PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST - "Fallen Camellias"
2008 - CD (A Silent Place) (3-panel digipack)
ASP35

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'.

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Sotto le Stelle"
2008 - 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.

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / VALERIO COSI - "Stories From The Vacuum"
2008 - split 7" (Black Horizon) (limited to 500 in clear vinyl; gold ink offset printing on metallic vellum)
BH-16

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".

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / KEIJI HAINO - "Cosmic Debris, Vol.III"
2007 - split CD (A Silent Place) (CD re-issue of the original ART-LP on Opax)
ASP28

"CD re-issue of the third installment in the "Cosmic Debris" split ART-LP series set up by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka My Cat Is An Alien, on their own Opax Records. The Vol.III sees the two space brothers from Torino, Italy, alongside Japanese cult musician and dark shaman Keiji Haino. Imagine a cosmic bomb exploding in your brain, and you'll have an approximate idea of this collaborative release. So, dear new-weird-america's hippy, you'd better keep your ass away from this total blast!.. no freak-folk here. Instead, with these two long tracks recorded during live performances in their hometowns, respectively Torino and Tokyo, MCIAA and Haino conspired to offer you the two most totally-uncompromising music, the best way to warm up your cold winter days: what do you want more?
Haino's track, entitled "Whither goes it?/ That which canst not but be described/ As my prayer,/ Nowhere held in common,/ Lunatic, unknowable..." (yes, it's a poem!), is one of the highlights of his so long career, and MCIAA's track "Everything crashes like cosmic debris" is one of the brothers' most ass-kicking for sure... Still ask for more? Ok, read the note and play this record at loudest volume, 'till your stereo calls for mercy. Are you satisfied, now? Oh yes, we think so... 'dark' + 'alien' are so cool together!
The five-volumes series "Cosmic Debris" features My Cat Is An Alien alongside Text Of Light, Steve Roden, Keiji Haino, Mats Gustafsson, Loren Connors & his Haunted House band.
Each CD cover artwork reproduces the full image and details of the acrylic paintings created by Roberto Opalio for each copy of the original vinyl edition on MCIAA's own Opax Records."

(read reviews here) last update April 20th, 2008

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / STEVE RODEN - "Cosmic Debris, Vol.II"
2007 - split CD (A Silent Place) (CD re-issue of the original ART-LP on Opax)
ASP23

"CD reissue of the second installment in the "Cosmic Debris" split ART-LP series set up by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka My Cat Is An Alien, on their own Opax Records. The Vol.II sees the two space brothers from Torino, Italy, alongside Californian visual and sound artist Steve Roden. What makes this collaborative release so peculiar is the natural interactive exchange occurred between the artists, and that came out from the concept behind the experience itself.
Roden's contribution thus represents the unique experience of hearing him literally 'playing' guitar chords. His first track, "E-bows and Rainbows", developes through the minimal and reiterated sound architecture of Roden's so-called 'possible landscapes', where singular source materials such as objects and field recordings are abstracted through electronic processes to generate new audio spaces, characterizing the artist's aesthetic in sound works; the following "My dog is a Yufo" is so far a pretty unheard aspect of Roden's ability to shape a fascinating intimate piece only with an old electric guitar and his own fingers, and it also demonstrates how a true artist can re-create his own personal universe, no matter what kind of source utilized.
On their side, MCIAA deliver another piece of 'cosmic debris', centered on multilayered echoes of voice, toy piano, space drones raising from a distant horizon, and their own physical gestures performed during the recording, which reproduce themselves through the air, re-play and give birth to echoes of real time that overcomes its own essence, becoming field recording itself, mirror and spectre of its immutability. Their track entitled "Everything waves like cosmic debris" also features Ramona Ponzini's Japanese bells contribution.
The five-volumes series "Cosmic Debris" features My Cat Is An Alien alongside Text Of Light, Steve Roden, Keiji Haino, Mats Gustafsson, Loren Connors & his Haunted House band.
Each CD cover artwork reproduces the full image and details of the acrylic paintings created by Roberto Opalio for each copy of the original vinyl edition on MCIAA's own Opax Records."

(read reviews here) last update April 20th, 2008

BLACK MAGIC DISCO - "s/t"
2007 - 2xLP (A Silent Place/ Italy) (ltd. 500! deluxe 2-color vinyl version of the debut CD on Important Records; gatefold full color jacket + poster)
ASP27

"Black Magic Disco is the new all-star band featuring Tom Greenwood (Jackie-O Motherfucker), Maurizio & Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) and Ramona Ponzini (Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, Praxinoscope).
The project was born out of an idea from Tom Greenwood, founder leader of the avant-folk-blues ensemble JOMF, who invited Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka the Italian improv duo My Cat Is An Alien (MCIAA), and their close collaborator Ramona Ponzini (also involved with the two brothers in the projects named Painting Petals On Planet Ghost and Praxinoscope, as well as in the new collaboration with Z'ev) to perform with him for two months of touring throughout all Europe in May/ June 2005.
As one can imagine, the result was killer. The music which came out of the live performances was totally explosive, combining Ramona's Japanese vocals & hypnotic chimes with Greenwood's psych-blues guitar attitude & wild turntablism, over MCIAA's alien cosmic flux of electric guitars, space toys & percussions, creating a still unheard mixture of sounds unifying archaic & post-modern, western & eastern, sky & earth.
This debut CD represents a unique chance to experience almost 80 minutes of that pure and magic live action, divided in four long tracks taken from the original live recordings.
BLACK MAGIC DISCO's logo comes from the pencil of Roberto Opalio; the gatefold jacket CD artwork, curated by MCIAA contains some band photos taken during the live performances included in the record." (Important)

(read reviews here) last update August 25th, 2007

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST - "s/t"
2007 - CD (Time-Lag Records) (CD reissue of the out of print debut LP; lushly packaged in a mini version of the original lp packaging, with letterpress printed tri-fold cover. printed with copper ink on exquisite & massively thick handmade ivory art paper, each sheet cast one at a time & air dried)
TIME-LAG 030

"Digital version of the out of print lp... debut recording from Italy's Opalio brothers (My Cat Is An Alien) and Ramona Ponzini. An esoteric and mesmerizing trip through space, minimalism, and emotion. Each track recorded at a different mystical location in the Western Alps, and centered around Ramona's beautiful vocals, all of which are sung in traditional japanese. Maurizio & Roberto add sparse accompaniment by means of toy piano, alien keyboard tones, antique accordion, percussion, tape effects, and some particularly evocative acoustic guitar. The whole thing comes off alternately as deeply meditative or chillingly haunted, depending on your attention & mood. Silence, space & ritual are hugely important here, with notes & words hovering frozen in time... while the My Cat Is An Alien moniker might leave some folks scratching their heads, here the Painting Petals On Planet Ghost name nails it : fragile, beautiful, cosmically isolationist, and totally spooked..."

(read reviews here) last update May 1st, 2007

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Il Segno"
2007 - CD (Starlight Furniture Co./ Revolver USA) (expanded CD reissue, with clear reflective spot varnish packaging)
*20

"My Cat Is An Alien entered The Space Room in October 2000 and recorded a dark and concrete improvisation; previously released on LP, stretched over two sides of vinyl, it is restored here to its original state as a 30-minute monolith of caustic ruination. Beginning with a gloomy text entitled "The Sign" written by guitarist / lyricist Roberto Opalio, the track comes out of the smog with brother Maurizio's desolate, acoustic guitar scratches, Roberto's electric space guitar scribbles and spat-out words of urban alienation, and Viggiu Vortex 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. Il Segno is about the mark of chance, avenues full of dust and fallen leaves, the Torino skyline's abandoned factories and chimneys with the mountains all around, and the dance of swallows at twilight, just before the darkness envelops everything. This CD reissue also has 23 minutes of extra screech-- a pair of previously unreleased tracks recorded during the same sessions."

(read reviews here) last update October 31st, 2007

BLACK MAGIC DISCO - "s/t"
2007 - CD (Important Records / USA) (gatefold full-color cardboard jacket)
imprec148

"Black Magic Disco is the new all-star band featuring Tom Greenwood (Jackie-O Motherfucker), Maurizio & Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) and Ramona Ponzini (Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, Praxinoscope).
The project was born out of an idea from Tom Greenwood, founder leader of the avant-folk-blues ensemble JOMF, who invited Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka the Italian improv duo My Cat Is An Alien (MCIAA), and their close collaborator Ramona Ponzini (also involved with the two brothers in the projects named Painting Petals On Planet Ghost and Praxinoscope, as well as in the new collaboration with Z'ev) to perform with him for two months of touring throughout all Europe in May/ June 2005.
As one can imagine, the result was killer. The music which came out of the live performances was totally explosive, combining Ramona's Japanese vocals & hypnotic chimes with Greenwood's psych-blues guitar attitude & wild turntablism, over MCIAA's alien cosmic flux of electric guitars, space toys & percussions, creating a still unheard mixture of sounds unifying archaic & post-modern, western & eastern, sky & earth.
This debut CD represents a unique chance to experience almost 80 minutes of that pure and magic live action, divided in four long tracks taken from the original live recordings.
BLACK MAGIC DISCO's logo comes from the pencil of Roberto Opalio; the gatefold jacket CD artwork, curated by MCIAA contains some band photos taken during the live performances included in the record." (Important)

(read reviews here) last update August 25th 2007

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / TEXT OF LIGHT - "Cosmic Debris, Vol.I"
2007 - split CD (A Silent Place) (heavy textured cardboard deluxe gatefold sleeve)
ASP16

"CD re-issue of the first instalment in the new "Cosmic Debris" split ART-LP series set up by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka MY CAT IS AN ALIEN. This Volume I sees the two space brothers from Torino, Italy, alongside Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and his all-star ensemble TEXT OF LIGHT (here featuring Alan Licht, Dj Olive, Ulrich Krieger and Tim Barnes). Their track "033103 Paris" has been recorded live at Centre Georges Pompidou in 2003 and mixed in dual mono by Ranaldo & Licht at NYC Echo Canyon studio. MCIAA's piece entitled "Everything falls like cosmic debris" is a conceptual ouverture to the whole series, performed in April 2006 at their secret recording space called Alien Zone, located up the Italian Western Alps.

The five-volumes series "Cosmic Debris" features My Cat Is An Alien alongside Text Of Light, Steve Roden, Keiji Haino, Mats Gustafsson, Loren Connors & his Haunted House band.

The CD cover artwork reproduces the full image and details of the acrylic paintings created by Roberto Opalio for each copy of the original vinyl edition on MCIAA's own Opax Records."

(read reviews here) last update April 20th, 2008

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / FAMILY UNDERGROUND
2007 - split LP (Reverse) (ltd.356, see-through vinyl, silkscreened transparent plastic sleeves)
rev-003

Danish label Reverse invited My Cat Is An Alien to split one side of vinyl with Danish drone-out band Family Underground, their piece entitled "Mysterious Invaders".

MCIAA appear with a 20 minutes track entitled "Extraterrestrial Call", recorded live at Cosmopolis Festival at Galerie Ze' des Bois, Lisbon, on October 4th, 2005.

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Different Shades of Tape" BOX SET (A Silent Place)
2007 - (private edition of 10 (!!!) copies only; the BOX is made of laser cut clear blue plexiglass with white silkscreened drawing by Roberto Opalio)
ASP14

Insanely ultra-limited BOX set including the following items:
- 7" blue multicoloured VINYL (same single originally included in the out-of-print "Different shades of Blue" LP+7" Set - ASP01-1)
- C20 double play CASSETTE (handpainted on one side by Roberto Opalio) with exclusive MCIAA's live material;
- silkscreened T-SHIRT (white heavy weight Fruit of the Loom, with blue-grey negative 4-cats logo; size us Large) made exclusively for this release;
- handnumbered card insert

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Leave me in the Black No-Thing"
2007 - CD (Important Records) (cardboard gatefold jacket)
imprec116

Leave Me In The Black No-Thing is the new full-lenght album recorded April 10th, 2006, at MCIAA's Alien Zone, located in a remote region of the Western Alps, Piemonte, Italy. The work consists of two tracks entitled Part One and Part Two for a total lenght of 56:15 minutes. After having been irradiated by the Cosmic Light Of A New Millenium, you find yourself facing a black and white cover, where the only view of the universe is foreshortened, and represents a lighted shape showing branches of pinetrees under a white sky, within the darkest black. Element which represents the esthetic detaching and, at the same time, a further step in the duo's artistic process, which determines their willingness to go beyond any goal already achieved. For MCIAA to make art means to risk daring the unknown, daring the listener himself to excel his own limits of perception of the work of art in music, without losing anything of their unique and unmistakable style. If, as many of the international critics have been remarking, MCIAA's works live on the boundary between Light and Darkness, it's also true that Cosmic Light of the Third Millennium celebrated the light of the outer spaces as well as Leave Me In The Black No-Thing represents a jump into the No-Thing of the empty inner spaces. Recorded in their secret recording-space up on the Western Alps of Piedmont, Italy, during the trespassing from dusk to the beginning of the night, the work lives of the same dark magic of the Wagnerian post-romantic ouvertures, suspended between the deepest silence and the most deflagrating sonic attack. Light/Darkness, noise/silence, permeated by Roberto Opalio's suffering vocal tunes, which defines and underlines the edge of the work. After the cacophonic and free implosion of the nucleus of the initials 30 minutes, 25 minutes of painful silence follow, sounding like the last whisper before the final end: angels' chorus and ectoplasmatic presences float on Maurizio Opalio's crystal-clear guitar strings. It's the Cosmic Blues of the III Millennium which penetrates into the soul, leaving indelible signs. (Important)

(read reviews here) last update May 1st 2007

ROBERTO OPALIO - "Chants from isolated ghosts"
2007 - CD (Important Records) (cardboard gatefold sleeve)
imprec115

Roberto Opalio is half of the Italian space duo My Cat Is An Alien. Chants From Isolated Ghosts is Roberto Opalio's full-lenght debut album recorded November 2004 at home in Torino, Italy, and originally released on his own Opax Records label in a very limited handmade cd-r edition of 100 copies. The work consists of four tracks, for a total lenght of 38:02 minutes. Roberto Opalio is a visual and sound artist from Torino, Italy. His work includes painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, poetry, glass art, film/video, sound installation, and performance. Since 1998 Roberto Opalio acts as musician (together with his brother Maurizio) in the avant-garde improv duo My Cat Is An Alien. His special works of art represent the trademarked style of all the limited art-edition releases issued on their own Opax Records imprint.This aesthetic is described by Opalio as "space art". The extra-terrestrial nature of his work claims its ontological status in the act of creating a non-finished, otherwordly dimension - a proper alien dimension. In the last few years Roberto Opalio has performed his videos and specific audio visual installations in various arts & music spaces and festival in Italy and Europe, including the Sage Gateshead Newcastle and CCA Center of Contemporary Arts Glasgow in UK, Victoria Hall Geneve and Fri-son Freiburg in Switzerland, Galeria Ze' dos Bois Lisbon in Portugal, Torino BIG Biannual of Young Artists 2000, Interzona Verona, Init and Spazio S.Ambrogio Roma, Zo' Catania in Italy; group exhibition at Promotrice Delle Belle Arti Torino, as well as many other audio visual performances including Teatro Juvarra, Procope, Liber, Machè, Fuoriluogo and Villa Capriglio among others in his hometown Torino. Roberto Opalio's poetry works and drawings have been published in journals worldwide, including Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal, Thee Flat Bike and Dream Magazine in USA, Cocktail Molotov Journal in Brazil, The Sound Projector in UK, Sloow Tapes' My Favourite Magazine in Belgium among others. (Important)

(read reviews here) last update May 1st 2007

ROBERTO OPALIO - "The last night of the Angel of Glass, Vol.I & II"
2007 - 2xCD (A Silent Place) (Strictly limited edition of 600 copies housed in an elegant deluxe folded digi-sleeve matt varnished)
ASP11

Double CD set reissuing the acclaimed "The last night of the Angel of Glass, Vol.I", original soundtrack to the omonimous film by Roberto Opalio (released on the long-out-of-print DVD-R/CD-R set by Foxglove, USA), plus the totally previously unreleased "Vol.II" (entire disc 2), representing the second half of a unique recording session.

The work here available for the first time in its entire and remastered version was recorded by the artist himself at home in Torino, Italy, on November 1st 2005, while his camera, set on the balcony, was filming Opalio's glass-art creation (the Angel) animated by the soft light of a candle under a blackened sky. Here are the words by the artist himself, reported as liner notes inside the 6-panels gatefold sleeve featuring stills taken from the film: 'my voice/ my astral guitar/ instants of life/ home/ window of memories/ blue afternoon/ winter 2005/ cold burning flame/ torino/ whispers of glass/ suspended/ between/ day & night/ before black falls'.

"There is no other cosmic traveller like Roberto Opalio. Best known for his work with his brother as My Cat Is An Alien, this feline twin is slowly building an equally impressive body of solo works. Opalio is on another plane entirely with "The last night of the Angel of Glass." Bypassing the cosmos completely and directing his aim straight to heaven. Using nothing but his guitar and his voice, Opalio sears the stratosphere into orbit. As his voice floats like a ghost into the empty celestial crevices, his guitar falls from the sky like a melted star. This is haunting and magnificent. Roberto Opalio at his best." (Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis)

(read reviews here) last update May 1st 2007

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Il suono venuto dallo spazio"
2006 - CD (Les Disques VICTO)
VICTO cd 101

Enregistré « live » au 23e Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, le 20 mai 2006

"Each album or performance by MY CAT IS AN ALIEN is an invitation to leave on a cosmic journey, without resorting to the numerous clichés of the space music genre. Think instead of a synth-less Ash Ra Tempel coming across the quiet improvisation current. Think of stripped-down music made of looped droning guitars, caressed percussion, toy instruments and toy microphones being used while boldly disregarding all printed warnings. Think of a cosmos glorifying its vacuous interstellar space, the silence that amplifies the smallest particles of sound. Or don't think at all and just let yourself be swept away." (François Couture, février 2006)

(read reviews here) last update August 25st 2006

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Greetings from the Great Void"
2006 - 2xLP (Eclipse Records)(old-style heavy cardboard deluxe gatefold jacket, with full color artwork by Roberto Opalio)
ECL 054

"To approach the concept of The Great Void from an aural point-of-view is daunting. Being lost in an infinite state of flux brings simultaneous states of pure madness and tranquility. It is within this duality that the Opalio brothers, Roberto & Maurizio, wave their magic wand, creating an astral blessing of the highest order. "Greetings From the Great Void," the third installment in a trilogy that began with MCIAA's "The Rest is Silence," is the sound of The White Light; the movement from the physical to the psychic; one last breath before being consumed by the cosmic ether. "Greetings From the Great Void" shows its real strength in how it was constructed. Recorded over a two-day period in April 2005, there were no overdubs or outtakes. This is music straight from the spheres. Where there is nothing, there is everything. My Cat is an Alien emerge from these extreme conditions reborn. These recordings traverse light years of space, leaving stellar soundwaves flickering in the dust. The Opalios perform a cathartic psychedelic exorcism with each note searching for new harmonies amongst the wreckage of the cosmos. Once they pierce the heavens, they control galaxies like puppets on strings. If this is the music of The Great Void, it is a place I want to get lost in forever." (Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis / editor)

(read reviews here) last update February 1st 2006

CHRISTIAN MARCLAY & OKKYUNG LEE / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "From the earth to the Spheres, Vol.6"
2006 - split CD (A Silent Place)(heavy textured cardboard deluxe gatefold sleeve)
ASP09

"The seventh and final volume in the Turin based Opalio brothers' split series of collaborative, handcrafted LPs proves to be their most ambitious to date. A fitting finale for a series of records that has been a thrill from the very beginning" (Edwin Pouncey, The Wire)
This last release in the "From the earth to the Spheres" split series set up by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio aka My Cat Is An Alien on their own Opax Records imprint, sees the Italian cosmic duo splitting the vinyl with well-known audio visual artist, performer and turntable-art innovator Christian Marclay together with cello improviser Okkyung Lee, ubiquitous figure of downtown NY avant-garde scene.
Their track "Rubbings" on side A is the result of a live performance recorded at Tonic NYC in December 2003. Christian Marclay's trademarked technique of mixing several ranges of Lps on his multiple turntables, manipulating, fragmenting and altering the phonograph records' sonic nature in accordance with his "theater of found sound" esthetics meets the uncompromising and passionate playing of Korean-born performer Lee, whose powerful cello's stabs interact with Marclay's waves of screaming sounds creating a unique, stunning scenario.
On B side, My Cat Is An Alien's piece "Beyond the limits of the stars/ Beyond the limits of the grooves" was recorded in 2003 at their Space Room studio in Torino, and has been kept safely in their archive 'till September 2005, when it's been completely remixed and edited appositely for this release. One of their heaviest conceptions to date, the piece is built on electric guitars' strings moaning onto walls of space drones and electronics like ectoplasmic presences emerging from the brillliance of the Void. The initial minimal and claustrophobic guitar chords become more and more an ocean of howling moduled feedbacks combined with fragmented and distorted real-time inserts of post-romantic classical music from old 78rpm shellac records, sounding like radio frequencies transmitted via ether from the furthest reaches of the Cosmos.
As the title suggests, MCIAA's need of a non-finite "space music & art" aesthetics research has led them to insert a ghost track (instead of the final lock-groove you can find on the original vinyl) to un-seal the sounds from their actual support; a purpose expressed throughout the whole "From the earth to the Spheres" series' conception."

(read reviews here) last update August 25th 2007

FABIO ORSI / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "For Alan Lomax"
2006 - split CD (A Silent Place)(ltd. ed of 500 copies/ elegant Matt varnished cardboard gatefold sleeve)
ASP10

"Tribute album to ALAN LOMAX, the man who, more than any other, have worked to "bring the music to light", in the widest and most absolute meaning of the word. A record that the space brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka MY CAT IS AN ALIEN, share with FABIO ORSI, considered by the improv duo as the most interesting emerging Italian musician, from the "bloody heart of Naples".
In his track, Orsi inserts lots of voices "stolen" from the infinite recordings made by Lomax along decades of meticulous and continuous work, and makes them hinge and nucleus of "Spring no more and love come in the wind", giving them new shape in order to make them his own; like for example a Sicilian fisherman's chant from the middle of the Twentieth century, which Orsi stretches into a low and hearthbreaking prayer, submitted to the personal and sensitive logic of his own elettroacoustic aesthetics. Though so different from each other, Orsi's and MCIAA's tracks sound complementary, and build up an original, complex and really unitary work. MCIAA's "Heart of the eartH" starts with an harmonica floating throughout cosmic sounds, while alien cosmic blues guitar chords slowly increase until an explosion of tumultuous space-noise, enhanced by Roberto Opalio's estranged vocal tune, which rises on the Great Void to celebrate the spirit of the artists which have always represented MCIAA's heroes, from Leadbelly to Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charlie Patton. The listener won't find difficult to see the great Alan Lomax materializing from the deepest Cosmos, as undiscussed discoverer of the American Primitive Music."

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "...Ascends the sky"
2006 - CD (Rebis / Whitened Sepulchre)
WS001

"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.
Fans who have tuned in to MCIAA in more recent years wil find this earlier release (from 2001) illuminating, as it serves as both a premonition of their signature sound and a tantalizing glimpse of alternate path. While traversing the vast sonic nebulas typical of many of their releases, it also moves through more emotive, warm, and tuneful regions, evoking surprising associations like Spiderland-era Slint, early Tortoise, and Tim Buckley's Lorca or Starsailor albums. This reissue also includes an additional, previously-unreleased track, the 20-minutes opus, "Meditation on '...Ascends the Sky'".
Often released in small runs in obscure formats, many of the best albums of the past decade have been seized upon by collectors before they've had a chance to find the audience they deserve. Whitened Sepulchre, a new imprint from Rebis Recordings, aims to reverse this state of affairs, by dedicating themselves to the preservation of key recordings of the New Electric Sublime." (Rebis)

(read reviews here) last update November 1st 2006

PRAXINOSCOPE - "s/t"
2006 - picture disc LP (A Silent Place)
ASP08

"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 start 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)

(read reviews here) last update february 1st 2007

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "The secret of the Dancing Snow"
2006 - CD (Ikuisuus)(4-panels full-color foldout cardboard jacket)
IKU-003

"Another voyage into the inky blackness with the cosmos-loving Italians and another gem. MCIAA have gone from making dronescapes that were merely beautiful to listen to (merely!) to vast vistas of sound that seem to exert an almost gravitational pull into their depths. This opens with Roberto Opalio's parched vocal trances and the calming ching of Oriental bells and builds into a soporific sea of echoing guitar notes with bells rippling through it like a warm wind. For some reason, the line from "Astronomy Domine" about "the blue you once knew" comes to mind. The sound then appears to collapse in on itself before ebbing into freefall. Divinely beautiful." (Boa Melody Bar)

(read reviews here) last update November 1st 2006

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / TONY HERRINGTON - "Joint Multiples 04"
2006 - Box/CD-R/Painting/Polaroid/Painted Photograph

Latest eye-popping assemblage (fourth in an on-going series that has included collaborations with Bruce Russell, Savage Pencil and Jim Sauter) box from Mr Tony Herrington, artist/post-punk scholar and Wire publisher/editor-in-chief. Herrington has long been wrestling personally resonant forms from brushes and pens in the privacy of his own smoking den but this series - inspired, in part by the recent international upsurge in grassroots DIY documentation - represents his first public outing. The whole deal comes loaded inside a hand-painted 10.5" x 10.5" box containing exclusive original audio by My Cat Is An Alien entitled "Space Fluxus" that combines the slow-mo ecstasy of their all-improvised Opax sides with some of the zazen ritual of the Painting Petals On Planet Ghost material, with the Opalios joined by Ramona Ponzini on Japanese instruments and windchimes. As usual it comes with a beautiful original acrylic painting from Herrington, executed on an 8" canvas frame, one that seems to take-off from MCIAA's iconographic cosmological eye/lonely astronaut imagery, with red glops of ellipsis brain-beaming rays of tone into black storm-shuddered skies. Also includes an original untitled Polaroid by Roberto Opalio, an evocatively charred/painted photograph from Herrington and a hand-written credits insert on art paper. The set comes in a mind-bogglingly non-infinite edition of five hand-numbered copies, only three of which are available for sale. None of the contents will ever be reissued. A unique chance to own a singular modern art edition, and a must for all MCIAA completists. Highest recommendation. (Volcanic Tongue)

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Cosmic Light of the Third Millennium"
2006 - CD (Important Records)
imprec077

"Like some kind of droned out Sun Ra, My Cat Is An Alien landed and stayed only long enough to drop off the masters and the artwork at Important Records before vanishing into the cosmos, or Torino, once again. This new full-length album recorded April 2005 at MCIAA's Alien Zone, located in a remote region of the Western Alps, Piemonte, Italy. The work consists of three tracks entitled "Section I-II-III" for a total lenght of 49:20 minutes. Here the Opalio space-brothers push their improvised music of the Spheres in new cosmic territories, where the use of Roberto's wordless vocals impresses a still unheard lyricism inside the sublime complexity of their unique musical textures. "Section I" opens the album with a slow and emotional epic crescendo generated by floating waves of electric space-guitars alongside glittering sounds of mini-xylophone and toy piano; this impressive astral monochord-blues increase leads to a denouement of electronics & cymbals storm. Whispered wordless moaning vocals and sparse rythmic percussions resonating in the distance open "Section II", where the celestial explosion is followed by droning walls of guitar sounds and space-toys effects, lost in a vertical streamline of astral debris. An ambient minimal guitar tune introduces the final "Section III": reiterated and limpid single guitar chords disclose the enlightened beauty of the Cosmos. In "Cosmic Light of the Third Millennium" MCIAA's mystic alien chants celebrate the beginning and the coming of a new era of the Cosmic Light." (Important)

(read reviews here) last update November 1st 2006

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Introducing the Cosmic Blues"
2006 - 7 inch (Important Records)
imprec093

"Introducing The Cosmic Blues" is My Cat Is An Alien's introduction to their full length release on Important Records. This 7" is limited to only 300 copies and each comes in deluxe screen printed packaging with an individual Polaroid photograph taken, altered and signed by Roberto Opalio. But what does it sound like? Just as the Cosmic Blues should: like MCIAA invented their own instruments and discovered an unknown universe to play them in.
This is the fifth release in Important's ongoing Arts And Crafts series with each release containing handmade artwork by the artist on the recordings." (Important)

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Listen before Black falls"
2006 - LP (Root Strata)
RS-10

"A third eye laser beam shot from the catacombs of Torino. An acoustic guitar lullaby leads down a long dark tunnel of alpha wave feedback. Killer.
Black chipboard covers with silk-screened fronts and hand drawn text/numbers on the back. Limited edition of 300. (Root Strata)"

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "There's a flame___sometimes"
2006 - LP (Rococo Records)
RCC-0005

"For all of you who fell in love with My Cat Is An Alien's previous albums "Il Segno" and "When the windmill's whirl dies", here's a new full-lenght, beautifully packaged LP based on a spoken-word poem whispered by Roberto Opalio over the space brothers' subtle texture of percussions, guitars and electronics...ready for the anti-gravitational impact?"

(ltd.ed of 500 in navy cardstock cover with silver inked letter press / first 100 copies in transparent blue vinyl)

GLANDS OF EXTERNAL SECRETION / MY CAT IS AN ALIEN "From the earth to the Spheres" Vol.5
2006 - split CD (Very Friendly/ Cargo UK)
VF023CD

Italian brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka My Cat Is An Alien, split the sixth volume of their "From the earth to the Spheres" series with San Francisco's cult band Glands Of External Secretion. On this occasion the duo, formed in 1992 by Bananafish magazine founder Seymour Glass and indie-rock princess Barbara Manning, features the special collaboration of well-known guitarist improviser Nels Cline (now member of Wilco). The trio's track "Icebox (defrosted mix)" is a slow ascent from the realm of isolationism, through frozen tape manipulation and icy drones, terrific voices and subtle infernal groans which seem to come from the obscure side of the Moon, where Cline's estranged looped lap steel is ready to launch the ultimate attack to Earth.
On the other side of the flip, MCIAA's "After the Meteor Shower" represents a further experiment in the use of Roberto's unearthly fragmented vocals, as a way to create heavy-emotional textures of interstellar tunes. A cosmic rain of howling guitars & electronics introduces the fall into a silent, ritualistic procession marked by the distant echo of a drum, alongside a whispered chant over real sounds emerging from the concrete surface of the Planet.
Latest CD re-issue in the series featuring Thurston Moore, Thuja, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Christina Carter & Andrew MacGregor, Christian Marclay & Okkyung Lee.

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Different shades of Blue"
2006 - LP (A Silent Place)

*ASP01 <standard edition> LP (limited to 700 copies black vinyl LP; full colour insert and 21x15cm postcard)

**ASP01-1 <special edition> LP + 7" (limited to 131 copies, blue coloured vinyl LP + bonus multi-colour effect 7"; full colour insert and 21x15cm postcard)

***ASP01-BOX <Art Box Set Deluxe> LP + 7" + painting (silkscreened box limited to 19 copies; blue coloured vinyl LP + bonus multi-colour effect 7"; original 12"x12" painting by Roberto Opalio, poster, full colour insert and 21x15cm postcard)

"This release is the reissue of the limited cd-r edition on Tom Greenwood's U-Sound Archive (Vol. 19). Improvisation recorded on February 12th, 2004 at MCIAA's Space Room, Torino, Italy (no overdubs/ no outtakes).
This new vinyl edition is a different version, remastered and re-edited of "Different shades of Blue"; the 7" single, included in the first 131 copies, contains the original final of the complete work. Furthermore, this special edition will include also the un-edited artwork originally made by Roberto Opalio and completely inspired to the homonymous painting of him. Space-ambient soundscapes with minimal textures from the heart of the cosmos. Dream Music. Packaged in an elegant cover. With 1 insert and 1 large postcard (21cm x 15cm)." (A Silent Place)

"[Different shades of Blue] is another bout of glittering jewels, sputtering star systems and piercing high drones courtesy of your favourite astral-obsessed Italian duo. [...] As ever, their sonic output is at once reassuringly recognisable but still disconcertingly bizarre, forever reaching upwards and outwards, seeking to escape the confines of gravity and atmosphere in favour of celestial salvation." - Dave Stockwell, Foxi Digitalis

ROBERTO OPALIO - "The last night of the Angel of Glass"
2006 - DVD-R + CD-R set (Foxglove)
foxglove103

"There is no other cosmic traveller like Roberto Opalio. Best known for his work with his brother as My Cat Is An Alien, this feline twin is slowly building an equally impressive body of solo works. Opalio is on another plane entirely with "the last night of the angel of glass." bypassing the cosmos completely and directing his aim straight to heaven. Using nothing but his guitar and his voice, Opalio sears the stratosphere into orbit. As his voice floats like a ghost into the empty celestial crevices, his guitar falls from the sky like a melted star. This is haunting and magnificent. Roberto Opalio at his best. The dvd-r was filmed in winter 2005 in real-time from Roberto's balcony in Torino and is an audio/visual treat. The cd-r is the soundtrack to the film. 100 copies" (Foxglove)

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST - "s/t"
2005 - LP (Time-Lag Records)
TIME-LAG 030

"Debut recording from Italy's Opalio brothers (My Cat Is An Alien) and Ramona Ponzini. An esoteric and mesmerizing trip through space, minimalism, and emotion. Each track recorded at a different mystical location in the western alps, and centered around ramona's beautiful vocals, all of which are sung in traditional Japanese. Maurizio & Roberto add sparse accompaniment by means of toy piano, alien keyboard tones, antique accordion, percussion, tape effects, and some particularly evocative acoustic guitar. The whole thing comes off alternately as deeply meditative or chillingly haunted, depending on your attention & mood. Silence, space & ritual are hugely important here, with notes & words hovering frozen in time... while the My Cat Is An Alien moniker might leave some folks scratching their heads, here the Painting Petals On Planet Ghost name nails it: fragile, beautiful, cosmically isolationist, and totally spooked..." (Time-Lag)

*'standard edition' - Pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl, and lushly packaged with letterpress printed cover & insert. Printed with copper ink on exquisite & massively thick handmade ivory art paper, each sheet cast one at a time & air dried. Hand numbered edition of 560 copies.

**'special edition' - Same music and art as the standard version, but the cover/insert are extra think midnight blue/black, and available only to folks on the Time-Lag mailing list. Hand numbered edition of 100 copies.

(read reviews here) last update May 1st 2007

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Astral Key"
2005 - CD-R (Esquilo Records)
ES002|ESVGRA001

"The first instalment in the Granite Series features Italian improv/drone rock duo My Cat Is An Alien further exploring their sound. This recording is taken from one of their recent European tour shows were they have showcased their music exploring the possibilities of the guitar drone and its associations with the sounds from the galaxy. The scotish landscape may have provided the right atmosphere, but the stars had to be aligned so that the brothers Opalio could accomplish such set. Magical as they have described it.
This edition comes in a black gatefold cardboard sleeve with an original photo on the cover. There are three different photos - three different covers. The CD is silkscreened with an original star map. Limited to 120 copies." (Esquilo)

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "The Cosmological Eye Trilogy"
2005 - 3xCD set (Last Visible Dog)
LVD 072/073/074

"A three CD set collecting the original volume I&II, the unreleased volume III and an hour and 15 minutes of additional material. To my ears, this sounds like Sun Ra (circa Heliocentric Worlds vol. one) performing Dream Music. The most organic and certainly cosmic minimalism I've yet to hear!" (LVD)

(read reviews here) last update April 2006

CHRISTINA CARTER & ANDREW MACGREGOR/ MCIAA - “From the earth to the Spheres” vol.4
2005 - CD (Very Friendly/Cargo Records)
VF 021 CD

Brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio split this forth release in the series with the American queen of psich-free-folk music Christina Carter (Charalambides, Scorces), here at her debut as the new duo-project together with Andrew MacGregor (Gown). The title of their piece, “We know when we are thinking about each other”, gives an idea of the intimate mood which envelops their two guitars’ minimal tunes, made of reiterate single notes which recall Christina’s last masterpieces as Scorces and Charalambides; her harsh yet warm plucking at the strings and her fascinating vocals, accompanied by Andrew’s bass guitar chords and singing, sound as if the listener was called to witness the secret dialogues between two distant lovers’ hearts. The title of MCIAA’s track, “The circle of life & death”, fits as ever before Roberto’s cover painting, where the dark imprints left by a white leaf on the acrylic-colored wooden surface create a circle-like representation of life and death. As the violet color recalls transcendence indeed, so do the opening floating-guitar tunes and Roberto’s wordless-vocal hymn: this is probably the most melodic piece in all MCIAA’s career to date, since the musical texture represents a new starting point from which their space guitar sounds can develop. The piece moving into a sort of Wagnerian epic crescendo, a raging storm of space fragments from beyond the Solar system will imbue the Earth with a blinding light, before everything collapses into the darkness of the Cosmos.

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - "Alien Minds"
2005 - C60 cassette (Sloow Tapes) (wrapped in heavy spraypainted paper envelope with lots of photographs. Limited to only 80 copies)

"The slow unfolding galaxies of sonic bliss transmitted by the Opalio brothers' astral guitars, alien percussion and occasional vocals lie somewhere between drone en noise. The awesome Italian duo continue their search for unexplained fractured textures of free floating cosmos sounds in these two long tracks that dig deep into the depths of unexplored space." - Sloow Tapes

MCIAA – U-Sound Archive vol.19 “Different shades of blue”
2005 - CD-R
U-Sound

"My Cat Is An Alien is the improv duo formed by the brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio from Torino, Italy, in late 1997. They both primarily play electric and acoustic guitars, various toy-instruments and voice toy-microphones, percussions. This recording was made in their 'Space Room' on February 12, 2004. The first 50 copies of all U-SOUND titles are in special handmade packaging, the remainder in the now familiar generic styling of the label.
A space–ambient suite of minimal textures from the heart of the cosmos”.

JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER/ MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “From the earth to the Spheres” vol.3
2005 - CD (Very Friendly/Cargo Records)
VF019CD

JOMF's piece "Breaking" begins with a kind of old gospel fragmented by beats, which moves throughout empty areas 'till imploding into deconstructed sounds & voices over vinyl scratches, where silence breaks out loud & unexpected. MCIAA's "Blank View" is a psychic trip moving from the deep darkness towards the brightest light. this totally improvised track, made of interwoven sounds of cathartic guitar chords , percussions & xylophone, is permeated by wordless vocals, whose impressive and sad lyricism comes out from a streamline of sounds from outer space. (Cargo)

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - “When the windmill’s whirl dies”
2005 - LP (Eclipse Records)
ECL040

“…Here we are/ Dancing with the dark shadows/ Here we are/ Dancing with the dark shadows…”
This is the incipit of the first side of “When the windmill’s whirl dies”, the new work by the space-brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, alias My Cat Is An Alien; and here we are indeed, ready to dance with the shadows which surround the Light, as the intimate and vividly estranged mood originated by the floating guitar tunes will enter the furthest meanders of your mind. Both the words, recited and shaped by Roberto from his own homonymous poem that suggested the title of the album, and the oblique minimalism of the complex musical texture made of flowing space sounds, represent the abstract neo-expressionistic substratum of the whole corpus of the work. Moving throughout a nebula of space dust and debris, the starting spoken-word vocals alongside the percussive section sound as powerfully impressive as the violent imagery of trees beaten down by the storm, while the whispered silence of “Perspective of time” and “Fallin’”, on side two, discloses the emotional and existential universe of an isolated broken soul, lost in a world of inanity. This is the center of the No-thing Universe, where each single word or sound assumes the aspect of a sort of pagan prayer that speaks the language of astral folk-blues.
In this context, MCIAA’s outer space becomes a re-found uterus, meant to be the form of a new self-biogenesis. At the same time, space is conceived as symbol of the eternal theatre surrounding the mysterious cycle of life & death; such infinite space, despite such limited time. This cosmic-chant of the new millennium may heat our nights like a flame left to enlighten the shadows of the coldest darkness. At the end of it all, some words will still be ringing in our minds: “…So, we’ll never forget the light”. After 2004’s key-work “The rest is silence”, MCIAA’s “When the windmill’s whirl dies” comes as the second act of a trilogy dedicated to the Great Void.
A beautiful recording housed in a thick, heavy duty gatefold sleeve. Edition of 600 copies.
-Eclipse Records

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “Everything is here”
2005 – special lathe-cut 7” (Gold Soundz)
GS#30

MCIAA proudly announce their first 7” format release, a special lathe-cut transparent vinyl edition of 50 (!!) numbered copies, hand-shaped by the well-known New Zealander Peter King for Sindre Bjerga’s Gold Soundz label (Norway).
A previously unreleased 11 min. track, as ultimate cosmic blues for the rainy days. Artwork by Roberto Opalio.

MCIAA – “Through the reflex of the rain”
2005 – CD (Free Porcupine Society/ Revolver USA)
FPS 011 CD

In early 2004, the free-floating guitar chords of My Cat Is An Alien interacted with the real voice of their hometown Torino, Italy. After several days of incessant winter rain, they let down a wide-stereo-range microphone fixed to a thirty-foot-long cable from the window of their Space Room, which hung three feet off the ground, swinging by the wind, capturing the sounds of rain and cars from the outside streets. Inside the Space Room, Maurizio and Roberto Opalio performed alien guitar tunes and astral percussive textures, with Roberto mixing the outside soundscape in real-time with the inside improv session. Through The Reflex Of The Rain is a weird, intimate and very impressive atmosphere. (special silkscreened gatefold cardboard jackets by Rob Fisk)
(Revolver)

THUJA/MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “From the earth to the Spheres” vol.2
2004 - CD (Very Friendly/Cargo Records)
VF 016 CD

Thuja’s “The Magma Is The Brother Of The Stone” is one of the most adventurous hypnotic works in their whole discography. MCIAA’s “When The Earth Whispered Your Name” is a new departure towards the void of the Cosmos, where high frequency ectoplasms sound no more like howls, but like a more & more intimate blues. (Cargo)

THURSTON MOORE/ MY CAT IS AN ALIEN – “From the earth to the Spheres” vol.1
2004 - CD (Very Friendly/Cargo Records)
VF 015 CD

Thurston Moore starts things off with a 21 min piece fragmented by splinters of sonic feedback & howling guitar. My Cat Is An Alien erect minimal textures created essentially by guitar space-drones influenced by early American minimalism. – Cargo UK