My Cat is an Alien: Get cosmic with Keiji Hano & Steve Roden
My Cat is an Alien, an Italian improvisational duo, have stepped up the gear in their ongoing “Cosmic Debris” series by releasing two new volumes at the same time – one with Japanese icon Keiji Hano and the other other with American sculptor and sound artist Steve Roden. The contrasts between the two CDs could hardly be more extreme. Keiji Hano is considered one of the biggest names in his country’s underground scene and regards high volume an important aspect of his work (“A lack of boundaries means something can go anywhere; that's why my music is loud.” and “I use the electric guitar as a weapon to express myself,” are two excellent quotes to describe his style). On "Cosmic Debris Vol. III", Keiji Hano and My Cat is an Alien openly eschew folk and fragility, engaging in a musical dialogue their label describes as “a cosmic bomb exploding in your brain”. Staying true to the philosophy of the “Cosmic Debris” series, this is no collaboration in the conventional sense of the word, but rather a combination of two live improvisations – which sees My Cat is an Alien perform in their homebase in Turin and Keiji Hano in Tokyo. In direct comparison, the “Cosmic Debris Vol. II” with Steve Roden sounds like an inverted picture.
This was to be expected: Steve Roden is the inspirational source for the “lower case” movement, which concentrates on the asthetics of very quiet noises of our immediate surroundings. The first track of his “Cosmic Debris” contribution focusses on the use of objects and fields recordings, both of which have been at the core of his work for a long time. With “My dog is a Yufo", however, he turns towards the electric guitar and his bare fingers, approaching his vision from a different angle – a personal experiment and a tightrope walk of avoiding using the instrument in a traditional fashion. As a pendant, My Cat is an Alien dive headlong into “multilayered echoes of voice, toy piano, space drones (...), and their own physical gestures performed during the recording, which reproduce themselves through the air.”
After the first “Cosmic Debris” CD, which my Cat is an Alien launched on their own label, “Opax”, the new editions will be published by Italian outfit “A Silent Place”. This deal, which secures them an as always excuisite packaging and a worldwide distribution, does not mean that they have ceased their activities in this field, though. Opax only recently boasted a string of My Cat is an Alien releases, some of which in tiny print runs of a mere nine (!) copies.
Homepage: My Cat is an Alien
Homepage: Inofficial Keiji Hano Homepage
Homepage: Steve Roden
Homepage: A Silent Place Records
Item tags
A Silent Place Records, Experimental, Italy, Japan, Keiji Hano, My Cat is an Alien, News, Steve Roden, USA,Partner sites
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