Zoot Woman
Zoot Woman is a British electronic music group, which composes of members Adam Blake, Johnny Blake and Stuart Price.
Zoot Woman
Reading, Berkshire, England
1996–present
Their debut studio album Living in a Magazine was released by Wall of Sound backed by singles "It's Automatic" and "Living in a Magazine". Their second eponymous album features the singles "Grey Day" and "Taken It All".
Zoot Woman songs have been remixed by Todd Edwards, Le Knight Club featuring Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk, Adam Port, Michael Mayer, Ben Böhmer, Boris Dlugosch, Ninetoes, Chopstick & Johnjon.
Price and Adam Blake also remix under the alias Paper Faces, as well as individually and have reworked tracks for Zoot Woman and established recording artists such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Scissor Sisters, Armand Van Helden, and Chromeo.
History[edit]
Living in a Magazine (2001)[edit]
With the release of the conceptual debut album Living in A Magazine in 2001, Zoot Woman established themselves on the music scene, releasing the singles "It's Automatic" and "Living in a Magazine". The album's pop sensibility is evident on tracks such as "Jessie", "Holiday Home" and "Information First". Simon Price of The Independent wrote, "This is the sound of minor-key heartbreak in departure lounges and penthouse suites, an album which should come with "New York, London, Paris, Munich" embossed on the sleeve."
Their track "It's Automatic" has been sampled by several hip hop music artists, including JD Era, while possibly the most well-known cover of "It's Automatic" is by Mickey Factz featuring Curtis Santiago, due to its use in an online car commercial.[1]
Zoot Woman (2003)[edit]
A significant departure from the bright, pop feel of Living in a Magazine, Zoot Woman's eponymous second album remains faithful to the musical qualities that made their debut record. Zoot Woman features the singles "Grey Day" and "Taken It All". "Gem" from this album was used in the Kate Moss/Rimmel Cosmetics TV advertising campaign and "Calmer" appears in an episode of the CBS TV drama CSI.
The song "Hope in the Mirror" was featured in the soundtrack to Mack Dawg Productions 2004 snowboard video Chulksmack, in the Jussi Oksanen section of the film. Their track "Grey Day" appeared in David Benedek's film 91 Words for Snow (2006, Blank Paper Studio). This helped spread the word to the snowboard community.
Lyrics[edit]
Zoot Woman song lyrics have been described as melancholic. Often the subject matter in each song centres around love, relationships or more introspective and personal themes.
Band's image[edit]
Image is a key conceptual element to the band's output. Johnny Blake is quoted saying, "We've always said we want to look how we sound, so hopefully, the look of the band could translate the music. But I think Zoot Woman is built foremost around the songs. There are bands out there where the show describes the band more than the actual music, but with Zoot Woman it's vice versa."
Zoot Woman have worked with acclaimed video directors Dawn Shadforth, Uwe Flade, Michael Kren, Mirjam Baker and Mike Mills. With photography by Rankin, Sølve Sundsbø, Ben Rigby, Matthias Krause, Normen Perke and styling by fashion designer Fee Doran aka "Mrs Jones".