Slipmats, soldering and stepper acid
Who She?
A maverick on a mission. Zoë Blade has been making electronic music since she was 16, starting out by morphing samples of household objects into rhythmic soundscapes. It was around this time that she got a D for her music GCSE. Two decades on, her experimental impulses are as strong as ever, as is her independent streak. She’s based in Stoke-on-Trent and most of her work is crafted on what she calls “a gloriously feral analogue modular synthesiser”.
Why Zoë Blade?
Zoë has clocked up around 20 digital releases since 2010, including several albums. She’s just put out two terrific EPs, ‘Slipmat Slipstream’ and the second in her ’Solderside Sessions’ series. At its core, ‘Slipmat Slipstream’ is a driving electropop tune, but two of the mixes feature samples of kitchen knives and a power drill. Old habits and all that. She issues her music under Creative Commons licences and her website has tons of tracks available to download for free, although she asks that you bung her a couple of quid on Patreon if you like them. You will like them, by the way.
Tell Us More…
Zoë is a programmer as well as a musician. She’s written the firmware for Stepper Acid, a Eurorack 16-step sequencer designed and built by her partner Nina Richards. Trent Reznor and Underworld are just two of the artists who have been raving about Stepper Acid in recent months. Zoë is also a published fiction writer and a long-time YouTuber. She’s eminently quotable too. “I’m not the best at making music,” she says. “But I am the best at making my music.”
The ‘Slipmat Slipstream’ and ‘Solderside Sessions 02’ EPs are out on Transistor Sounds
