Pamela Z is an fascinating composer who combines wide range of vocal techniques with electronic processing, and also uses interesting sampling techniques & MIDI controllers, many of her pieces contain video elements too.
Her piece Geekspeak does a fantastic job of invoking geekiness by seemingly asking people who act like geeks to define what a geek is.
There is a sharp comparison between what the people talking about and what they are describing which I really enjoy.
Pamela Z was able to accomplish this new narrative through fragmentation and collage, as well as of course sourcing the correct people to speak the words – while it may have worked had it been her speaking with the superimposition, it definitely would not have gotten the point across as strongly, as it would not have even with the geeky speakers voices had the collage not been done and overlaid so well technically, whereby as I mentioned she makes it seem like the speakers are practically describing themselves. In a way she also seems to use the description to define herself, or at least this piece of hers, with some emphasis on one phrase:
My definition of a geek would be someone who finds a machine or something really esoteric, like logical, to be a really fascinating construct, and likes to understand it, see what its limits are, and see exactly what it entails, play with it, to the extent that they probably find it slightly more fascinating than conversation with most people
This phrase feels like something that Pamela Z would resonate with as a new media sound artist working with so much technology, which you can read about more here on her Bio.
What’s most interesting about Pamela Z’s work is how concise it is for something performed live, and how much more variety there is in what she is doing in these performances, which are more than just the music she’s making – recordings of her live performances can be seen on her YouTube channel, and her most popular video by views is Nihongo de Hanasoo.
This video displays her ability to perform and mix her sound pieces live spectacularly, as well as her ability to combine other forms of art & media, such as poetry, and video displayed through a projector on the background throughout.