Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist working with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real time to create dense, complex sonic layers. Her works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, sampled sounds, and custom MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound and image with physical gestures. At this year’s Other Minds Festival, Z will perform her piece Simultaneous, an intermedia composition for voice, electronic processing, chamber ensemble, speech samples, gesture control, and projected video. In conjunction with the performance, Other Minds records will release a fixed media version of Simultaneous on LP and CD. In the interview, we talk about Z’s interest in simultaneous translation, finding music in speech, and her use of gesture control instruments.

Music: Simultaneous by Pamela Z, performed by Pamela Z, Kyle Bruckmann, Charlton Lee, Clara Kennedy, and Kjell Nordeson live at MoMA; Simultaneous by Pamela Z (Other Minds Records)

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The Other Minds Podcast is hosted and edited by Joseph Bohigian. Outro music is “Kings: Atahualpa” by Brian Baumbusch (Other Minds Records).