Paul Woolford has been turning a lot of heads with the release of his recent album, Soul Music, under his Special Request moniker for the freshly minted Fabric offshoot label, Houndstooth Recordings.
Only a couple of months out, this album looks set to be considered one of the albums of the year by many media, and it’s already secured album of the month salutes in DJ Mag, Mixmag, Spin Magazine and Data Transmission. Even Pitchfork isn’t immune to it’s charms with a very respectable 8.1 out 10 in a recent review.
Following a run of four incendiary 12-inches on his own imprint that drew attention from right across the dance music community, his debut full-length album as Special Request dives even deeper into the raw energy of UK pirate radio influences that informed his previous EPs. Using a studio built almost exclusively from vintage hardware and boosted by industrial-strength EQ and an FM transmitter, Woolford constructs what he refers to as “false memories” – broadcasting his material in order to sample and re-incorporate it in a myriad of different ways. The outcome of this unorthodox method is an album of considerable weight.
CD includes a bonus disc featuring the Special Request VIP of Tessela’s ‘Hackney Parrot’ alongside the remix of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Ride’, further tracks from the previous 12-inches, plus unreleased reworks from Anthony Shakir, Anthony Naples, KassemMosse & Mix Mup, Hieroglyphic Being and Lee Gamble.
Tracklisting
CD1
01 – Forbidden
02 – Undead
03 – Cold Blooded
04 – Body Armour
05 – Lockjaw
06 – Ride VIP
07 – Soundboy Killer
08 – Broken Dreams
09 – Black Ops
10 – Capsules
11 – Deranged
12 – Descent
CD2
01 – Tessela – Hackney Parrot (Special Request VIP)
02 – Lana Del Rey – Ride (Special Request Remix)
03 – Mindwash
04 – Alone
05 – Mindwash (Anthony Naples Aftermath Remix)
06 – Lolita (Warehouse Mix)
07 – Vapour
08 – Deflowered (Kassem Mosse & Mix Mup Remix)
09 – Mindwash (Anthony Shakir Remix)
10 – Capsules (Lee Gamble Full Length Remix)
11 – Deflowered (Hieroglyphic Being Remix)
