Paul Woolford will release his debut album as Special Request, Soul Music, in October.
A veteran of house and techno music, Woolford introduced his Special Request alter-ego in 2012, with a series of self-released 12″ singles. The project is heavily inspired by the pirate radio that Woolford grew up on; speaking to FACT in March 2012 he explained that “the attractive thing about pirate radio is that it sits outside of convention, so there are no rules as such, and this is a huge part of why this project exists, so even though there are familiar themes involved on these releases, the stark contrasts make the differences.”
“In terms of pirate radio itself”, Woolford continues, “the internet has changed the nature of it, but there was a time when it was pure community service. I stumbled across it purely by accident, from moving the tuning dial across the airwaves and the contrast between what was on commercial radio and what was being broadcast from PCR in Bradford or Energy, or Dream FM in Leeds was astronomical. There’s been a guy that’s basically always been involved around this part of the North, a guy called Shock, and he was involved all those years and continues to be these days with Radio Frequency FM, which I’ve been listening to of late. How many more unsung heroes must there be from across the years that have dedicated their lives to this?”
Soul Music was made in a studio built “almost exclusively from vintage hardware and boosted by industrial-strength EQ and an FM transmitter”, and will be released in two stages: October 7 brings the triple-vinyl version, while the October 21 will see a digital / CD release featuring Special Request remixes of Tessela’s ‘Hackney Parrot’ and Lana Del Rey’s ‘Ride’ and re-works of Soul Music material from Hieroglyphic Being, Lee Gamble, Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir and more.
You can download Special Request’s FACT mix here.
Tracklist:
CD1
01. Special Request – Forbidden
02. Special Request – Undead
03. Special Request – Cold Blooded
04. Special Request – Body Armour
05. Special Request – Lockjaw
06. Special Request – Ride VIP
07. Special Request – Soundboy Killer
08. Special Request – Broken Dreams
09. Special Request – Black Ops
10. Special Request – Capsules
11. Special Request – Deranged
12. Special Request – Descent
CD2
01. Tessela – Hackney Parrot (Special Request VIP)
02. Lana Del Rey – Ride (Special Request Remix)
03. Special Request – Mindwash
04. Special Request – Alone
05. Special Request – Mindwash (Anthony Naples Aftermath Remix)
06. Special Request – Lolita (Warehouse Mix)
07. Special Request – Vapour
08. Special Request – Deflowered (Kassem Mosse & Mix Mup Remix)
09. Special Request – Mindwash (Anthony Shakir Remix)
10. Special Request – Capsules (Lee Gamble Full Length Remix)
11. Special Request – Deflowered (Hieroglyphic Being Remix)
