Greenwood, and performed in Italy with Keiji Haino.

In March 2006 MCIAA took part at the K-raa-k Festival at Kustencentrum Belgie in Hasselt (Belgium).

In May 2006 they performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (Québec, Canada); the live recording has been released in October 2006 by Les Disques VICTO (CAN).

In December 2006 MCIAA toured Europe and performed at the ATP festival A Nightmare Before Christmas in Somerset (UK) curated by Thurston Moore, and at "State-X NewForms" festival in Den Haag (Holland).

MCIAA's international debut album was released in 2002 by Thurston Moore on his own Ecstatic Peace label; until now, several CDs and LPs have been released on Eclipse Records (USA), Very Friendly/ Cargo (UK), Important Records (USA), Les Disques VICTO (CAN), Last Visible Dog (USA), Starlight Furniture Co.(USA), Free Porcupine Society/ Revolver (USA), U-Sound Archive (USA), Time-Lag Records (USA), Gold Soundz (NOR), Rococo Records (USA), PseudoArcana (NZ), Sloow Tapes (B), Ikuisuus (FIN), Rebis (USA), A Silent Place (ITA), Root Strata (USA), Esquilo (PT), Foxglove/Digitalis Industries (USA).

In July 2004 MCIAA started on Opax Records a series of special ART-split LPs called "From the earth to the Spheres", featuring the Italian duo alongside outsider artists such as Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Christina Carter, Thuja, Glands of External Secretion with Nels Cline, and Christian Marclay & Okkyung Lee. Each sleeve has been conceived as a proper 31x31cm Roberto Opalio's original painting on wood support. Because of the great success of the project, Very Friendly/ Cargo UK re-issued the whole series on CD format.

The "From the earth to the Spheres" split art series has been included in The Wire's "Avant Rock" 2004 Top 10 playlist (issue # 251, December 2004).

MCIAA's "The Cosmological Eye Trilogy" 3CD set on Last Visible Dog has been mentioned by Foxy Digitalis magazine's editor Brad Rose as the best record of 2005 in the "Anthology" section.

Both Maurizio and Roberto Opalio has soloist projects too. In 2005, together with their close collaborator Ramona Ponzini, they set up the acoustic ensemble PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST whose debut album has been released on Time-Lag Records (USA), as well as the duo called PRAXINOSCOPE.

Still in 2005 Roberto has been invited to contribute one of his original paintings for one of The Wire magazine's exclusive limited art t-shirts.

In March 2006 MCIAA have been invited from The Wire Editor-in-Chief & Publisher Tony Herrington to contribute a piece of music, plus a Polaroid by Roberto Opalio, to a volume of his art-box series entitled "Joint Multiples".

In March 2006 MCIAA have planned a new series of split ART-LPs limited to 100 copies called "Cosmic debris", which is released on Opax Records starting from Spring 2006 on, and which features the Italian duo alongside artists such as Stan Brakhage's films mixed media performing ensemble Text Of Light (Lee Ranaldo, Christian Marclay, Alan Licht, William Hooker, Tim Barnes, Ulrich Krieger, Dj Olive), Californian audio visual artist and composer Steve Roden, Swedish avant-saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, avant-blues living legend Loren Mazzacane Connors from NY, and Japanese dark shaman improviser Keiji Haino. Each record comes alongside an acrylic painting by Roberto Opalio on 30x30cm proper canvas, with a unique Polaroid installed on each piece, representing 100 different perspectives of a same subject.

MCIAA's articles, interviews and extended reviews are featured on the most important international music magazines like The Wire (UK), The Sound Projector (UK), Dream Magazine (USA), Arthur Magazine (USA), The Ptolemaic Terrascope (UK), Brokenface (SWE), Dusted Magazine (USA), Foxy Digitalis (USA), Stylus Magazine (USA), Noiseweek (USA), Industrial (USA), Kwadratuur (BE), PanPot (CAN), Blow Up (ITA), Rumore (ITA), Il Mucchio (ITA), Gaz-Eta (PL), Indieworkshop (USA), Interfase (E), Pop Madrid (E), Kathodic (ITA) and many more.

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Discography

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN

- s/t cd-r (1998/ Opax Records)
- Hypnotic Spaces ep cd-r (1998/private press Opax Records)
- “Alien cats’ attack!” on “Tracce” Comp cd (1999/ Wallace Rec)
- “World War” (The Cure) on “La Cattedrale vs the 80’s” Comp cd (1999/ White&Black)
- Landscapes of an electric city cd-r (1999/ Opax Records/ ZZZ Prod.)
- Alien dissolving ep cd-r (1999/ Opax Records/ ZZZ Prod.)
- “I sold an alien to the F.B.I.” on “Related ProZZZect” Comp cd + cd-r (1999/ ZZZ Prod.)
- Production and appereance on Viggiu Vortex Orchestra debut cd-r (2000/ Capanno Rec)
- The alien cd-r attack series! Vol. I - Alien Holland Invasion - cd-r (2000/ Opax Records)
- The alien cd-r attack series! Vol. II - Infinite lights above us - cd-r (2001/ Opax Records)
- The alien cd-r attack series! Vol. III - “...Ascends The Sky" - cd-r (2001/ Opax Records)
- Landscapes of an electric city/ Hypnotic Spaces 3-sided LP (2002/ Ecstatic Peace!)
- Out of the Blue___Into the White 3x cd-r set (2003/ Opax Records)
- The Cosmological Eye Trilogy pt.1 - Into the Sleeping Beauty galaxy - cd-r (2003/ Opax Rec)
- Il Segno LP (2003/ Starlight Furniture Co.)
- The rest is silence 2xLP (2004/ Eclipse Records)
- The first flame of tomorrow cd-r (2004/ Opax Records)
- The Cosmological Eye Trilogy pt.2 - Into the Sombrero galaxy - cd-r (2004/ Opax Rec)
- “Brilliance in the outer space” on From the earth to the Spheres vol.1 (Thurston Moore/ My Cat Is An Alien) split LP (2004/ Opax Records)
- “When the earth whispered your name” on From the earth to the Spheres vol.2 (Thuja/ My Cat Is An Alien) split LP (2004/ Opax Records)
- floating in the Void – cd-r (2004/ Opax Records)
- “Blank view” on From the earth to the Spheres vol.3 (Jackie-O Motherfucker/ My Cat Is An Alien) split LP (2004/ Opax Records)
- “Brilliance in the outer space“ on From the earth to the Spheres vol.1 (Thurston Moore/ My Cat Is An Alien) CD (2004/ Very Friendly/Cargo records)
- “When the earth whispered your name“ on From the earth to the Spheres vol.2 (Thuja/ My Cat Is An Alien) CD (2004/ Very Friendly/Cargo records)
- On air at Sound Projecting cd-r (2005/ Opax Records)
- “Winter will burn out yr wings” on From the earth to the Spheres vol.4 (Jim O’Rourke/ My Cat Is An Alien) split LP (2005/ Opax Records)
- Through the reflex of the rain CD (2005/ Free Porcupine Society)
- Everything is here lathe-cut 7" (2005/ Gold Soundz)
- When the windmill's whirl dies LP (2005/ Eclipse Records)
- Different shades of blue/ U-Sound Archive Vol.19 cd-r (2005/ U-Sound Archive)
- "Hear the voice of the Cosmos" on "The Tone of the Universe (= The Tone of the Earth)" Comp 2xCD (2005/ Pseudoarcana)
- "Alien substratum 1.0/1.2" on "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space: Long Form Works" Comp CD (2005/ Rebis)
- “Blank view” on From the earth to the Spheres vol.3 (Jackie-O Motherfucker/ My Cat Is An Alien) CD (2005/ Very Friendly/Cargo records)
- "The circle of life & death" on From the earth to the Spheres vol.5 (Christina Carter&Andrew MacGregor/MCIAA) split LP (2005/ Opax Records)
- Black shadows from Jupiter LP (2005/ Opax Records)
- Alien Minds C60 cassette (2005/ Sloow Tapes)
- "Elegy for all the extinct alien species" on "The Invisible Pyramid: Elegy box" Comp 6xCD set (2005/ Last Visible Dog)
- "After the Meteor Shower" on From the earth to the Spheres vol.6 (Glands of External Secretion/MCIAA) split LP (2005/ Opax Records)
- Plutonian flames 2xCD-R (2005/ Opax Records)
- "The circle of life & death" on From the earth to the Spheres vol.4 (Christina Carter & Andrew MacGregor/ MCIAA) CD (2005/ Very Friendly/Cargo records)
- The Cosmological Eye Trilogy 3xCD set (2005/ Last Visible Dog)
- Astral Key CD-R (2005/ Esquilo)
- Folclore Alieno CD-R (2006/ Opax Records)
- Different shades of Blue LP+7" (2006/ A Silent Place)
- There's a flame___sometimes LP (2006/ Rococo Records)
- "After the Meteor Shower" on From the earth to the Spheres vol.5 (Glands of External Secretion/MCIAA) split CD (2006/ Very Friendly/Cargo Records)
- Listen before Black falls LP (2006/ Root Strata)
- "Beyond the limits of the stars/ Beyond the limits of the grooves" on From the earth to the Spheres vol.7 (Christian Marclay & Okkyung Lee/MCIAA) split LP (2006/ Opax Records)
- Introducing the Cosmic Blues 7 inch (2006/ Important Records)
- Cosmic Light of the Third Millennium CD (2006/ Important Records)
- "Space Fluxus" on My Cat Is An Alien/ Tony Herrington "Joint Multiples 04" Box/CD-R/Painting/Polaroid/Painted Photograph (2006/ no label)
- "Astral Enlightenment" on Dream Magazine #6 Comp CD (2006/ Dream Magazine)
- "Cosmic Distance"on Yellow Gold Comp C20 Cassette (2006/ Gold Soundz)
- The secret of the Dancing Snow CD (2006/ Ikuisuus)
- "...Ascends the sky" CD (2006/ Rebis/Whitened Sepulchre)
- "Transmission from planet KFJC" on My Cat Is An Alien/ Corsican Paintbrush split 10" lathe cut (2006/ Opax Records/ Foxglove)
- "Everything falls like cosmic debris" on From the earth to the Spheres, Vol.6 (Christian Marclay & Okkyung Lee / MCIAA) split CD (2006 / A Silent Place)
- "Heart of the eartH" on For Alan Lomax (Fabio Orsi / MCIAA) split CD (2006 / A Silent Place)
- Greetings from the Great Void 2xLP (2006/ Eclipse Records)
- On air at Sound Projecting LP (Opax Records/ 2006)
- Everything falls like cosmic debris on MCIAA/ TEXT OF LIGHT "Cosmic Debris, Vol.I" split art-LP (2006/ Opax Records)
- Aliens in the Crowd on V/A "Random Sounds Vol.2" CD-R Comp (2006 / Indie Workshop)
- Leave me in the Black No-Thing CD (2007 / Important Records)
- Into the White Vortex 1-sided ART-LP (2007 / Opax Records)
- "Extraterrestrial Call" on MCIAA/FAMILY UNDERGROUND split LP (2007 / Reverse)
- "Everything falls like cosmic debris" on MCIAA/ TEXT OF LIGHT "Cosmic Debris, Vol.I" split CD (2007 / A Silent Place)
- "Everything waves like cosmic debris" on MCIAA/ STEVE RODEN "Cosmic Debris, Vol.II" split art-LP (2007 / Opax Records)
- Different Shades of Tape Box set (2007 / A Silent Place)
- "Everything crashes like cosmic debris" on MCIAA/ KEIJI HAINO "Cosmic Debris, Vol.III" split art-LP (2007 / Opax Records)
- Il Segno CD (2007 / Starlight Furniture Co. - Revolver USA)
- "Speak, alien, SPEAK!" 3xC20 cassette set (2007 / Opax Records)
- "Everything waves like cosmic debris" on MCIAA / STEVE RODEN "Cosmic Debris, Vol.II" split CD (2007 / A Silent Place)
- "Everything crashes like cosmic debris" on MCIAA / KEIJI HAINO "Cosmic Debris, Vol.III" split CD (2007 / A Silent Place)
- "Blue Beings" on MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / VALERIO COSI "Stories From The Vacuum" split 7" (2008/ Black Horizon)
- Sotto le Stelle etched LP (2008/ Lost Treasures of the Underworld)
- There's a flame___sometimes LP (2008/ Opax Records
- "Everything burns like cosmic debris" on MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / MATS GUSTAFSSON "Cosmic Debris, Vol.IV" split ART-LP (2008/ Opax Records)

ROBERTO OPALIO

- Chants from isolated ghosts cd-r (2005/ Opax Records)
- Chants from isolated ghosts lathe-cut LP (2005/ Opax Records)
- voice with no guitar/ guitar with no voice C20 cassette (2005/ Opax Tapes)
- The last night of the Angel of Glass DVD-R + CD-R set (2006/ Foxglove)
- "Transparent moods" on Orange Gold Comp C20 Cassette (2006/ Gold Soundz)
- Whispers of the last Light DVD-R (2006/ Opax Records)
- The last night of the Angel of Glass, Vol.I & II 2xCD (2007 / A Silent Place)
- Chants from isolated ghosts CD (2007 / Important Records)
- Whispers of the last Light, part I & II lathe cut LP + DVD-R (2007 / Opax Records)

MAURIZIO OPALIO

- Way up to Enfer CD-R (2006/ Opax Records)
- Way up to Enfer lathe-cut LP + book (2007 / Opax Records)

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

- s/t LP (2005/ Time-Lag Records)
- "Oceano" on Red Gold Comp C20 Cassette (2006/ Gold Soundz)
- Oounabara 1-sided 12" lathe cut + DVD-R (Opax Records/ 2006)
- Oounabara C20 cassette (Opax Records/ 2006)
- s/t CD (2007 / Time-Lag Records)
- Fallen Camellias 1-sided 5x10" lathe cut Box (2008/ Opax Records)
- Fallen Camellias CD (2008/ A Silent Place)

PRAXINOSCOPE (Roberto Opalio & Ramona Ponzini)

- s/t cd-r (2005/ Opax Records)
- Self-titled picture disc LP (2006/ A Silent Place)
- Epocsonixarp LP / CD-R (Opax Records/ 2006)

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

- s/t CD (2007 / Important Records)
- s/t 2xLP (2007 / A Silent Place)

MUSIC FOR PHANTOMS (Maurizio & Roberto Opalio)

- s/t CD-R + DVD-R (2007 / Opax Records)


ONE LONELY ALIEN CAT (Roberto Opalio’s soloist project)

- In the blue alien dim light cd-r (1999/ Opax Records)

ORANGE CAR CRASH (extemporary project featuring My Cat Is An Alien/Amour en Stèrèophonie/V. Vortex)

- Lights in the Space Room LP (2002/ Opax Records)