Pamelia Stickney (formerly known as Pamelia Kurstin) is an American

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

player. She has performed and recorded with many artists including

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (disambiguation) * Belá (disambiguation) * Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''whit ...

, David Garland,

Seb Rochford Sebastian Rochford is a British drummer and composer. He has recorded and released music as leader of the British band Polar Bear, as Kutcha Butcha and as part of numerous collaborations. Early life Rochford was born in Aberdeen and has a large ...

Otto Lechner Otto Lechner (born February 25, 1964) is an Austrian accordionist. Lechner taught himself to play the accordion starting at age four. He has been blind since age 15. Lechner is currently a member of the group Accordion Tribe and musical director ...

and

Simone Dinnerstein Simone Andrea Dinnerstein (born September 18, 1972) is an American classical pianist. Education Dinnerstein was born in New York City, New York, United States to a Jewish family. She is the daughter of Renee and Simon Dinnerstein. She studied in ...

, and was instrumental to the final design of

Robert Moog Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesi ...

's Etherwave Pro Theremin, for which she was the primary test musician. Kurstin has made various film, television and radio appearances, most notably on

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

. and in the 2004 documentary '' Moog''. Stickney has also presented talks at events such as

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

. Her background as a jazz musician on the

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

has led to develop a "

walking bass Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

" theremin technique. She was based in New York until 2005; she now lives in Vienna, Austria. Stickney was first introduced to the theremin during production of the album ''Into the Oh'' in 1999 by

Luaka Bop Luaka Bop is a New York–based record label founded by musician David Byrne, former lead singer and guitarist for the art rock– new wave band Talking Heads. What began with Byrne making cassettes of his favorite Tropicália tracks for his fri ...

duo

Geggy Tah Geggy Tah is a band initially composed of writer/singer Tommy Jordan and keyboard/guitarist Greg Kurstin. Each of them has a younger sister who was unable to pronounce her brother's name when very young; "Geggy" and "Tah" were the baby girls' mis ...

– singer/writer Tommy Jordan and keyboardist

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs t ...

. She recorded ''Gymnopedie'' in 2000 as a member of the theremin/keyboard duo called "The Kurstins" with her then-husband, Greg. Her first solo album ''Thinking Out Loud'' was released in 2007 on John Zorn's

Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

label. In 2011 the London-based label Slowfoot released ''Ouch Evil Slow Hop'', a collaboration between Pamelia and

. In 2013, Stickney formed Blueblut with

Mark Holub Mark Holub is an American drummer and composer who was born in New Jersey, lived for many years in London, UK and is now based in Vienna, Austria. He is most well known as the bandleader for Led Bib, award-winning and Mercury Prize nominated ja ...

and

Chris Janka Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...

. The Vienna-based trio released their first album ''hurts so gut'' on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

in 2014.

Discography

;Albums *2007: ''Thinking Out Loud'' *2013: ''Promotional Copy'' *2017: ''Transcendental Dissonance'' ;Collaborations *2020: ''Vulneraries Vol. 5'' (with

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and Kenji Garland, credited to The Garlands with Pamelia Stickney) *2011: ''Ouch Evil Slow Hop'' (with

Sebastian Rochford Sebastian Rochford is a British drummer and composer. He has recorded and released music as leader of the British band Polar Bear, as Kutcha Butcha and as part of numerous collaborations. Early life Rochford was born in Aberdeen and has a large ...

) *2011: ''Tunisia'' (with

Pat Mastelotto Lee Patrick Mastelotto (born September 10, 1955) is an American rock drummer and record producer. He has been a member of King Crimson, Stick Men, Mr. Mister and O.R.k., as well as working as a session drummer with XTC, The Pointer Sisters an ...

) *2011: ''Besides Feldman'' (with Patrick Pulsinger) Hilary Jeffery)and Rozemarie Heggen *2000: ''First Visit'' (with Gerry Gibbs and the Third Trio from the Sun, featuring Gerry Gibbs and Greg Kurstin) ;Blueblut *2014: ''hurts so gut'' *2016: ''buttbutt''

References

External links

Official site

Blueblut Bandcamp site
* ** TED Talk
The untouchable music of the theremin
(TED2002)

American electronic musicians Theremin players 1976 births Living people American women in electronic music {{US-electronic-musician-stub