Published on Feb 18, 2005
Pamela Martinez might be described as America’s answer to Bjork,
if more people knew of her. Not that her musical style literally
resembles that of the art-pop princess from Island… but Martinez
does show strong influences.
As you might have guessed, Martinez’s music has rich textures of
quirky electronic sounds supported by vague and fragmented — and
mostly electronic — rhythmic percussive thumping. But she is
primarily a violin player, and as a result her music also features
prominent string arrangements. Martinez uses the violin much like
the way the lead guitarist of a grunge band uses his guitar — to
create a distorting effect, which paradoxically acts as the most
fascinating part of the music.
On her independently released debut EP
Pamela Martinez: Untitled Volume One, Martinez juxtaposes
trippy electronics with crazy violin abuses, yielding a psychedelic
mix of the natural and the artificial.
The opening number “Formless Scientific,” which probably has the
heaviest Bjorkinfluence on the record, substitutes the off-beat
electronics of a Bjork number with some of her violin arrangements,
and the beats behind sound like insect noises magnified, amplified,
and synthesized to sound as unnatural as possible (which is so like
the way Bjork does it).
On “Inzolen” — probably the outstanding track of the EP — the
strings rise to a gradual crescendo from absolute nothingness, and
just when you expect a climax to happen, the song is over; much
before it should. This is the inexperience of an independent
artist. Still, this track turns out to be nothing less than
awesome.
Martinez knows her electronics very well, and she is a damn good
violin player. Most importantly, she knows how to use them wisely
so that they provide interesting textures. She sings well too, and
has got what it takes to be weird: her face is seen painted with
cryptic messages that try to say something that no one understands.
All that is left is some more material from her to really prove her
talent and gain her some well-deserved recognition.
[The Pamela Martinez: Untitled Volume One EP is available in its
entirety for free download at Martinez’s Web site
www.pamelamartinez.com
.]