Elaine Walker is acomposer,electronic musician,mathematician, and author born in 1969. She wrote a physics/philosophy book, “Matter Over Mind: Cosmos, Chaos, and Curiosity” (2016). She specializes inmicrotonal music, including foundingZIA, an all electronic band, and performing with D.D.T. She has performed withNumber Sine.[1] She describes: "I compose microtonal music strictly by ear and leave it to others to analyze, so you won't find ratios or mathematics here."[2]
Raised in southern New Mexico "by two loving mathematicians, Elaine grew to love the desert in all of its glory and wide openness".[3] Her father wasDr. Elbert A. Walker.
Walker has a MusicSynthesisProduction degree fromBerklee College of Music (1991) and a master's degree in Music Technology fromNew York University (2001).[1] In her Masters Thesis she developed a new kind of music compositional theory called "Chaos Melody Theory based on recursive chaos mathematics". She was a musical director forPokémon with4Kids Entertainment, and laterGoGoRiki. Each summer she is Education and Public Outreach Coordinator for theNASA-Haughton-Mars Project. Her Martians video was recorded there in 2003 (commissioned by NASA) to promote the prospect of humans living on Mars.
Walker had already released her debutstudio album titledBlue Cartoon in 1989, before moving to work asZIA.
Walker returned to solo work and self-released two studio albums, 2006'sMartians and 2011'sDrum 'n' Space. Walker released her second EP in 2018 titledFour-Momentum, which was followed a year later by her sixth albumTrapezoid.[4]
She has composed using various equal temperaments, including theBohlen–Pierce scale:Stick Men (1991),Love Song, andGreater Good (2011).[5] Other tunings include10,16,17,19 equal temperament and20.
Elaine Walker's solo music includes many space or alien themed titles, including "Red Dreams", "Martian Nation", "Humans and Martian Machines", "The Tenth Planet", and Frontier Creatures.[6] She composed thetheme toYuri's Night.
ZIA | |
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| Born | 1969 |
| Origin | New York City, New York, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1989–present |
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| Website | www |
In 1991, she formed the bandZIA, named after theZia sun symbol featured in theFlag of New Mexico.[3] In the early years ZIA has also performed withEmergency Broadcast Network,A Flock of Seagulls, andMarilyn Manson in the Boston area.
ZIA were an Americanindustrial rock band based out ofNew York City. ZIA released six albums:Zia v1.2 (1992),Zia v1.5 (1994),Big Bang! (2000),Martians (2006),Drum 'n' Space (2011) andTrapezoid (2019)[7][8]
In 1989 Walker recorded her first song, titled "Waiting for the Winds (Woza Moya)", as ZIA and in 1989 released it on theZulu Hits various artists compilation byCelluloid Records. She recordedZia v1.2 in 1992 and brought in a band forZia v1.5, her second release.[9]Fifth Colvmn Records released theEPShem in 1996, and the composition "Space-Time" was released on the label'sEcho compilation.[10][11] The album showcased heratonal composition technique withelectronic music.[12]
Studio albums
Extended plays
Compilation appearances
